WHITE PAPER which, in turn, are underpinned by pre-requisite programmes related to good hygienic practice3. These include personal hygiene, and cleaning and disinfection. When it comes to control of Covid-19 there are a limited number of options. These can be ranked in order of their impact on infection risk, 1. Avoid all personal contact. 2. Health surveillance and exclusion; Social distancing; Personal hygiene; and Workplace cleaning. 3. Use of personal protective equipment. 4. Workplace ventilation. Avoiding all personal contact is not a realistic option for any customer facing business, and the impact of using personal protective equipment and workplace ventilation in a public setting is minimal compared with the controls listed at level 2. Fortunately, these level 2 controls - personal hygiene, and workplace cleaning (and disinfection), are common to both food safety and control of Covid-19. Personal hygiene Health status Regarding food safety, it is well established that food businesses must not allow anyone to handle food or enter a food handling area if they: • are suffering from or carrying a disease likely to be transmitted through food; • have infected wounds, skin infections or sores; • have diarrhoea. Any member of staff suffering from any of these must tell their manager about it immediately. Staff with diarrhoea or vomiting should not return to work until they have had no symptoms for 48 hours. Regarding control of Covid-19, all employers and employees should be aware of the symptoms of Covid-19. These are4, • fever; • cough; • chest tightness / shortness of breath (dyspnoea) • muscle pain (myalgia) and fatigue Any employee who is symptomatic of Covid-19 should not be at work and should follow government guidance and stay at home. They should report sick by phone or email, and not by coming into work. If anyone starts to exhibit Covid-19 symptoms in the workplace they should be sent home. Members of staff that help someone taken unwell with Covid-19 symptoms do not need to go home unless they develop symptoms themselves, and it is not necessary to close the business or workplace or send staff home. Consequently, food businesses should consider adding Covid-19 related health checks to their usual food safety related health check, e.g. - Pre-return to work health check / declaration; - Regular ‘good health’ declarations once back to work; - Workplace testing for high risk staff; - In-work protocols for detailing with someone who develops symptoms; - Health declarations for visitors / contractors. Food businesses accessible to the public should also use signage to ask customers not to enter the premises if they have Covid-19 symptoms. Personal Hygiene measures To keep food safe from microbial and foreign body contamination, every person working in food-handling must maintain a high level of personal hygiene. They must wear appropriate protective clothing; not touch their face and hair, smoke, spit, sneeze, eat or chew gum; and must wash their hands regularly. Vikan A/S - Department of Hygiene 02 Copyright © 2020 Vikan A/S · All Rights Reserved
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