Health, Hygiene and Safety PDF

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Health, Hygiene and Safety

About this Course In the world of hospitality, accidents and illness could mean injury, job loss and a damaged reputation. By knowing health, hygiene and safety standards inside out, your team will know how to prevent accidents and illness due to a lack of hygiene. Lobster Ink’s Health, Hygiene and Safety course teaches the basics of staying safe, hygienic and healthy in the housekeeping department.

Health and Hygiene It is vital to understand these words in the housekeeping department. The housekeeping department is the department that is responsible for the majority of anything to do with the health, hygiene, and safety of an establishment. Every department is responsible for their own hygiene and safety practices but the housekeeping department is the department which needs to know the most about this subject. In this lesson we will define: 1. What is health? 2. What is hygiene? and 3. How we achieve hygienic environments through cleanliness?

1. What is health?

Health is defined as the state of being free from illness or injury, this includes anything to do with a person's mental or physical condition. To remain healthy we need to adhere to a few good practices to ensure that no harm or ill health is caused, especially, not to one of us or one of our guests. This can damage our well being and our establishment's reputation.

2. What is hygiene? is defined as the condition that needs to be kept to prevent disease that causes illness - making someone sick. Being hygienic means to stop the spread of germs, bacteria, and all sorts of dangerous little critters that can make someone sick. So, quickly understanding these two words: health and hygiene, we can make two formulas. Poor hygiene could make someone sick and good hygiene will help to ensure that a person stays healthy. The hygienic condition that we want to continuously maintain is made possible by keeping everything clean.

3. How we achieve hygienic environments through cleanliness? If something is cleaned properly it helps in creating a hygienic condition. So, again this cleanliness, provides us with hygienic conditions, which supports the person’s state of health. This needs to be a clear understanding, so be sure to write this formula down to remind yourself of why is it essential to create and maintain perfect, clean and hygienic conditions. CLEANLINESS = GOOD HYGIENE = HEALTHY PERSON Not only for ourselves but for our guests too. This is absolutely vital, as nothing is more important than someone's health. As a department we need to get this right to ensure that health and hygiene are met and exceeded within every part of our daily duties.

In the next lesson, we will define what accidents are, how they are caused, and how we can prevent them, looking closely at what is safe working conditions by the end of these first two lessons you should have an understanding of the relationship between health hygiene and safety.

Safety Health and hygiene, created through correct cleaning procedures allows us to look after ourselves and our guests. The other way of looking after ourselves and our guests is to keep everyone safe and working in safe conditions. In this lesson we will be defining: 1. Safety 2. Accidents 3. Understanding what causes accidents and 4. How to prevent accidents

Let's begin with defining safety: Safety is defined as the condition of being protected from unlikely danger, risks, or injury. We want to protect anyone from any form of danger or getting hurt in any way. One of the main causes of someone getting hurt or being placed in danger is through accidents.

How can we define accidents:

The housekeeping department helps in keeping guests and colleagues healthy, but they also have the responsibility to keep guests and themselves free from accidents and physical injury too. Accidents are defined as an unfortunate occurrence that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally. This means that an accident happens without anyone meaning to cause harm, usually involve something bad happening and may even include somebody getting hurt.

What causes accidents? Accidents never just happen, they are caused. There are two things that cause accidents: 1. People don't follow safety rules that are in place and Example of somebody not following safety rules is: if they are not wearing protective equipment when dealing with chemicals.

2. When people work in conditions that are not safe Example: working in a laundry room with a large tumble dryer and is badly wired.

We can stop accidents from happening by understanding what causes them. If the two causes we have just listed: people not following rules and to people that are working in an environment that is not safe.

We can say that to prevent accidents from happening we need to know the rules, understand the way things work, and ensure that we work in an environment that is safe.

Let's look at how we follow safety rules to prevent accidents from happening:

What can we do with something that we do not fully understand or know anything about? Will you just keep going? No, we stop immediately and ask someone that does know for help, or we asked for the instruction manual with the piece of equipment and learn about it this way. We need to listen and follow the safety rules that are put in place in order to prevent an accident from occurring now and for the next time. Example of this would be: when you we’re mopping the floor put up a wet floor sign. This way you did let everyone know the floor is wet and may cause them to slip. Putting up the sign allows the guest to be informed and take a caution in this area. If you were to ignore the safety rules and went on to mop the floor, the floor would be wet and no one would know, this could happen: The guest will end up walking on the wet floor not knowing that it's wet and possibly slip and hurt himself. Despite being aware cautious and doing our best to prevent accidents, sometimes accidents still occur. However, we need to ensure that we know what to do when certain accidents happen. For example: When someone breaks an item or spill something. It will be your responsibility to help clean this accident up or you might need to let someone else know. Be sure of your establishments policies when it comes to dealing with accidents and the procedures in place to ensure that these are

minimized. Following safety policies that your establishment has, helps you to work in a safe environment or conditions providing safety for yourself and your guests.

