Policy Manual Creation For Different Businesses

Importance of the Food and Drug Act and Safe Food for Canadians Act

“Evidence-informed food safety policies and risk management decisions”

In Canada, the Food and Drug Act 1985 administers the manufacturing, import, export, transport and selling of food items within the area.  It was first passed in 1920 and was revised in 1985. It endeavors to ensure that the edible items which are sold in Canada are safe and their ingredients are disclosed on the menus and packets through which they are traded ( Law Now,2018). 

The policy manual and employee handbook of Harry’s Café is designed to inform the employees about the policies and procedures regarding the identification and assessments of risks of the coffee bar(Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,2014). So,  through the policy manual, the various risk assessments and identification such as slips and trips in the kitchen area arising due to slipping over the objects and spillages and injuries arising due to manual handling of bulky and heavy objects etc. are analyzed (Green Moustache, n.d.).  

So, this policy manual is designed to make every effort in order to provide a safe and healthy place for its employees and consumers which is free from probable hazards. The effective date of its implementation is 1 July 2018. The scope of the policies extend to health and safety training of workers, identification of hazardous substances, communication and measures following a serious accident and procedures related to client safety and security.

 Various internal and external stakeholders are identified in the café for the purpose of risk assessment. These are consumers, supplier, employees and the government etc.

Stakeholders	Internal/External	Their role in the process	Their stake in the process
Employees/Staff	Internal	The staff and the directors are related to recognition, analysis and taking appropriate actions relating to the identified risks so that they can be managed efficiently. The top management of the café is associated with the implementation of appropriate risk management policies in the café.	The employees and top management have a high stake in the risk management processes.
Consumers	External	The privileged consumers have the right to participate in the risk analysis and management process since they care for the café.	They have little stake in the risk management procedure of the café.
Suppliers	External	The suppliers can provide advice about the identification and implementation of the risk management procedures to the top management.	They have a medium level of a stake in the risk management process.
Government	External	The government can take part in the risk management process by applying various laws related to food safety, safety at work and employment laws so that various stakeholders can be protected in the workplace.	They have a high level of a stake in the risks management procedure.

Food and Drugs Act was passed by the parliament of Canada to administer the import, export, production, supply and sale of food. It endeavors to make sure that the food which is traded in the area is safe and its ingredients are disclosed to the clients. The Minister of Health has the power to make additional regulations and procedures related to the maintenance of standards of safety and nutritional quality of food which is transacted in Canada.

Another Act developed in this regard is the Safe Food for Canadians Act. It was implemented by the Government of Canada on 7^th June 2012. It was implemented with the aim to protect the Canadian Families from unsafe food. Its aim is to safeguard the consumers by targeting unsafe practices related to food and providing better control over it.

Apart from this, the Fish Inspection Act, the Meat Inspection Act, Consumer Packaging and Labeling Act and the Canada Agricultural Products Act regulate the sale and supply of food in Canada.

Stakeholders in Risk Management

Health and Safety Training of Workers

The café should provide safety and health training to it employees so that they are familiar with all the health and safety procedures applicable to the workplace. A record of training should be kept at the workplace and made available by the safety coordinators, when required (Diabat, Govindan & Panicker, 2012)..

The training should comprise of the following items:

1. Hazards related to the work area and with specified job or task.
2. Operation of specified machinery or equipment.
3. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
4. Accident related to specified facility and incident.
5. Reporting requirements relating to accidents of the employees.
6. Emergency Procedures.
7. Return to work policies implemented by the organization.

The prime component of the health and safety training of the workers is to teach them that it is their accountability to perform their duties in a safe manner so that injury can be prevented for themselves and for their colleagues (AIG,2013).

If there is any doubt regarding the safety of the task, the employees should first discuss the matter with their supervisors so that a safer method to perform the work should be determined.

Some of the general rules related to the safety of the employees which should be included in the training curriculum can be explained as firstly, the use and possession of alcohol and drugs in the premises of the café should be strictly prohibited. Additionally, the employees should be trained regarding the use of first aid kits in the event of an emergency and medical injury( Green & Fitzsimmons, 2013).

