HACCP

HACCP assessments can be downloaded from the EZESafe website. These must be checked, signed and dated by the current Kitchen Manager for all current menus and reviewed each year if no change. If the Kitchen Manager changes, the new Kitchen Manager must review and sign all paperwork as soon as possible - ideally within the first week.

Luckily, because all of our menus are controlled centrally, a lot of the hard work is done for you and you will be supplied with up to date copies of things like allergens regularly. But every kitchen is different, so you must think carefully about which HACCP forms you need.

HACCP is applicable to all kitchen practices, not just food prep, so consider all aspects of your operation - menus, ordering, storage, food prep, equipment used and your physical environment - and what controls are needed.

When checking your paperwork, you must make sure your HACCP documents match your current menus and operation. Don't download and print every sheet on EZESafe; look at your menus, your equipment, ordering, and your ways of working, consider what controls you need and work from there.

If the auditor sees a signed HACCP sheet in your folder for "Storage and preparation of live shellfish", they will expect to see a lobster tank! If you have paperwork which does not match your kitchen operation, it will suggest that either you have signed everything without reading it, or worse, that you don't actually understand HACCP and you will be penalised for it.

The auditor must also see evidence that the controls in your assessments are actually practiced within your kitchen and that your Kitchen Manager fully understands both them and the food safety policies.

Paperwork

Keeping your kitchen paperwork up to date not only makes life a lot easier come SSG, it also keeps your kitchen safe, legally compliant and is your protection if ever faced with an allegation of food poisoning.

Information should be recorded honestly and in real time, directly onto the relevant paperwork - not scribbled down on scrap paper and copied neatly to the appropriate sheet later.

You will need:

• Daily, Weekly and Monthly Cleaning Records

• Delivery and Storage Records

• Wastage Sheets

• Temperature Records for: Delivery records, refrigerators and freezers, cold food display units, hot display units, core temperature for food produced during service, blast chiller or cooling records for pre cooked high risk foods

• HACCP Paperwork (these should be reviewed yearly, even if you know nothing has changed)

• Allergens (all menus and specials)

• Safe Systems Of Work (these should be reviewed yearly, even if you know nothing has changed)

• Risk Assessments (these should be reviewed yearly, even if you know nothing has changed)

• COSHH and Safety Data Sheets (these should be reviewed yearly, even if you know nothing has changed)

• Training Records

• Food Policy Documents

This list is non-exhaustive and may change so check the most recent audit template for any additional paperwork required.

The information on your paperwork should match what the auditor finds in the kitchen. Theoretically, an auditor should be able to look at your kitchen paperwork (delivery notes, temperature records, wastage forms etc) and the food sales reports, track the journey of any item of stock arriving in the hotel and anticipating exactly what they will find in your fridges.

Paperwork should be completed honestly, in real time, regularly throughout the day.

Fridge temperatures should be checked by probing a temperature control bottle - a bottle of water in every fridge, clearly labelled "Temperature Control"

Freezer temperatures should be checked by probing between packs of food and the temperature recorded - the electronic readout should not be taken for granted.

Dates should be checked twice daily and anything which has exceeded EITHER the manufacturers date OR the the in house use by date disposed of and recorded on Wastage Sheets

Open foods should be wrapped, appropriately labelled and stored in the appropriate location to prevent contamination

No unnecessary cardboard should be in fridges

Temperature records should be available for: Delivery records, refrigerators and freezers, cold food display units, hot display units, core temperature for food produced during service, blast chiller or cooling records for pre cooked high risk foods

Stock should be purchased through nominated suppliers (Brakes for food, LWC for beverage) only. Where stock must be purchased from a shop in an emergency, you must use one of the Big 5 supermarkets for traceability reasons.

Storage areas must be kept clean, with pest control measures in place

Deliveries should be put away quickly and in the correct order

Cleaning schedules must be used and the level of cleanliness and hygiene standards accurately reflect what is recorded in the paperwork.

Colour coded chopping boards should be available, correctly stored and used appropriately in the preparation of food.

All raw and cooked food prep utensils must be stored and used in the preparation of food separately

All reasonable effort must be made to avoid foreign material and chemical contamination. This should be monitored throughout the day. Measures should include disposing of chipped crockery, keeping the kitchen uncluttered and no mobile phones in the kitchen.

Food handlers must wear correct uniform, including suitable head coverings.

Food handlers must be seen washing their hands during the audit and a sufficient supply of bactericidal soap and blue roll/paper towels available.