Safe Working Environments In this lesson we will ask: 1. What is a safe working environment and, 2. The relationship between health, hygiene, and safety

1. So, what is a safe working environment? A safe working environment or condition is a term used to describe an area that is free from hazards that could potentially harm someone. This can be anything from the physical environment like: working in a steaming laundry, stress, when there are many check-ins and rooms need to be ready or anything dangerous that the job requires a person to put themselves through. Here's a quick tip: Try to get to the habits before doing any task to ask yourself “is it safe?’ This is allows you too quickly analyze the surroundings and the task at hand to see how risky or dangerous it is. By checking the area that you are working in, as well as the equipment you will be using you can decide whether you think it is safe or not. For example: before vacuuming a room you must check that the area you are going to vacuum is clear of anything that get in the way or cause an accident.

So, first thing you would do is check the area that you we’re going to be vacuuming, moving any items that might get in the way and then you would check your vacuum cleaner. The cord, plug, the pipes, and wheels must all be undamaged and in good working order.

So, we need to ensure safe working conditions and practices by making sure that careless people or poor working environments do not cause accidents. This can be prevented by ensuring that all colleagues are trained in their line of work, they follow regulations that the establishment has and they work carefully and with caution at all times. There should be safety and hygiene notices clearly visible back of house and make sure you are familiar with these.

2. The relationship between health, hygiene, and safety

Let's connect the dots between health hygiene and safety. We said earlier, that creating hygienic environments ensures that we maintain our health and the health of our guests. Agreeably, then we can assume that the combination of hygiene and safety creates the ideal environment for a guest to avoid ill health or injury which is the definition of health. So let's make a formula to remember: HYGIENE + SAFETY = HEALTH

Hygiene, plus safety procedures that prevent accidents equals health the ideal environment for a guest to avoid ill health or injury. Good luck at creating a healthy hygienic and safe environment for you and your guests. By the end of this subject you will know exactly how to achieve and correctly maintain these vital conditions.

Why Do We Clean? Housekeeping is the department that is responsible for cleaning both areas and items that guests are constantly in contact with. So now that you understand what hygiene is and it’s importance, we will now look at the reasons why we clean: 1. To ensure guest satisfaction 2. To remove bacteria or dirt and 3. To prolong the life of the item or surface

So, first off let's look at how correct cleaning procedures: The first reason why we keep is for guest satisfaction. When looking at what most guests care about which staying into hotel at the top of the list is the need for a clean hygienic environment. The difference a guest would feel when they arrive at a room that is clean and hygienic, to what happens when it gets to arrives at work that is not clean and hygienic is extreme and could very well determine if they ever come back to stay at your establishment. Something like these situations may make the guests doubt everything about the establishment.

The second reason is to remove bacteria or dirt: Removing bacteria or dirt is vital in the room and the bathroom. These areas can become a perfect breeding ground for all types of bacteria dirt and unsightly creatures. the only way we can remove this bacteria entered is through thorough cleaning.

And the final reason for why we need to clean is: Because cleaning helps prolong the life of the furniture fixtures and fittings as well as the life of the equipment. Not cleaning the furniture fixtures fittings and equipment can cause a buildup of dirt and this will eventually run these items. We also need to ensure that we clean equipment after each use and store it correctly. This helps to maintain their condition and so they do not become breeding grounds for germs and bacteria. Imagine using a mop to clean the bathroom then straight after you simply throw this in a dark store room for one week. This mop will become rotten after a few days with all the germs on it multiplying into millions of germs. And when you next use it you will end up spreading the germs everywhere, be sure to keep all your equipment up to each use and store it correctly. As a housekeeper, you need to make sure that everything you do is done in a hygienic way. This means that things need to be done in such a way that you and your guests stay healthy, and that germs and sickness doesn't spread. In the next lesson we will look at achieving this hygienic environment

Hygiene in the Workplace

Achieving hygiene conditions through cleaning is vital. It is the biggest responsibility of the housekeeping department. In this lesson we will look at creating and maintaining good hygiene conditions using four easy rules: 1. Working in a neat orderly manner equipment 2. Allocated to different areas or purposes 3. Attention to the potential breeding grounds for germs and bacteria and lastly 4. Maintaining your personal hygiene

1. It's discussed these four rules in detail starting with working orderly manner. Rule #1: We should be getting every task with the mindset of working in a neat orderly manner. The most common and practical method is being given an area such as a room and cleaning it in a specific order. This type of cleaning is done by following a task list completing one area and then moving to the next. This not only ensures that everything gets done but it also makes sense regarding good hygiene practices too. This method of cleaning eliminates the chance of errors occurring repeatedly, because if there are problems or bad habits they can be fixed with one specific person. This can be done through training that person on how to work in a specific order, hygienically and with care. For example: Telling a colleague to vacuum, and then dust, allows them to learn that dusting before vacuuming is pointless, as once you have vacuumed all the dust rises and will settle on your surfaces again. Note: Procedures are in a specific order for a specific reason.

