Daily supervision and staff illness

Supervision means seeing what is happening and acting on it. New and agency staff need closer supervision than experienced staff. High-risk jobs need closer supervision than low-risk ones.

Build supervision into each shift. Do opening checks. Hold a short briefing on specials, allergens, staff numbers and any faulty equipment. Walk through the work areas during service. Do closing checks. Sign records only after you have looked at them.

Staff illness is one of the most important things you manage. Food handlers must report these symptoms at once: diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach pain, nausea, fever and jaundice. They must also tell you if someone they live with has diarrhoea or vomiting, and if they have an infected wound, a skin condition, a sore, or an infected nose or throat.

Anyone with diarrhoea or vomiting must stay away from food handling until 48 hours after their symptoms have stopped. Do not make exceptions because you are short-staffed. Some serious infections, such as E. coli O157, typhoid, paratyphoid and hepatitis A, may need medical clearance before someone can return. Follow advice from the GP, your local authority or the public health team. People with infected wounds, skin infections or sores must not handle food or enter food areas where they could contaminate it. A clean cut can be covered with a blue waterproof plaster, but an infected one is a reason to keep the person away from food.

A person who is under pressure to work while ill is a risk to everyone. FSA guidance says not to penalise staff for being ill, for example by withholding pay during exclusion, because this may lead people to work while ill. Avoid bonuses or attendance rewards that discourage sick days. If someone has been working while infected, clean and disinfect the areas they touched.

Set clear rules for visitors and contractors as well. An engineer who needs to enter a food area should follow your hygiene rules. The FSA provides a fitness to work questionnaire that can be used for new staff, visitors and people returning from abroad.

When you see poor practice, deal with it at once. Stop the risk first. Then explain what you saw and why it matters, privately if you can. Show the correct way, and check later that it has been done. Record it if it is serious or repeated. If it continues, use your disciplinary procedure. Doing nothing tells the whole team that the rule does not matter.