Train your staff in food safety

Everyone who handles food needs the right skills for their role, and you must be able to show it.

Decide how each person will learn

Match the method to the role, then check it worked by watching the person at work and asking them questions.

Give new starters an induction

Train new food handlers when they start, and supervise them until they are competent. A first-day induction should cover:

• personal hygiene, including clean protective clothing, hair tied back and covered, no watches or jewellery other than a plain wedding band, and not touching their face or hair
• when to wash their hands: before preparing food, after touching raw food, after handling waste or emptying a bin, after cleaning, after blowing their nose or touching their face or hair, after touching phones, light switches, door handles and cash registers, and after going to the toilet
• telling you if they are unwell, because staff with diarrhoea, vomiting, infected wounds or sores, stomach pain, nausea, fever, jaundice or an infected skin, nose or throat must not handle food or enter the food handling area
• telling you if anyone they live with has diarrhoea or vomiting
• your own food safety procedures, such as your SFBB safe methods and diary or your HACCP plan, including how to check and record temperatures and how to avoid cross-contamination
• how to manage allergens in their role

The FSA's SFBB packs include a "Working with food?" factsheet for training staff on personal hygiene on their first day, designed to help with language difficulties.

Train for allergens

You must be able to give customers accurate allergen information. Training staff to manage allergens in their role means knowing how to answer allergen questions, how to check the information is accurate before answering, what to do when unsure and what to do if a customer has an allergic reaction. The FSA provides free online food allergy training. No particular course is required by law.

Refresh and update training

Repeat or add training when someone changes role, when your menu, recipes or procedures change, and after an inspection or food safety incident points to a gap.

Keep a training record

Record each person's name and role, the date, what was covered, how it was delivered, who delivered it and when it should be refreshed. Officers also judge competence by watching staff, asking them questions and checking supervision, so what staff know and do matters as much as the paperwork.

What happens if you fall short

Failing to meet the training requirements is an offence under the hygiene regulations. On conviction you face a fine, and on indictment up to 2 years in prison, a fine or both. Training also feeds into the management part of your food hygiene rating, so gaps can lower the rating the officer gives you.