Who owns the low-handwashing problem in chain restaurants? Handwashing frequency is often less than desirable in most all restaurants with workers seeing little reason to wash more often and claiming to have little time as customer service trumps clean hands. Training helps but improvements don’t endure. Quality Assurance doesn’t have a handwashing system to monitor. […]
The HACCP/HARPC-Hands Scoreboard
The Remedy for Stored-data Concerns The Handwashing For Life HACCP/HARPC-Hands Scoreboard is a component of EHHM, Electronic Hand Hygiene Monitoring. It is the scoreboard screen or marquee positioned in clear view of the kitchen and wait-staff work stations to assure the food handling team of their current handwashing performance that they are on pace to […]
HandsOn™ Moves HACCP to HARPC Handwashing
Risk-based Preventive Control (RPC) Handwashing For Life’s 5-step HandsOn System™ provides a path to implement HARPC Handwashing for those looking to augment their HACCP or AMC, Active Managerial Control, programs. It is a perfect drill-down vehicle to take handwashing from prescriptive advice to tailored Hazard Analysis Risk-based Preventive Control, HARPC. While today HARPC officially applies […]
High-Touch Surface Cleanliness
A focus on non-food-contact surfaces High-touch surfaces are often an enemy of wellness. Colds, flu and norovirus are among the most common pathogens acquired by unsuspecting staff and their guests. These contaminated surfaces are a major driver in staff absenteeism as well as other negative outcomes from a casual touch and transfer. Recurring situations drive […]
The Incentivized Handwash
New technologies provide simple answers to age-old handwashing issues. The Pay: A performance-rewarding pay package is THE answer to solving the industry’s appalling handwashing compliance rates. New technologies provide measurement standards and serve as performance monitoring tools. Identify and implement a monthly incentive level worth working for. Here is a sample where an entry level […]
Designing Kitchens for Brand Protection
Reality beyond the Plan Review Consultants who design kitchens are increasingly searching for business-sustainable solutions that benefit their clients well beyond the Plan Review. This service is highly valued as costs to establish strong consumer brands are running high and taking years to establish. Outbreaks can kill a brand with a single incident. The evolution […]
Inadequate Handwashing Cited
Legal action underway Last summer’s Salmonella outbreak at Brent’s Deli in Westlake Village, California, sent 8 people to the hospital. The Ventura County Environmental Health Division conducted inspections at the restaurant, finding inadequate employee hand-washing along with other violations. Poor hand hygiene, poor handwashing, remains the #1 contributing factor cited in outbreak investigations. The risk […]
Don’t Let Perfection Be The Enemy Of Good: The Case for Frequency Over Thoroughness
The risk of a looming foodborne outbreak due to a missed hand wash or the cleaning of a high-touch surface will never be zero. That reality compromises many a food safety program as operators specify thorough cleaning with lofty label-claim products over frequent lighter duty cleaning of both hands and high-touch surfaces. For hand cleanliness, […]
Quality Assurance, Food Safety & Operations: Handwashing for Today and for 2020
An operator’s food safety risk is managed by a focused team of professionals with specific skills, objectives and measurements for success. Each works within a different time frame. The prep-line and wait staff are closest to the food and those served. Their skills and languages may differ but they share a primary objective – service. […]
A Perfect Stormy Virus Season
Norovirus, H3N2 Flu, Colds, Enterovirus 68 and Ebola … Norovirus rates are picking up in a variety of environments as the winter deepens, but this year, it shares the stage with H3N2 flu, Ebola and Enterovirus 68. These four, along with the common cold, are spread everywhere folks gather, calling for added away-from-home hand and […]