The cleanliness of bars and cellars are assessed as part of the kitchen audit, so keep in mind poor cleanliness or record keeping within bars and cellars could impact your food safety scores. This includes ice machines, glass washes, bar fridges and beer lines.

Hot Holding is "the process of keeping the cooked food at a safe temperature while it is ready for service". Any hot held food must be maintained at 63oC or above and probed regularly throughout service

Cold displays must be maintained at 8oC or below or 4 hour rule followed

The 4 hour rule: When you display cold food (e.g. on a buffet) you should use suitable chilled display equipment to keep it at 8°C or below. If this is not possible there is a ‘4 hour rule’ exception: You can display food out of chilled storage for up to four hours, but you can only do this once.

Make sure you know how long food has been on display or kept out of chilled storage. It is a good idea to label foods with the time they were taken out of the fridge or write this information in your diary so you can check the time easily.

Providing the food on the cold display has not exceeded 8 degrees, AND has been displayed for less than four hours, it can be put back in the fridge and kept at 8°C or below until it is used. If it has been out for more than four hours it must be thrown away.

If you do take food out of chilled storage to display it, remove a small amount at a time. Make sure that food on display is used up before you add new food. This will make it easier to ensure that food is not left on display longer than 4 hours.

Food samples for functions over 40 people must be stored in individual containers, frozen, correctly labelled and kept for 3 months

During service, you must probe and record a good variety of high risk and reheated food before serving to the guest

The Kitchen Manager and Deputy Kitchen Manager must have completed Food Safety Level 3 Training and all food handlers must have completed Level 2. Check out the Food Safety page for more information.

All food handlers must complete allergen training

All chefs must demonstrate and have a clear understanding of fundamental food safety practices and HACCP.

All chefs must be trained on key control measures: HACCP, COSHH and SSW, with signed records available

All food handlers must be able to confidently and correctly answer questions posed by the auditor or know where to find the information if they do not know the answer.

All food handlers must demonstrate and have a clear understanding of the required paperwork standards.

All food handlers must have signed the Agreement to Report Infection form

Health and safety meetings must take place at least every two months and minutes must be available for the auditor

Evidence must be available that the actions discussed have been followed through

A safe system of work is a method of doing a job which eliminates identified hazards, controls others and plans to achieve the controlled completion of the work with minimum risk. Relevant Safe Systems of Work must be completed for all departments. Make sure your SSWs are relevant to the environment and the job your employees are doing - having signed SSWs for tasks your employees don't do or using equipment you don't have is a very quick way of telling your auditor you just printed and signed the paperwork with no meaningful analysis or training. These must be signed and dated by the HOD or a "competent person" and must be reviewed each year. .

A General Risk Assessment form (RA001) must be completed for each department, with accompanying Detailed Risk Assessment forms (RA002) for any area on the risk assessment where the risk rating scores above a 9. See below to learn how to calculate risk score.

A risk assessment must also be completed for work related stress, lone working, personal security and violence at work

Completing a Risk Assessment

When completing a risk assessment, the risk rating is the multiple of the severity and the likelihood of any hazard.

Likelihood: 1 – Very Unlikely; 2 – Unlikely; 3 – Fairly Likely; 4 – Likely; 5 – Very Likely

Severity: 1 – Insignificant ; 2 – Minor; 3 – Moderate; 4 – Major; 5 - Catastrophic

• Score the hazard first based on the likelihood and severity with no controls in place.

• Consider controls which could reduce the likelihood of an incident occurring.

• Rescore with the same severity score, but a new likelihood score. (Placing restrictors on windows makes you less likely to fall out, but you will still suffer the same level of injury if you somehow manage to fall out a window with restrictors as one which was wide open)

• The second score is your risk rating.

Check the most up to date audit template for comprehensive fire safety standards your Maintenance Manager will be responsible for upkeeping.

Some general points to remember:

• Ensure your front office team print the downtime report every 2 hours - the auditor will ask to see it!

• A complete fire safety risk assessment must be completed, reviewed and signed by the hotel manager within the last 12 months.

• Fire Safety Inspection Form FS001 must be completed every 6 months

• All fire escape routes must be kept clear and no fire doors wedged open. One member of staff leaving a rubbish bag in the wrong place on the day of your audit could lose you a lot of points (and in the event of an evacuation could pose a real safety risk) so make sure staff are consistently reminded of the importance of keeping corridors, stairwells and exits clear.

