Specifying a Hand Hygiene System
Hand sink location in any foodservice facility is best measured in terms of risk assessment, rather than by the minimum distances required by the Plan Review process.
By Jim Mann -- Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, 3/1/2004 12:00:00 AM
Foodservice Equipment & Supplies
Specifying a Hand Hygiene System
 In this update of foodborne illness-reducing practices channel partners can recommend to operators, the author argues that it is time to replace the CAD hand sink symbol with 'best practices hand hygiene.' |
Hand sink location in any foodservice facility is best measured in terms of risk assessment, rather than by the minimum distances required by the Plan Review process. This is because a needs analysis based on risk helps to pinpoint not only the optimum location for hand sinks, but also brings clarity to the entire process of encouraging hand hygiene by foodservice staff members. A review of the risks associated with an operation's menu, population being served, anticipated level of process control and staffing per shift will do more than anything else to set the design and hand sink-location parameters. What's more, early establishment and quantification of hand hygiene standards for staff in a new or renovated facility will help project team members select and specify the most effective equipment and its location. Once this process is set in motion, handwashing frequency standards can be established and enforced, staff training can be conducted and performance monitored by actual handwashing counts. The result is that maximum process control is achieved and hand sinks are effectively replaced with "hand hygiene stations."
In the foodservice industry, handwashing rates are now estimated to be about half of what they should be. What impact would a doubling of event-driven handwashing have on reducing operators' risks? Would the risks be cut in half?
This question serves to open a dialogue that leads to establishing a level of acceptable risk. Dealer designers and consultants who use best practice tools to approximate risk levels and then create facility plans to manage the outcomes set themselves apart from those still trapped in the tradition of hand sink number and location minimums.
To assist those who design professional kitchens and dining areas, here is a multi-step best practices outline to link design choices with an implementation and process control system based on the FDA's recommended Person-In-Charge (PIC) concept.
Step 1 — Understanding Operators' Risks
This analytical approach starts with a cross-functional team creating or updating a list of most likely outcomes from a hypothetical foodborne illness outbreak. Questions for the team to ask include: To what extent is the operator/owner's brand damaged? How long will the recovery period be? What will be the direct costs and impact on the bottom line? What will happen to the workforce?
Step 2 — Setting Handwashing Frequency Standards
Effective handwashing is the result of a managed process based on proven science and expected outcomes. The process must be written down by unit or corporate management in order to train employees and protect the long-term integrity of an overall food safety system. To begin, a cross-functional team might focus on the food prep process and establish an optimum rate of handwashes per employee hour or handwashes per meal served. Separate standards can also be assigned to specific hand hygiene stations to account for differing requirements for prep-line workers and waitstaff. Once established, handwashing numbers should be checked and adjusted using (if possible) digital counting devices installed in hand soap dispensers, electronic faucets or badge scanning systems.
(To access a worksheet that can be initially used as an estimating tool and later as specification support for use in audits and local inspections, log on to http://www.handwashingforlife.com/self_assessment/risks.)
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Step 3 — Optimizing Hand Hygiene Stations
Handwashing convenience and overall facility cleanliness make doing the right thing easier for staff. Food prep staff and servers, in particular, are more likely to wash as often as they should if a hand sink is within their normal span of travel and such sinks always should be positioned within three to five paces of critical food handling tasks. Further, eliminating handles, push/pull buttons, levers and cranks on faucets, hand soap and paper towel dispensers provides a user-friendly component that is likely to increase staff use and decrease cross-contamination. The convenient location of food code-compliant hand sanitizers, gloves and nailbrushes is also likely to increase the use of these added interventions.
Step 4 — Monitoring, Communicating Success And Competing
If a hand hygiene program is to be successful, operators must be reminded that monitoring staff handwashing activities is a must. Fortunately, new technology can help operators go beyond normal visual checks. Simple counters in hand soap dispensers help to elevate the importance of handwashing to that of other frequently tracked measurements such as food inventory, cooking and holding temperatures. Measurement of all handwashing processes can thereby become another measure of the PIC's leadership and management skills.
A cross-functional team might focus on the food prep process and establish an optimum rate of handwashes per employee hour.
To find out how handwashing-compliance competitions between shifts or staff at different locations help to maintain gains realized from the training program, log on to http://www.handwashingforlife.com/learning_center/lcenter.html.
