The HandsOn™ 5-Step Process to Overcoming Underwashing

The chain of cleanliness risk factors is led by poor handwashing. It is the #1 cited element in outbreak investigations. The risk of the unwashed hand has largely gone unaddressed because of the lack of standards and meaningful measurement tools. New monitoring technologies are proving to be game-changers. Verified clean hands, ServeReady® Hands, protect brands, and are emerging as a customer-valued reason to return – a new corporate asset.

The HandsOn™ System is a five-step risk-based process to overcome the under washing of hands and the surfaces most likely to contaminate those hands. It is a roadmap to assess current risks, set standards and implement integrated best practices. Its design is to motivate, control and sustain better behaviors. HandsOn is HACCP for hands executed for continuous improvement.

The HandsOn™ System establishes risk-based standards and process control to reduce the risk of foodborne outbreaks. Managers get the tools to assess their risk and implement sustainable solutions in protecting customers, staff and the very business itself.

The Five Structured Steps to Sustainable Solutions:

Assess Risk
Identify and verbalize the risk of the unwashed hand. Rank surfaces at the highest risk for cross-contamination.
Set Safe Level Standards
Establish clear standards for individual and team level success.
Optimize
Ensure the Conditions for Success are in place before training. If compliance isn’t convenient and isn’t user friendly, it isn’t done.
Educate, Train & Motivate
Convert to a culture of cleanliness. This step introduces the best practice tools, techniques, and materials to motivate behavior change.
Monitor
What gets measured and rewarded gets done. Rewarding the good and disciplining the less-than acceptable behaviors are key to sustainability.

1: Assess Risk

Managing risk is the primary driver in handwashing enhancement initiatives. It defines handwashing protocols. Process control is a minimum outcome. Risk assessment requires collaboration as the microbiologically savvy professional helps balance the technical severity of risk with the C-Suite's view of probability. Once the handwashing process is agreed, future changes...

2: Set Safe Level Standards

Standards provide the language for inter-departmental collaboration in agreeing on the goals for training as well as customer and brand protection. This step translates the management's tolerance for risk into traceable performance numbers. https://youtu.be/D6pIfdSgKaA Start With An Approximation Rutger's food safety risk authority, Dr. Don Schaffner, reacts to the approximation...

3: Optimize

Set the conditions for success. Make it easier to do the right thing. Quality supplies matched with reliable user-friendly equipment underscore the importance of management's clean hands priority. https://youtu.be/HdNOiIdGqvE Always look for ways to make it easier for the staff to do the right thing. Set procedures to make sense...

4: Train & Motivate

Training must be preceded by education, covering the "Why" of handwashing. This is key in engaging the food handling staff in the professionalization process. Workers must want to wash their hands if the gains from the training are to be sustained. Make it personal and visual. https://youtu.be/krZ39Eq9NFQ Handwashing For Life Olympics:...

5: Monitor

Verification closes the loop by reporting policy-based performance. What gets measured and acknowledged gets done. Rewarding the good and disciplining the less-than acceptable behaviors are key to sustainability. https://youtu.be/Wr0cE4PnGvM A Successful Monitoring Plan… It looks a lot like a business plan or a document seeking funding for a new business....