The document outlines key areas employees must be trained in including personal hygiene, safe food handling, cleaning and sanitation, and chemical safety. It discusses identifying training needs through observation and testing as well as various training delivery methods such as on-the-job training, classroom instruction, demonstrations, role playing, and information searches to keep learners engaged. Periodic retraining is important to reinforce concepts and document all food safety training conducted.
3. Section Goals
• Outline the critical areas employees must be trained
in.
• Explain how to identify training needs.
• Explain the relative merits of various training
delivery methods.
4. Critical Food Safety Knowledge
•Personal hygiene
•Safe food preparation
•Cleaning and sanitizing
•Safe chemical handling
5. Personal Hygiene
Employees should be trained on:
• Behaviors that can contaminate food.
• Hand issues including, how and when to wash hands.
• Personal cleanliness.
• Proper work attire.
• Reportable health issues.
• Policies for eating, drinking and tobacco use.
• Storage of dirty and contaminated clothing.
6. Safe Food Handling
Employees should be trained on:
• Preventing Time/temperature abuse.
• Identifying types of contamination and how they occur.
• How to prevent contamination and cross-
contamination.
• How to handle food safely during the flow of food:
Receiving, Storing, Prep, Cooking, Holding, Cooling,
Thawing, Reheating and Service.
• Identifying and controlling the spread of common food
allergens.
7. Cleaning & Sanitizing
Employees should be trained on:
• When cleaning and sanitizing are required.
• How to properly clean and sanitize food contact
surfaces.
8. Safe Chemical Handling
Employees should be trained on:
• The safe use of and protective equipment required for
handling chemicals used by the operation.
9. First Step: Identify Your Staff’s Training
Needs
Ways to identify training needs include:
• Observing on-the-job performance.
• Testing food safety knowledge.
• Identifying and targeting areas of weakness
10. Additional Steps
• Retraining: Your staff needs to be periodically
retrained to reinforce concepts and practices
previously learned.
• Record Keeping: Document all food safety
training carried out by you operation.
11. Training Delivery Methods
As a manager you must consider your staff and
the subject matter in order to best teach the
knowledge and skills required.
No single type of training works best. Ultimately,
using many methods produces the best
results.
12. On-the-Job Training
Advantages:
• Good for teaching skills that can be seen and then
imitated.
• Excellent for individuals and may be adapted for small
groups.
Weaknesses:
• Success depends upon the ability and skill of the
trainer.
• Poor choice for large groups.
• Pulls an employee from their regular duties in order to
train.
13. Classroom Training
Using activity based, classroom training can also be very
effective as a training delivery method. Since people
learn by doing, the challenge is to keep learners
actively engaged.
There are many activity-based methods that can be used
in the classroom – including:
Information Search
• Guided Discussion
• Role-play
• Jigsaw design
• And Training Videos/DVDs
14. Information Search
This is a self-directed form of learning in which
students are placed into small groups and
then given questions that they must answer in
a set amount of time. Groups are then
brought together to communicate what they
have learned.
15. Jigsaw Design
This is a similar to Information Search but with
the added requirement that each small group
will teach a specific skill or piece of
knowledge.
16. Guided Discussion
In this approach an instructor asks questions
that help staff draw upon their knowledge and
experience. The goal is to make participants
think and discuss their thoughts.
17. Demonstration
Also known as the “Tell/Show/Practice” model.
• Tell the learner how to perform a task.
• Show the learner how to perform the task.
• Have the learner show and explain the task
back to the instructor.
18. Role-Play
A form of play acting where a script is prepared
illustrating wrong and right ways of
performing a task. Volunteers perform the
parts and a group discussion follows.
Though not always applicable, role-playing can
be effective for teaching particular groups &
tasks.
Hello and welcome to AtTheInstitute.com’s online preparatory course for the National Restaurant AssociationServSafe Manager Certification Exam.
Our final section will cover Employee Training.
