Putting Hygiene First
Last month's Hotelympia 2000 bristled with new equipment designed to ensure HACCP by automatically monitoring and logging everything from individual cooking processes to complete food storage systems. However, such sophistication can be expensive. For many operators, laid-down procedures, training and specialist products and services remain key weapons in dealing with health and safety problems.
Certification courses
The Food Hygiene Advice Centre, established in 1992, undertakes audits, surveys and investigations, including development of HACCP systems, to ensure safe food handling. A range of health and safety certification courses are operated at the Centre's facilities near Huntingdon or the company can provide in-company sessions or distance learning programmes.
Food Hygiene Advice Centre
Fire safety training
Hygiene is not the only condition which needs constant monitoring under the due diligence requirements of today's health and safety and workplace legislation. If you employ more than five staff, you must keep written records assessing fire and accident risks. An investigation of an event which finds any negligence can lead to prosecution.
In addition to the free safety advice available from the Fire Service, various training courses are now available. One example are those of AB Fire Safety Training Services which range from extinguisher training and fire safety awareness to fire risk assessment.
AB Fire Safety Training Services
Easy on the feet
For one of the biggest sources of health and safety problems in kitchens, just look downwards. Because of the risks of slip-ups when carrying heavy pans and sharp utensils, floors are a major cause of accidents and they also contribute significantly to back problems and related ailments because of the long periods which staff spend on their feet.
One answer lies in more comfortable footwear. The Dutch Mule Company supplies a wide range of shoes, imported from Holland and Portugal, which resemble clogs but have rubber rather than wooden soles. A special padded in-step under the arch of the foot further aid comfort. Shoes are unisex and offered in a full range of sizes at around £35 per pair.
Dutch Mule Company
Eating the grease away
Few hygiene problems can be quite as troublesome as grease build-up. Slow draining sinks and blocked drains and grease traps pot only cause operational problems, but can quickly become a source of foul odours and increases in insect and vermin infestation.
An alternative to chemical and mechanical treatments is provided by Effex with its Free Flow system. This employs selected strains of bacteria which, in effect, "eat" grease to prevent further depositing and ensure a free flow of waste water through pipelines. The service, charged for on a monthly basis, consists of supply and maintenance of equipment, biological cultures and nutrients, plus emergency call-out when needed.
Effex
Smoke busters
While water-borne grease is a major cause of a contamination at catering establishments, airborne impurities - especially tobacco smoke - can be equally injurious to health as well as a cause of lost custom. Air filtering specialist Purified Air claims that its recently improved range of Air Purifiers can have a positive environmental impact, removing 98 per cent of airborne impurities, including tobacco smoke.
As well as substantially reducing the risk of passive smoking and negating the need to alienate smoking customers through outright bans, air cleaning also helps reduce redecorating and cleaning costs. The filtering units can be installed on wall or ceiling to match most decor. The company can also supply odour neutralisers to treat kitchen extract emissions.
Purified Air
