Example Personnel Policies

XYZ Food Facility

Personnel Policies P1 – P5

Written By: Brittany Alexis

Code: SOP P1 Revision Date: January 24, 2009

All personnel, including visitors and contractors, entering food handling and storage areas must follow “XYZ’s Food Facility’s “Personnel policies at all times to reduce potential food safety hazards and minimize contamination risks.

The following Personnel policies encompass all areas of the facility except the front office.

P1.1 Personal Practices

  • Personnel must maintain an appropriate degree of personal hygiene and cleanliness, e.g. clean and trimmed fingernails
  • No sneezing and coughing toward food, ingredients, processing aids, packaging materials or food contact surfaces. If sneezing and coughing are unavoidable, direct the sneeze or cough into the bend of your elbow and away from the product, wash hands and change smock and gloves.
  • Personnel do not eat, drink beverages, smoke, chew gum or tobacco, spit, use medication in food handling or storage areas, or perform any other potentially unhygienic activities
  • Medication is to be stored in personal lockers and consumed in the lunchroom
  • Eating and drinking beverages is allowed only in the lunchroom and outside in the picnic table area. Smoking is allowed only in the picnic table area.
  • Personnel must not wear fingernail polish, false eyelashes or fingernails, badges, pins, etc.
  • All jewelry including watches, necklaces, chains, bracelets, earrings, exposed piercings, hair decorations and rings are to be removed. Medical alert jewelry is the only exception and must be secure and covered.
  • Items such as pens, thermometers and stop watches are carried in pockets or pouches below the waist
  • Only pens without lids are permitted in the facility
  • Personnel must not bring glass or brittle materials into food handling and storage areas. Eyeglasses (e.g. bifocals) that are not worn are to be stored in your locker.
  • Protective clothing (coats, smocks, aprons, gloves, head covering, hardhats, face covering and footwear) must be worn to prevent contamination. Hair coverings must contain all hair. Beard nets are to be worn to cover beards and mustaches. Personnel with beards and/or moustaches that extend below the upper lip are to wear a beard net.
  • Personnel are to change smocks when moving from raw to cooked areas and vice versa. Do not store protective clothing in lockers with personal clothing.

Raw area

  • blue smock
  • blue apron

Cooked area

  • white smock
  • white apron

Maintenance

  • green smock
  • Smocks and aprons are to be clean and stored on the labeled hooks beside the cooked room entrance for white and beside the entrance to the raw area for blue
  • Remove smocks and aprons and place on the labelled hook before entering washrooms, lunchroom, outside and smoking areas
  • Each day wear clean protective clothing and if they become contaminated change into clean protective clothing. Do not wear clothing that is not in good repair, for example with loose threads, holes, etc. Clean hard hats with soap and water when they get dirty.
  • Gloves (plastic and cotton) are to be maintained in an intact, clean, sanitary manner and are to be changed frequently to prevent sweating and soiling
  • Product containers/packaging are not to be used for anything other than the product
  • Each person is responsible for keeping his/her work area clean and neat. Spills must be cleaned up promptly.
  • Personal lockers must be maintained in a sanitary manner. DO NOT store food in lockers. Store food in the lunchroom only.

P1.2 Hand Washing

Personnel must wash their hands

  • Whenever entering food handling and storage areas, following breaks or use of the washroom, lunch room, locker room and change room
  • Prior to handling food, ingredients, processing aids, packaging materials or food contact surfaces
  • Prior to putting on gloves

After:

  • Handling allergens or between handling different allergens
  • Sneezing, coughing
  • Tying of shoes, smoking
  • Touching your hair or face
  • Handling dirty or contaminated material or equipment (e.g. garbage bins, handle of lift trucks)
  • Using the washroom
  • Picking anything off the floor
  • Every time you switch to a new work location and or change the product being produced
  • Any other time hands may have become contaminated

Steps for proper hand washing include:

  1. Remove jewelry (jewelry should not be worn in the facility)
  2. Wet hands and forearms with warm water
  3. Use soap
  4. Lather vigorously for 20 seconds
  5. Rinse
  6. Dry with paper towel
  7. Keep hands clean (turn off tap and open door with paper towel)
  8. Throw away paper towel

P1.3 Utensils

Personnel must follow the Colour Coding Policy for utensils as described below.