In this final section of our training course, we’ll talk about training staff to serve safe food. Once you’ve completed this section you should be able to outline the critical areas employees must be trained in.Explain how to identify employee training needs.And explain the relative merits of various training delivery methods.
As a foodservice manager you must make sure that your staff knows how to handle food safely. Your employees need to be trained on the following key areas of food safety:Personal hygieneSafe food preparationCleaning and sanitizingSafe chemical handling
In personal hygiene, employees should be trained on:Behaviors that can contaminate food.Hand issues including, how and when to wash hands.Personal cleanliness.Proper work attire.Reportable health issues.Policies for eating, drinking and tobacco use.Storage of dirty and contaminated clothing.
The Safe Food handling procedures that employees must know include:Preventing Time/temperature abuse.Identifying types of contamination and how they occur.How to prevent contamination and cross-contamination.How to handle food safely during the flow of food: Receiving, Storing, Prep, Cooking, Holding, Cooling, Thawing, Reheating and Service.Identifying and controlling the spread of common food allergens.
Cleaning and sanitizing includes:When cleaning and sanitizing are required.How to properly clean and sanitize food contact surfaces.
And safe chemical handling means knowing the safe use of -- and protective equipment required for -- handling chemicals used by the operation.
Before we can begin a successful training program, we must assess what our employees know in relation to what they need to know. This is called identifying the training need in your operation. A training need is a gap between what a staff member needs to know to perform their job and what they actually know.Ways to identify training needs include:Observing on-the-job performance.Testing food safety knowledge.Identifying and targeting areas of weakness
In addition to Identifying Training Needs and Conducting Training, managers also need to keep in mind the need for retraining: Your staff needs to be periodically retrained to reinforce concepts and practices previously learned and Record Keeping: Document all food safety training carried out by you operation.
There are many ways to teach staff what they need to know. As a manager you must consider your staff and the subject matter in order to best teach the knowledge and skills required:No single type of training works best. Ultimately, using many methods produces the best results.Let’s look at some training methods.
Many operations use on-the-job training: using experienced staff members to teach learners while on the job. Learners repeatedly perform tasks while trainers tell them how they are doing. This type of training has advantages & disadvantages.Advantages are:It’s good for teaching skills that can be seen and then imitated.And excellent for individuals and may be adapted for small groups.The Weaknesses include:Success depends upon the ability and skill of the trainer.It is a poor choice for training large groups.And it pulls an employee from their regular duties in order to train someone.
Using activity based, classroom training can also be very effective as a training delivery method. Since people learn by doing, the challenge is to keep learners actively engaged.There are many activity-based methods that can be used in the classroom – including:Information SearchGuided DiscussionRole-playJigsaw designAnd Training Videos/DVDs
Information Search is a self-directed form of learning in which students are placed into small groups and then given questions that they must answer in a set amount of time. Groups are then brought together to communicate what they have learned.
Jigsaw design is similar to Information Search but with the added requirement that each small group will teach a specific skill or piece of knowledge.
In the Guided Discussion approach an instructor asks questions that help staff draw upon their knowledge and experience. The goal is to make participants think and discuss their thoughts.
In the Demonstration model or “Tell/Show/Practice” model.In this model an instructor will tell the learner how to perform a task.Show the learner how to perform the task.Then have the learner show and explain the task back to the instructor.
Role-play is a form of play acting where a script is prepared illustrating wrong and right ways of performing a task. Volunteers perform the parts and a group discussion follows.Though not always applicable, role-playing can be effective for teaching particular groups & tasks.
Other methods include Games, Technology-Based Training and Training Videos and DVDs. Whatever methods you choose be sure to use a variety of training delivery methods and always start by assessing training needs.
All of the information provided can be found in The National Restaurant Association’s, ServSafe Essentials, 5th Edition with 2009 FDA Food Code Updates.For more information check them out online at www.servsafe.com.
Please take this opportunity to complete the review questions for this section. We hope you enjoyed this course.For AtTheInstitute.com, this is [your name]. Feel free to send us comments and feedback by email at feedback@AtTheInstitute.com.