2. Using equipment that is allocated to different areas or purposes We need to have systems in place that allow for different items of cleaning equipment to be allocated to different areas or purposes. For example: Color-coding cloths to a specific purpose or color-coding vacuum cleaners for front of house areas and different colored ones for the rooms. This way, not only does each area or purpose have specified equipment, but equally the person cleaning that area will fully understand how to clean it using the correct equipment and procedure. Correct allocation and procedures like these rooms and preventing cross contamination. Cross-contamination takes place when germs or bacteria spread from one area or item to another. In our lessons and throughout this course we will use this cloth to clean the toilet: 1. Red = Toilet 2. Green = General 3. Blue = Glass and mirror Because the purpose has been allocated a cloth, this allows us to remember which cloth is used where and for what. So no longer can we make the mistake of using the cloth we used on the toilet for the other general areas for example. Around the world chemicals are not the same color normal your establishment have the same color cloths to these ones here. So, be sure to know which chemical is for which purpose, users and choose a cloth for that purpose that allows your establishments to remember this vital rule.

3. Paying attention to the equipment and places that could possibly be breeding grounds for germs and bacteria.

The third rule is to constantly think about equipment and places that could possibly be breeding grounds for germs and bacteria. The first thing we need to know is that germs and bacteria love warmth and moisture. Germs / Bacteria + Moisture / Warmth = Contamination So, from knowing that surely items like warm dirty used water towels, cloths, or sponges would be perfect breeding grounds for germs and bacteria. These items can become full of bacteria and germs if not cleaned or looked alter properly.

For example: When you are using hot water to clean, it is essential to change this water regularly throwing out all the germs and bacteria and cleaning with fresh water each time. Often cloths that you using get damp and dirty and then when they're shoved in a pocket or a trolley they sit there and the bacteria and germs multiply by the minute. This should never be done and hence we always need to thoroughly clean these clothes, bring them out and store them correctly as does replace them regularly. The other equipment such as sponges, rubber gloves, wastebaskets, and the likes can also harbor and transfer bacteria. So, be aware of these and where they are placed or with what they come into contact. It is essential to handle waste correctly so to not spread germs. Be sure of procedures regarding the handling of waste, as cuts from razors or broken glass, pricks and contamination from used needles or condoms can all easily transmit illness and disease to you or the services you come into contact with.

4. A vital role maintaining your personal hygiene Imagine you find a pest in the workplace carrying germs and bacteria. You would want to get rid of it because it is making the environment dirty. So, you would remove it from the environment but, just like these pests we can also carry germs and bacteria and we need to never allow this to happen. So not only is it essential that the work that we do is hygienic, but it is vital for ourselves to be hygienic. Paying attention to our own personal hygiene is the first step. In the next lesson we will define personal hygiene and understand what it means to be personally hygienic. Well done and be sure always work hard achieving a hygienic workplace at all times.

Introduction to Personal Hygiene

In the previous lesson, you learned about the four rules for creating and maintaining good hygiene conditions. If you remembered all four rules: 1. Working in an orderly manner 2. Cleaning equipment allocated to different areas or purposes 3. Identifying breeding grounds for germs and bacteria and lastly 4. Maintaining your personal hygiene

In this lesson we will introduce: 1. Personal hygiene and 2. Understanding for good personal hygiene that maintains hygiene in the workplace

1. Personal hygiene Good hygiene starts with you and your body. By making sure you are clean and washed every day, as well as following procedures to ensure that as you work you are conducting hygienic procedures, you are following the fourth rule of maintaining personal hygiene. Maintaining personal hygiene means coming to work clean and washed, this includes: your body, hair, face, feet, underarms, fingernails, legs, arms, toes, and ears - but it also means acting in a hygienic way.

Examples of this would be: 1. Washing your hands regularly 2. Sneezing and coughing away from other people 3. Covering any open wounds 4. Not coming to work when you are very sick 5. Throwing away tissues immediately after using them 6. Ensuring your clothes are clean 7. Keeping your nails short and clean But you do need to understand the role good personal hygiene plays and keeping hygiene in the workplace.

2. Understanding for good personal hygiene that maintains hygiene in the workplace

One of the most important practices of hygiene is to wash your hands regularly. Especially after coughing, sneezing, smoking, or touching something that contains germs. This way, you don’t spread those germs that you just sneezed onto your hand to anything else that you are going to touch. Washing your hands with warm water and soap immediately after you've touched something dirty shows that you are clean and hygienic. Unfortunately, we may sometimes get sick - even so sick that we can't work. If you are feeling unwell or sick especially if you've been feeling sick for a few days make sure you go to the clinic or doctor. This can include having a fever, a stomach ache, or an upset stomach. Get this fixed before spreading the sickness to somebody else or making yourself more sick. Also remember, that some illnesses are contagious which means that they can spread to other people who come into contact with you and your germs, this could be through: 1. Air 2. Liquid 3. Touch For example: If you are sick and your colleague drinks from the same glass of water as you, the germs could spread to them through the glass and water. Germs can also easily spread through coughing, that's why we always need to cover our mouths when we cough. We will constantly be analyzing ways in which we can ensure all sorts of workplace and

personal hygiene and safety procedures in the following lessons. Just be sure that you understand the importance of good working habits that help to ensure hygienic conditions.

Personal Protective Equipment W...