As per the process diagram, there should policies related to the identification of the hazardous substances existing within the premises of the workplace. The employees should be instructed to not to remove safety guards which are provided on the equipment. In the kitchen area, the pots, pans and buckets should not be filled more than 2/3 full and while adding the ingredients to hot liquids, small portions should be added in order to prevent splashing (Si, Ji & Zeng, 2012). 

Similarly, the glassware and slicers should be dealt with in a careful manner. In order to prevent slips and trips in the kitchen area, the rules of good housekeeping should be followed and the equipment should be maintained in order to prevent leaks on the floor. In case of any equipment faults, the manager should be promptly reported and the drip trays and drainage channels should be provided in case of spills (Pei et al., 2015).

In case of manual handling such as handling heavy items like sacks of flour , large boxes of meat and trays of crockery etc. should be managed properly. In case of carelessness, the staff working in the  kitchen may suffer from injuries  like bruising and strains resulting  from  handling of heavy and bulky objects (Wang, Li  & Shi, 2012).

Health and Safety Training

In the case of contact with steam, hot water, surface, the kitchen staff may suffer from injuries relating to burns and scalding. Policies should be implemented to prevent the staff from the risks arising from pouring and cleaning the fryers. The staff should be instructed to wear long sleeves while handling hazardous substances (Reason, 2016). 

While handling the products with sharper edges such as knives, there is a possibility that staff can suffer from cuts resulting in contacts with the blades. So, they should be instructed to handle the sharp objects in a careful manner. In case of handling of food items, the staff should be instructed to use tools such as cutlery, tongs and scoops to handle food in order to avoid allergies on the skin. In other cases, the hands should be properly rinsed after the completion of the task ( Kibret & Abera,2012).

In case of work related accident which results in serious injuries or death of the employees, it can present emotional challenges for the management. The employees should be trained to communicate the matter to the management who in turn will talk to the local police, the compliance officers and investigators. In case of the incident, the relatives and family members of the employee should be informed and the contact should be made in person.  All the names, phone numbers and addresses of the witnesses should be obtained (Onyeneho & Hedberg, 2013).

The head of the department should be trained to conduct the meetings in case of such emergencies with the motive to discuss the matters such as the reasons for the occurrence of the incidence and to investigate whether necessary steps were taken to take care of the person who was affected. In such cases, all employees should be informed about the availability of the Employee Assistance Program so that they can consult the concerned authorities (Covello & Merkhoher, 2013).   

The employees should be trained to follow all the safety and security procedures during the visits of the clients. The emergency exit locations should be clearly mentioned in the areas where they can easily be viewed. A clear instruction board should be displayed on the stairs instructing the clients to keep their eye on the path they are walking in order to avoid any slips and trips. While they are on stairs, instruction boards asking them to maintain a three point contact point should be displayed in order to make them aware (Nawawi et al., 2018).

Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment

In this regard, the electronic equipment, ventilation hoods and plug sockets should be checked on a daily basis. It should be ensured that the windows and doors are locked and the security alarms are working properly. The emergency lighting including the main lighting should also be checked on a regular basis (Bahr, 2014).  

All the fire safety equipment should not be placed in the kitchen area and the other equipment should be fixed with fire suppression systems. Upon activating these systems, they can switch off the supply of fuel and dispense the substances which can help them to put off the flames (Pandey, 2013).  

	Phase 1	Phase 2	Phase 3	Phase 4	Phase 5	Phase 6	Phase 7
Board	Formulation of a policy relating to the identification of the risks and their evaluation.	List of policies which are written or implied.	Instructing the management to formulate the draft of the policy manual.	Reviewing the draft policy manual and suggesting changes to be done.	Final approval of the draft.		Yearly review of the implementation of policies and suggesting chances in them if required.
Management		Sources can be employee handbooks, letters to the members and meetings of the minutes etc.				Distribution of the employee handbook and policy manual by the management to the staff and providing training to them.
Staff

