SITHIND001 Use Hygienic Practices for Hospitality Service

Maintain Personal Hygiene

Develop a routine of personal cleanliness practices in preparation for work and to maintain customer
confidence in organisational service

Microorganisms are everywhere. Microorganisms are tiny organisms that are so tiny they can only be
seen through a microscope. They include bacteria, yeasts, moulds/ fungi and viruses.
Microorganisms live in the ground, in water and inside or on the skin of other organisms, including
humans. Some microorganisms can cause disease, but other actually help with everyday activities like
digesting food.
When workers and customers move around a work area so do microorganisms.
Personal hygiene is about personal cleanliness and habits – paying extra attention to your physical
cleanliness and appearance to ensure that microorganisms are not transferred from you to food or
customers.
High standards of personal hygiene will help maintain a healthy work environment.
Staff must follow basic cleanliness practices or routines. A routine is a sequence of steps that does not
vary.
When staff prepare for work it is important they follow a personal hygiene routine to ensure they are
clean, neatly groomed and appropriately dressed.
A high standard of personal hygiene, grooming and presentation, helps customers form a positive and
lasting impression of staff, the organisation and industry.
Clean, well-dressed staff with a positive attitude, send a message to their customers that they are about
their job and their customers. This gives customer confidence that their expectations will be met and
that workers will deliver the standard of service and experience they expect.

Good personal hygiene practices

Good personal hygiene practices include:
Bath - Bather or shower at least daily
- Use soap/ liquid gel to wash the body, and rinse
- Dry off with a clean towel

Deodorant - Use deodorant daily after showering and bathing

- Deodorant minimise body odour and keeps sweat from appearing
on clothing

Brush teeth - Brush and floss teeth at least once every day
- A clean mouth and clean teeth help to avoid tooth decay and gum
disease and keep breath fresher

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 Hair - Wash hair with shampoo and conditioner
- Brush or comb hair daily
- Have hair cut regularly to keep it neat and tidy
- Tie long hair back or wear a clean hat or hairnet in the workplace.
Hair attracts bacteria and customers do not wish to find hair in
their food

Shave - Shave daily or, if you are allowed to wear a beard in the
workplace keep it clean and trimmed.
Hand - Wash hands thoroughly with liquid soap/ hand sanitiser
(antibacterial soap) and water after going to the toilet, before
preparing and/ or eating food or drinks
Feet - Wash feet daily and keep toenails short
- Wear clean socks and well-fitted clean footwear
Clothes - Wash and iron clothes regularly
- Wear clean clothes
Skin - Treat skill allergies, conditions, cuts and wounds
- Cover wounds with coloured, waterproof Band-Aids and, if
necessary, food-grade gloves

Jewellery
Do not wear jewellery as it harbours bacteria and can be a safety hazard. The skin on your body beneath
the jewellery contains moisture in which bacteria breed and can then be transferred to food.
Jewellery can also get caught in machinery or equipment, stones might fall out into foods and because
jewellery metal heats up very quickly when working with hot stoves etc it can burn the wearer.

Uniform
In many establishments, it will be necessary to wear a uniform. If staff are expected to launder their
own uniforms, then it will be necessary to develop suitable routines doing so – to ensure that uniforms
are always clean and well pressed.
Uniforms should not be worn outside of the establishment. Staff should wear street clothes to work and
change into a uniform once they get there. This will ensure that uniforms are clean and will reduce the
likelihood of carrying microorganisms that can affect food or customers.

Gloves
Gloves can be used when handling foods or when undertaking cleaning duties. Use disposable gloves
and dispose of them after each use. When using gloves in food preparation areas the gloves must be
changed whenever you handle a new product, move from one area to another, touch your own body
(scratch, or push your hair back), handle money or other non-food items.

Disease

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Do not attend work if suffering from any infectious or notifiable disease (this includes the common cold,
chickenpox, measles, gastroenteritis etc).
If sneezing or coughing, ensure that your nose or mouth is covered; sneeze or cough into your elbow.
Immediately dispose of tissues used for nose blowing (do not carry handkerchiefs).
Do not scratch yourself or touch any parts of your body including hair while handling food. If you do,
wash your hands immediately afterward.
Practising high standards of personal hygiene at all time will:
- Creating a positive and professional impression with management and team members
- Create and maintain customer confidence
An airborne disease is caused by microorganisms travelling from one person to another on respiratory
droplets (released during sneezing, coughing, laughing or exhaling) or dust.
In the case of airborne diseases, it is not necessary to come into direct contact with someone who is
infected to become ill.
Infectious disease is caused by microorganisms or viruses entering the body and growing and
multiplying.
The most common way to spread infectious diseases is through direct contact such as person to person
contact or animal to person contact but it can be transmitted indirectly.
Illness spreads through the transfer of microorganisms from an infected person or animal to another
person.
Airborne and infectious diseases and illness can be spread when:

