Empower Employees Through Food Safety Training
Even the most experienced food workers get burned or cut at work sometimes. Teach your employees what to do to keep themselves, and the food they work with, safe if an accident occurs.
Learning Objectives
You may choose to read these learning objectives with your employees as a part of the stand-up training.
After this training, employees will be able to:
- Perform first aid for common workplace injuries
- Recognize the wounds that must be reported to a manager
- Demonstrate the double-barrier technique
The Facts
You may choose to read these facts with your employees as a part of the stand-up training.
- If you hurt yourself at work, stop what you’re doing and tell your manager.
- If you cut or burn yourself on your hands or forearms, bandage the wound and then cover the bandage with a single-use glove. This is known as a double barrier.
- Throw away any food you were working with when you got hurt, even if you don’t think you got blood on it.
- Clean and sanitize the utensils and food-contact surfaces you were working with when you got hurt, as well as the sink and faucet where you washed your wound.
Training Activities
Choose the activities that will be most beneficial for your employees. Modify them as needed to fit the training needs of your establishment.
Accident Roleplay
Discuss: What should you do if you get hurt before or during work? What steps should you take to protect yourself and food?
Practice: Ask for volunteers to participate in a roleplay. One volunteer will pretend to get hurt while the others help take care of their wound. Have them talk through all the steps they would follow if the accident were real. Coach them if they get stuck or miss a step.
Display (optional): Put the Feeling Sick? poster up in your establishment to remind employees what symptoms they should report to a manager. Point out that infected sores are on the list.
Following Up
The 2017 FDA Food Code makes a few recommendations about first aid:
- First aid supplies should be labeled and stored separately from food.
- If an employee has an infected wound that’s not properly covered, they shouldn’t be allowed to handle food. However, they can perform tasks that don’t involve exposed food or food-contact surfaces.
- Wounds should be bandaged and covered with a glove or other impermeable bandage to form a double barrier.
Although first aid isn’t part of the FDA inspection form, health inspectors are trained to look for anything that could be a potential food safety hazard. Remind your employees how to take care of a wound properly so that they’re keeping themselves and food safe.
Make sure your employees know where to find first aid supplies if they need them. Review this training with them as needed.
Training Resources
Post the Feeling Sick? poster to remind your employees of the symptoms they must report to their manager, including infected sores.
Use the Food Worker Illness Flowchart to help you remember how to respond if an employee tells you they have an infected wound.
Did you use this stand-up training in your establishment? We’d love to get your feedback! Take a minute to do our feedback survey.
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— Jessica Pettit