So, in the swim lane identifying the process, there would be 7 phases. In the process, the board of directors, management and staff would be involved. In the first phase, a draft of the policy would be formed in order to assess the risks confronted by the management and staff of Harry’s Café. The second phase pertains to list of policies related to various issues such as health and safety of workers, identification of hazardous substances, communication and measures following a serious accident and procedures related to safety and security of client. The third phase pertains to the board instructing the management to formulate the draft policy and the fourth phase is related to the draft policy by the board and suggesting the changes to be done by the management. The fifth phase pertains to final approval draft by the board and the sixth phase is associated with training the staff regarding the implementation of measures of risk management and the seventh phase is associated with reviewing the implementation of policies and suggesting changes in them if required.

Conclusion 

Hence to conclude, it can be said that the with sharp equipment, tight spaces and open flames, there are numerous risks present in the café. So, in order to keep the café safe for employees as well as for clients, it is crucial for the management to train the employees to minimize and avoid the hazards as much as possible. This manual and employee handbook is designed to train the employees to operate the equipment in a proper manner so that fires and injuries can be prevented so that the café operates safely for everyone.

References 

AIG(2013).Security Action Plan for Restaurants.Retrieved July 7th, 2018 https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/america-canada/us/documents/brochure/plcb-security-actionplan-for-restaurants.pdf 

Bahr, N. J. (2014). System safety engineering and risk assessment: a practical approach. CRC Press.

Covello, V. T. & Merkhoher, M. W. (2013). Risk assessment methods: approaches for assessing health and environmental risks. Springer Science & Business Media.

Diabat, A., Govindan, K. & Panicker, V. V. (2012). Supply chain risk management and its mitigation in a food industry. International Journal of Production Research, 50(11), 3039-3050.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations(2014). Evidence-informed food safety policies and risk management decisions . Retrieved July  6^th   , 2018   https://www.fao.org/3/a-i3944e.pdf  

Green Moustache (n.d.).   The Green Moustache Employee Handbook & Policy Manual . Retrieved July  6^th   , 2018    https://www.greenmoustache.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/GreenMoustacheEmployeeHandbookRevisedJuly2016.pdf 

Green, M., & Fitzsimmons, G. (2013). The OzFoodNet story: 2000 to present day. Microbiology Australia, 34(2), 59-62.

Kibret, M. & Abera, B. (2012). The sanitary conditions of food service establishments and food safety knowledge and practices of food handlers in Bahir Dar town. Ethiopian journal of health sciences, 22(1), 27-35.

Law Now(2018). Food Safety in Canada – A Balancing Act? Retrieved July  6th   , 2018 https://www.lawnow.org/food-safety-in-canada/   

Nawawi, N. S. M., Abdullah, N., Noor, Z. M. & Bujang, A. (2018). A Review on Food Safety Risk in Bakery Outlet: Halalan-Toyyiban Perspective. In Proceedings of the 3rd International Halal Conference (INHAC 2016) (pp. 533-543). Springer, Singapore.

Onyeneho, S. N. & Hedberg, C. W. (2013). An assessment of food safety needs of restaurants in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria. International journal of environmental research and public health, 10(8), 3296-3309.

Pandey, B. R. (2013). Understanding of occupational health and safety risks and participatory practices in small businesses: qualitative case studies of three small cafe and restaurant businesses: a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Occupational Health and Safety (Human Resources Management) at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand(Doctoral dissertation, Massey University). Retrieved July  7^th   , 2018 https://mro.massey.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10179/4825/02_whole.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Pei, X., Li, N., Guo, Y., Liu, X., Yan, L., Li, Y., … & Yang, D. (2015). Microbiological food safety surveillance in China. International journal of environmental research and public health, 12(9), 10662-10670. 

Reason, J. (2016). Managing the risks of organizational accidents. Routledge.

Si, H., Ji, H. & Zeng, X. (2012). Quantitative risk assessment model of hazardous chemicals leakage and application. Safety science, 50(7), 1452-1461.

Wang, X., Li, D. & Shi, X. (2012). A fuzzy model for aggregative food safety risk assessment in food supply chains. Production Planning & Control, 23(5), 377-395.