• blowing your nose and handling tissues that were used

• coughing
• drinking
• scratching your skin or hair then touching food or food receptacles
• touching:
• your hair and not washing hands afterwards, or allowing hair to drop into foods or beverages
• your lips or mouth and not washing hands afterwards
• sneezing
• spitting
• touching wounds, then handling food or beverages
• carrying infectious disease and:
• handling foods, taps, doorknobs etc
• touching other people—personal contact, including kissing and hugging
• not properly cleaning plates, cups, glasses and cutlery that you have used and that will be
used by others
• simply being in the same room as other people
Infectious disease can be transmitted indirectly. Bacteria can be present on things like table tops, taps,
doorknobs, and computer keyboards. If a doorknob was handled by a person with the flu or a cold,
bacteria might be left on the doorknob. Other people can then pick up the bacteria by touching the

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doorknob and then they might also become infected if they touch their eyes, mouth or nose before
they wash their hands.

Follow hygienic practices and support workplace hygiene requirements

Under food safety legislation workers are responsible for doing everything reasonably possible to
protect their own health and safety and that of others in the workplace. They must follow all reasonable
work instructions and procedures, and avoid unhygienic personal contact with food and food contact
areas. They must be aware of and comply with legislation relating to hygiene in the workplace,
participate in suitable training, and take all reasonable precautions to ensure food and beverage safety
for patrons.
Examples of hygienic practices include, but are not limited to:

• washing hands after going to the toilet or taking breaks

• reporting hygiene hazards
• reporting personal illness to a supervisor
• not coughing, smoking, spitting or sneezing over food or other people
• wearing clean clothing
• following organisational procedures
• wearing appropriate and well-maintained PPE where relevant
• maintaining good personal hygiene both away and in the workplace
• not working if sick

Check and adjust personal cleanliness during service period

Personal hygiene is important for controlling of the spread of foodborne, airborne and infectious disease.
Staff must make every effort to maintain a high standard of personal cleanliness and a professional
appearance. They should check and adjust any issues as they arise during service periods.

Cross-contamination
Cross-contamination occurs when microorganisms are transferred from the uniform, hands, other parts
of the human body including hair, unclean utensils, surfaces and equipment to food and beverages; or
microorganisms are transferred from one food to another.
While microorganisms are present everywhere and many are harmless, some are necessary (for example
for digesting food), others, called pathogens can cause food spoilage and food contamination.
Consumption of contaminated food will result in food poisoning.
Food poisoning can be very serious for the victims. It can result in illness and sometimes even in death.
Food poisoning can also have serious repercussions for the establishment. They can be involved in
investigation by the local government (Environmental Health Officers), in litigation, or could be fined
and/ or shut down.

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Not only must staff be aware of hygiene requirements at the beginning of a shift, they must continually
adjust what is happening to ensure that there are no risks of cross-contamination.
Any hospitality establishment that is not perceived as being clean and if staff do not present as clean
and maintain cleanliness standards during each service period it is likely that the establishment will be
avoided by customers in future.

Self-check
Staff should check their personal cleanliness and the cleanliness of their uniform and footwear regularly
thought their shift including before returning to their work area after a shift break.
It is quite common for uniform items to become soiled during a service period. For example, bar staff
can spill drinks, kitchen staff will leave food stains on aprons when they wipe their hands on them, and
porters’ uniforms can become sweaty and dirty from lifting luggage.
Workers can check their appearance in the mirror when they use the bathroom, or briefly check their
appearance in mirrors located in staff change rooms. They might also ask a supervisor or team member
for feedback on their personal appearance.

Bandages and dressings

Bandages and dressings on exposed parts of the body such as the hands, arms or face must be covered
with waterproof coverings.
Band-Aids should be waterproof and so also, should any dressings or bandages that are needed.
If bandages must be worn they should have some sort of waterproof or plastic covering to prevent the
spread of harmful bacteria.
Blue (or coloured) Band-Aids should be used on cuts and wounds on a part of the body that could come
into contact with food or food preparation surfaces or equipment.
This will ensure that cut or wound is covered and that, if the Band-Aid accidently becomes loose and
falls into food, it will be much easier to see than a skin-coloured or transparent Band-Aids. If this does
occur however, assume the food is contaminated and do not serve it.
Latex gloves must also be worn, if there are cuts on the hands, to cover the Band-Aids and to prevent
the Band-Aid from falling off.

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