The effectiveness of this multi-step process to increase hand hygiene by foodservice staff will be directly proportional to the thoroughness of the initial needs analysis and (of major importance) securing unit or corporate management commitment to this continuous improvement program. When the commitment of managers and channel partners is translated into a process, it can then be embodied in a simple CAD symbol. Foodservice consultants and dealer personnel can thereby gain an additional tool to assess operator risk and specify a risk-based hand hygiene system simply by making a single keystroke. For more information, log on to http://www.handwashingforlife.com/self_assessment/risks_costs.html.
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"Heck, no," replied Lawence Rosenbloom, a principal at APW Wyott Foodservice Equipment Inc., Dallas, when asked if he considered himself to be a mover and shaker. "I am surprised to have been so named, that's for sure. I've been in this business for 21 years as of this year, but I don't think 20 years is a long time [in our industry]. I still think of myself as a pup."
Indeed, Rosenbloom insisted that he has no title at his company, describing his role merely as "delivering the sales budget of the corporation. I oversee sales. But my business card is blank." APW Wyott makes retail foodservice equipment including hot plates, fryers, toasters, food warmers, hot food wells and refrigerated cold wells. The company also owns Bakers Pride and Bevles, a maker of holding cabinets, and has manufacturing plants in Texas and Wyoming.
Originally from South Africa, Rosenbloom is a member of both FCSI and NAFEM. Outside of business, he is a past chairman of the Dallas chapter of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), his three-year term having expired this past October. He recently accepted the position of national vice chairman of community service for the ADL. "I was only just appointed," he said. "I'm still trying to figure out what to do."
Rosenbloom has also sat on "my share of" synagogue and Jewish Community Center boards. He described himself as "more of a traditional Jew than not. We moved here in February 1982 from South Africa - myself, my wife and our three kids - and joined the Conservative movement at that time."
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Lawrence and Natalie Rosenbloom (above), seen here on the Colorado River, like to vacation in exotic locales such as Cancun and the Caribbean. |
The move from South Africa was made, he said, because "politically, the system [of that time] had no future." Partner Hylton Jonas and his family joined the Rosenblooms in the move. A year after they arrived, they, along with Rosenbloom's brother Brian and brother-in-law Howard Kraines, bought APW.
While he acknowledged the difficulties that come along with running any family business, Rosenbloom felt he has managed to avoid most if not all of them. "Obviously, we always hear about challenges in family businesses. I don't think we have those challenges, mainly because of the way we've organized things."
What Rosenbloom termed a "fantastic advantage" has been the partners' ability to divide responsibilities clearly among themselves. "Brian is responsible for manufacturing and engineering. Hylton is responsible for administration, finance and strategic planning. Those are areas that, perhaps, I don't enjoy." The division of roles "allows me to focus on where I'm strong and to leave my weaknesses to the others."
Rosenbloom enjoys golf, but said he doesn't get to play enough. "If I'm lucky, I play a couple of times a month, that's all. In the summertime maybe it's six times or so." His handicap is 24, a fact that made him laugh.
"You've heard the famous Sammy Davis Jr. joke? He went to play golf and they asked him, 'What's your handicap?' He said, 'I'm black, I've got one eye and I'm Jewish, and you ask me my handicap?'"
Rosenbloom, 51, and his wife Natalie married in 1976. Their triplets, Penny, Emma and Bevan, are 23 and live in New York and Danbury, Conn. He said he considers himself "very family oriented," and makes sure to see his children fairly often since they all travel for work. "We enjoy spending time with our kids, even though they all live in or near New York."
Family vacations have taken the Rosenblooms to ports of call such as Puerto Rico in 2002 and Cancun in '03. "We've also gone on cruises, and we've been back to South Africa. We travel a lot with the kids."
Rosenbloom noted that, like many of us, he believes he has matured somewhat over his years in foodservice E&S. "Initially, I was, maybe, different at work and away from work. But as I've gotten older, the two have moved closer."
Rosenbloom said he considers himself "fairly modest. I don't like the limelight, I really don't. I don't enjoy public speaking. When I was president of ADL here, I had to do a fair amount of speeches and I never derived pleasure from it. Back in December, however, we had an engagement party for my daughter, Penny. I got very caught up in making a speech to her and got very emotional. I'm an emotional person, I think."
His philosophy of life is simple. "Work hard. I've always worked hard. I believe I've done that to provide for my family."
Now that his children are out of college and part of the work force, they need to decide whether to take a place in the business that has given their family its livelihood.
Said Rosenbloom, "I've always told them that if they do want to join our business, they have to go work in another company first, for a real boss, which they're all doing right now. This way, after five years, when they've learned something, they can come and join our business, if they want."
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