Cook Room
Waste containers / Grey
Product containers / White
Rework containers / Yellow
Garbage containers / Black
Cleaning brushes / White
Drain brush / Black (labelled “Cook Room”)
Brooms and dustpan / Grey
Maintenance tools / Blue handle or blue tag
Ingredient Prep Room
Scoops for soya (allergen) / Yellow
Scoops for peanuts (allergen) / Red
Scoops for non-allergens / White
Raw Room
Waste containers / Purple
Product containers / Red
Rework containers / Brown
Garbage containers / Black
Cleaning brushes / Red
Drain brush / Black (labelled “Raw Room”)
Brooms and dustpan / Purple
Maintenance tools / Red handle or red tag
  • Brushes, brooms, squeegees and dust pans are to be stored on the labeled hooks
  • Scoops are to be stored on the labeled hooks
  • Utensils are not to be taken out of their assigned room
  • Personnel do not leave utensils anywhere they can fall into product, e.g. on the edge of bins, containers
  • Maintenance tools are not to be placed on food contact surfaces

P1.4 Injuries and Illness

Injuries & Wounds

  • All cuts, grazes and open sores on exposed skin are to be covered by a company issued waterproof bandage (located in the First Aid cabinet)
  • Bandaged wounds on the hand must be covered with gloves
  • Change all waterproof coverings at every break/lunch, when returning from the washroom or when the covering becomes soiled
  • Personnel, including contractors are to report all cuts and wounds sustained in the workplace to the Shift Supervisor for appropriate first aid and application of protective coverings
  • If food, ingredients, processing aids, packaging material or food contact surfaces are contaminated with blood, vomit, or saliva from an injury or illness immediately:
  1. Stop the production line if food, ingredients, processing aids, packaging materials or food contacts surfaces are affected or suspect
  2. Notify the Shift Supervisor
  3. Notify the Food Safety Coordinator or designate who will conduct a food safety assessment and complete the Injury Incident record and Hold Record
  4. Follow the appropriate sanitation procedures to clean and sanitize food contact surfaces and surrounding area

Illness

  • Personnel must notify the Shift Supervisor before beginning their work day, if they are suffering from, show symptoms of, or are known to be carriers of an illness transmissible through food (Shigella and Salmonella bacteria, Hepatitis A virus, and noroviruses, etc.) so that any need for medical examination or possible exclusion from food handling can be considered:
  • Symptoms of a transmissible disease include:
  • Jaundice
  • Diarrhea
  • Vomiting
  • Fever
  • Sore throat with fever
  • Visibly infected skin lesions (e.g. boils, cuts)
  • Discharges from the ear, eye or nose
  • Visitors and contractors, including pest control operators are to indicate on the RCD P1.5.2 Visitor Log that they are not suffering from, showing symptoms of, or known to be carriers of an illness transmissible through food
  • Personnel experiencing coughing and sneezing should not directly handle or work around food, ingredients, processing aids, packaging or food contact surfaces. They should report their condition to the Shift Supervisor so that alternate arrangements of work duties can be made.

P1.5 Access and Traffic Patterns

Traffic Patterns

  • All personnel are required to follow the designated traffic patterns to prevent cross-contamination (see RCD P1.5.1)
  • Personnel are to sanitize the bottom of their footwear in the provided foot baths when entering the production area or changing from one production area to another
  • Personnel are restricted to the immediate area of their workstations. Access to their workstations is to be as direct as possible, avoiding travelling through areas of other processing activities.
  • When changing from one area to another, personnel are to put on the appropriate smock for the area they are in or travelling through (e.g. put on a grey smock when travelling through the raw area and change to a white smock when entering the cooked area)
  • Exceptions to these traffic patterns include certain visitors, QC line inspectors, maintenance, pest control operator, and other personnel that need to travel in various areas of the facility throughout the day
  • Only authorized personnel wearing blue uniforms are allowed to enter the cooked room
  • Truck drivers are restricted to the receiving area
  • Contractors are restricted to the area they are working in
  • Start visitor tours from a clean area and travel toward less clean areas (e.g. start in the cooked area and travel toward the raw area)

Access

  • Personnel must follow the controlled facility access policies listed below:
  • Employees enter the facility at the employee entrance
  • Visitors enter the facility at the Main Office. The receptionist will provide the Personnel Policy to all visitors.

Visitors:

  • Are to comply with the Personnel Policies
  • Sign the Visitor Log
  • Will be accompanied at all times
  • Are restricted to authorized areas specific to the purpose of the visit
  • Are not to handle product unless authorized to do so
  • Before commencing work, contractors and pest control operators enter the facility at the maintenance entrance and sign the Visitor Log
  • Contractors and pest control operators are to review the pertinent Personnel Practices polices that apply to them
  • Contractors are not to leave their designated work area unless escorted by a facility employee
  • All exterior doors must be properly closed and secure
  • Drivers enter the facility at the shipping door and do not leave the shipping office

If you are unable to follow any part of this policy (e.g. no soap for hand washing, not enough hairnets) immediately notify the Supervisor to resolve the problem.

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