The intent of this element is to
minimise the risk of contamination to the product by the behaviour of personnel.
By having a clear and comprehensive
personnel hygiene policy in place,
you can be more confident that your staff is well informed and trained to produce safe food.
To meet export requirements, you must have a
documented procedure which covers your establishment's personnel hygiene requirements.
All staff, visitors and contractors must act in accordance with your procedures.
Hand washing and sanitising instructions
must be clearly visible and easy to follow so that everyone is aware of the requirements.
The use of photographs and diagrams can be very effective in achieving this goal.
You need to have warm water,
soap and paper towels available, and hand washing stations in production areas
must operate hands free.
If any food handling staff think or know
that they have an infectious foodborne disease,
they must report this to their supervisor.
Because these illnesses can spread to other people via food.
Staff who are ill should not be working in food handling areas
until they are well and instructed to do so.
Training records, including induction and refresher training, must be kept
and should be up to date.
An auditor may select several names
and determine what training each individual has been given and ask for evidence of the training.
This may include any external or online courses
that may have been undertaken on hygiene or food handling,
so it's important to keep these on file and easily retrievable
To verify that your staff are complying with the hygiene procedures,
you can include aspects of personnel hygiene on your regular GMP
and GHP audits, or pre-operational checks.
You can even take swabs from hands to determine
if effective hand washing practices are being followed.
When reviewing your site's current practice for compliance,
please consider the following
Are hand washing stations available at key areas
such as production entry points and near staff amenities
to ensure proper hand washing practices can be followed?
Do all hand washing stations have warm water,
soap, hand drying and sanitising readily available?
The staff wash their hands after eating,
using the toilet, coughing or sneezing,
touching their face or nose, smoking or handling unsuitable materials?
Does your company have a designated area for smoking,
and do personnel only smoke in this area?
Are handkerchiefs allowed in production areas?
Are your staff aware of your jewellery policy?
Do you provide storage areas for personal items which are not allowed into your plant?
For example, medications or other hazardous materials.
Are staff aware that they must report any suspected or diagnosed
notifiable communicable disease to their supervisor
and must not work in food handling areas until advised?
Do you have a corrective action process,
an escalation process to manage any onsite non-compliance?
Do you keep records of corrective actions taken,
including any retraining, if personnel are not complying?
I hope this explanation has been some benefit to you
in developing your personnel hygiene program.