Employee Hygiene and Training

Introduction

Employees play a big role in producing safe dairy products. Proper employee hygiene and practices can prevent the contamination of milk, milk products, containers, equipment and facilities - contamination that could make consumers sick. For this reason, it is very important to train plant employees on proper hygiene procedures and monitor employees to make sure they follow these procedures.

All dairy plants should have a written employee hygiene and training program. This should outline the expected standards of hygiene, behaviour and habits for plant employees. Employees involved in any stage of product processing, packaging or distribution should be trained to make sure they produce food that meets federal and provincial regulatory standards for safety and quality.

It is also important to make sure that visitors and contractors know about the plant's employee hygiene standards and adhere to them.

An employee hygiene program should include:

  • procedures
  • training
  • records
  • monitoring and follow-up

Procedures

The following procedures should be included in a plant's employee hygiene and training program.

Hygiene

Employees need to meet the following standards for clothing, grooming and health at all times.

Clothing
  • Employees need to put on clean uniforms immediately before starting work.
  • Make sure there are enough clean uniforms available for each employee so that if a uniform becomes dirty, the employee can change into a clean one.
  • Uniforms must not have pockets above the waist or fasteners (such as buttons) that can come loose. This is to prevent foreign material such as buttons and pens from falling and contaminating the product.
  • To minimize cross-contamination between raw and pasteurized processing areas, the same uniform should not be worn in both areas. Employees need to change into a clean uniform or put on a clean outer covering (such as a lab coat) before they move from a raw product handling area into a pasteurized product handling area. Using different coloured uniforms for each area can help make sure that employees wear the right uniform in the right area.
  • Uniforms should be cleanable or disposable. An outside laundry service can be used to clean and maintain the uniforms.
  • Employees need to change into clean footwear or clean and sanitize their footwear (using footbaths or floor foam sprayers) before they move from raw product handling areas into pasteurized product handling areas of the plant.
  • Employees need to cover all exposed hair with appropriate hair restraints. These include hairnets, beard nets and arm guards. Ball caps are not an acceptable hair restraint.
  • Employees need to put on a clean pair of sanitary disposable gloves or wash and sanitize their hands before they directly handle product, such as cheese curds or blocks of cheese, or when they handle surfaces that come in contact with the product, such as packaging materials. If the gloves become dirty or contaminated, employees must remove the gloves, wash and re-sanitize their hands and put on a new pair of sanitary gloves.
  • Footwear worn in the food production area needs to be kept clean and in good condition. It should be worn only in this area. Plant footwear must not be worn outside the plant.
  • Street clothes and street footwear are not allowed in food production or food storage areas.
  • Street clothes and street footwear need to be stored separately from the clean plant uniforms and plant footwear.
Grooming
  • Employees need to keep their hands and fingernails clean.
  • Employees must not wear fingernail polish, false eyelashes, false fingernails, perfume, etc.
  • Employees must not wear any jewellery, badges, pins or watches. They can wear medical alerts, but these need to be kept secure. For example, the medical alert can be fastened by a chain worn around the neck and covered by the uniform.
  • If a wedding band cannot be removed, it needs to be covered (with a sanitary disposable glove, for example) to prevent it from trapping dirt or food particles that could then contaminate the product.
Health Condition
  • If employees work with ingredients, food, packaging or equipment, they need to cover any open cuts or wounds (for example, by wearing a waterproof bandage covered with a sanitary disposable glove).
  • Employees with skin infections, sores, diarrhea, etc. must not have any contact with food. An employee with a cold or illness should be sent home or reassigned to areas where there is no exposed product or packaging materials.
  • Employees need to tell their manager when they are suffering from a health problem that could be transmitted through food. This includes:
    • jaundice
    • diarrhea
    • vomiting
    • fever
    • sore throat with fever
    • visible skin infections or sores (for example, boils or cuts)
    • discharge from the ears, eyes, or nose

Behaviour

  • To prevent their hands or gloves from becoming a source of contamination, all employees need to wash their hands thoroughly or change their gloves:
    • when starting work and returning to work (for example, after lunch and breaks)
    • after using toilet facilities
    • before putting on gloves
    • after handling food allergens
    • after touching their hair, ears, nose, mouth, etc.
    • after sneezing or coughing into their hands, etc.
    • after handling garbage or waste bins
    • any time after their hands or gloves become contaminated
  • Hands need to be washed at designated hand-washing stations.
  • To wash their hands properly, employees should:
    • rinse their hands with warm water
    • apply soap from the dispenser
    • rub their hands, fingers, nails and wrists to form a lather for at least 20 seconds
    • rinse off the soap with warm water
    • dry their hands hygienically (for example, using disposable paper towels or a hot-air dryer)
    • use the paper towel to turn off the tap (if the tap does not shut off automatically) to avoid re-contaminating their hands
    • use the paper towel to open the door
    • throw the paper towel in a designated waste container
  • Hand-washing instructions need to be posted by the hand-washing stations.
  • Employees need to sanitize their hands when they enter the pasteurized areas of the facility.
  • Employees need to have clean hands before sanitizing or the sanitizer will not be effective.
  • Employees must not sneeze, blow or cough over uncovered food or food-handling equipment and utensils.
  • Employees who sneeze or cough persistently should not have any contact with food.
  • Employees must not eat, drink, smoke, chew gum or tobacco, or spit in any areas used for food handling, processing, storage or packaging.
  • Lunches need to be stored and eaten in the lunchroom. Lunches must not be stored in lockers with plant clothing or footwear.
  • Personal items are not allowed in the food production or food storage areas. These items include gum, candy, medicine, tobacco, keys and phones.

Training

The plant is responsible for making sure that employees are trained and understand the importance of good hygiene and the impact of their behaviour and habits on the safety of the food products they manufacture.

All employees should receive training when required, including:

  • when they are hired
  • before starting new job duties
  • when policies or procedures change
  • to reinforce current policies and procedures

Refresher training should be done at least once a year.

A written training program helps to ensure that requirements are communicated in a consistent fashion.

The plant's training program should include:

A variety of training formats can be used, including:

  • one-on-one or group instruction
  • job shadowing
  • coaching or mentoring
  • videos
  • presentations
  • on-line courses
  • review of company policies, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and sanitation standard operating procedures (SSOPs)

Training needs to be provided in a language that employees understand.

Monitoring And Follow-up

Regularly monitor and document employee hygiene practices. Monitor new workers closely to make sure they are performing the tasks correctly. Encourage them to ask about anything that is not clear.

When unacceptable practices are noticed, record exactly what the employee was doing wrong and correct the behaviour.

Record the follow-up actions taken to correct deviations, and include the date the action was taken. These records can also include actions that you plan to take in the future to ensure good employee hygiene practices.

Resources

The Toronto Public Health Unit: Hygiene Posters (hand-washing signs offered in many different languages)

On-line training courses:

  • Guelph Food Innovation Centre
  • Food Safety Knowledge Network (Michigan State University)

Government Standards for Personnel Hygiene

  • Ontario Health Protection and Promotion Act (HPPA)
  • Ontario Food Premises Regulation (Reg. 493/17)

Templates


For more information:
Toll Free: 1-877-424-1300
E-mail: ag.info.omafra@ontario.ca