• Signed records must demonstrate a fire evacuation takes place every 3 months, with all staff taking part within the last 6 months

• Records must show night time patrols taking place twice per night

• Regular in house checks must be carried out and records available for:

Nightly - fire walks (2x per night)

Weekly - fire alarm tests, break glass/manual call points

Monthly - emergency lighting, fire extinguishers, fire doors

As they happen - unplanned fire evacs

• Checks must also be carried out by the current nominated supplier for:

6 monthly - Ansul system service, kitchen ventilation system cleaned, fire alarm service

Yearly - Fire detectors, extinguishers, emergency lighting, fixed wiring, PAT testing

• Ensure your external evacuation point has two clear signs

The best way to ensure compliance with the accident reporting standards is to make sure every employee understands the importance of reporting all accidents, incidents and near misses and to fill in the correct form... not as a box ticking exercise, but to ensure accidents are tracked, patterns spotted and reoccurrence prevented.

Accidents, incidents and near misses must be reported through the report form on Kew Normal as well as any in-house forms and accident books used.

Anything RIDDOR reportable must be highlighted on the accident log. RIDDORs are reported online - make sure you speak to your DOO before doing anything.

All accidents should be reviewed and investigated with risk assessments and SSW reviewed and preventative action taken where appropriate.

Sufficient numbers of qualified first aiders must be available to provide 24 hour coverage.

First Aid provision checklist FA003 must be completed every 6 months. This must be reflective of the contents of First Aid Kits - ensure contents are adequate and in date. Make sure your first aid supplies are sufficient for the size of your building with kits easily accessible when needed.

Ensure your visitor book is in use - remember to ask your auditor to sign in!

Ensure your local contractor list and any relevant permits are up to date.

Safety data sheets AND COSHH assessments must be available for ALL chemicals used within each department (this is as specific as having the correct brand of hand soap on sinks!). Safety data sheets can usually be downloaded from the supplier's website. If they are not on the website, suppliers can provide them on request. COSHH assessment templates can be downloaded from the EZESafe website and the relevant information transferred from the Safety Data Sheet. COSHH assessments and Safety Data Sheets must be organised and stored accessibly in the event a person comes into contact with a chemical and is required to take the sheets with them when seeking medical attention.

Chemicals must be stored correctly, properly labelled and no prohibited chemicals (such as bleach) found present.

Appropriate PPE must be available in relevant locations and clearly used.

The Maintenance Manager must keep up to date records for PAT testing, fixed wiring, electrical installation and lighting. Defects must be corrected and no faulty or dangerous electrical equipment found.

Monthly - Ladder register completed

Quarterly - Lifts serviced and records available

6 Monthly - Electrical appliances checked and records available

Yearly - Microwave leakage test, all gas appliances tested

Valid pressure test certificates for all pressure vessels must be available for all pressure vessels - do not forget your coffee machine!

Rubber mats and signage must be in place in all fuse rooms

Gas cylinders must be stored safely - attached to the wall to prevent injury.

Certificates must be available for all lifting equipment including passenger lifts and a contingency plan in place for lift rescue.

If the hotel was constructed before 2000 an asbestos survey should be available.

All windows above ground floor should be fitted with restrictors. Best practice is for Housekeeping to check these while in rooms and report any defects immediately.

A Legionella Risk Assessment must be completed and reviewed within the last 2 years - this is generally outsourced to a third party company

The Maintenance Manager must be trained in control of Legionella in order to ensure water safety. Legionella bacteria multiplies between 20oC and 45oC. The bacteria is dormant below 20 and cannot survive above 60 so the primary method to control risk is temperature control.

Accredited online learning is delivered by Praxis42, available at: https://www.praxis42.com/elearning/legionella-awareness/

Calorifiers should store water at 60oC and hot water distributed at 50oC

Cold water should be stored and distributed at 20oC.

Records must be kept demonstrating:

• Weekly - Little used outlets flushed

• Monthly - Water temperature checks carried out

• Quarterly - Shower heads descaled and disinfected

Particular care must be taken if the hotel has a jacuzzi as these tend to be the ideal temperature for Legionella bacteria to thrive. Leisure teams should carry out regular checks on all wet facilities and make sure records and certificates are available

• All dangerous machinery should have appropriate guards available and in good repair.

• A register of all ladders should be available and all working at height activities risk assessed.

• All employees who use a computer/screen should complete an initial assessment using form VDU002 to establish whether they are a screen user

• Employees identified as screen users must have a detailed workplace workstation analysis using form VDU003

• The General Workplace Inspection (HWE001) must be completed 6 monthly

• All windows above ground floor must have restrictors (these will be checked at random)