Rate this!
Phill S
Member - 69 posts
This is merely a quest to end an argument...
Some of the staff at my workplace have been told they must wear gloves, (this includes kitchen staff and cleaning staff) as this is "a legal requirement".
Personally, I don't believe it is.
A friend of mine who is a student nurse commented on this, saying that more hospitals are ditching the need to wear gloves, because of the possibilities of cross-contamination when removing or putting them on.
Instead, these hospitals are spending more time educating staff in cross-contamination, and enforcing strict control measures on cleanliness, including teaching staff the correct way to wash their hands.
I'm not sure of the legislation in regard to this, any thoughts?
Rate this!
Tony Williams
Member - 31 posts
This depends on the risk. If an employer can justify the need to wear gloves on the basis of a risk assessment under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, this in effect makes it a legal requirement. It is definitely a legal requirement if an HSE inspector has recommended it.
For example if an employee is using chemicals for which the COSHH advice recommends wearing of gloves, this can reasonably be enforced by management.
If an employee cannot wear gloves because of a disability, it is up to the employer to decide if dispensation can be given not to wear gloves as an adjustment under the DDA. It is unlikely to be reasonable, but it may be reasonable to provide alternative gloves (such as cotton inners where sweat is a problem or non-latex gloves for those with a latex allergy). If an HSE inspector has recommended wearing of gloves this 'trumps' the DDA and it automatically becomes justified discrimination.
Rate this!
David Ireland
Member - 5 posts
The key question here is who are the gloves protecting? And from what?
I partly agree with the previous comments about COSHH, unfortunately it is often the case that the gloves worn by staff when undertaking hazardous tasks do not conform to the correct British Standard and therefore the gloves are often not doing what they were supposed to i.e. protect the individual.
Hospital practice for many years became 'universal precautions' which meant that the first thing that staff reached for were latex gloves, many of the tasks do not need gloves but good hand hygiene.
Latex gloves are currently the target of the HSE, especially in hospitals, Improvement Notices have been served.
My organisation has moved away from a) using gloves as a first course of action and b) latex gloves are no longer available unless they can be justified for clinical reasons.
As the thread seemed to start about kitchens and gloves I have just remembered being in the supermarket on Saturday and watching the man on the meat counter using a disposable glove which he didn't remove, picking up the meat, then using the same gloved hand to use the till to get the label and adhere that to the packaging, doing exactly the same for the person behind me! Not quite sure who or what he thought the glove was protecting as each time he touched the till he was potentially cross contaminating!
Rate this!
Anthony Buck
Member - 15 posts
The introduction from some unknown source of disposable gloves in catering in recent years has probably been the biggest cause of increased risk from food handling I can think of.
People think that you put a pair of gloves on and wear them the whole day/shift. However the surfaces of gloves are just as liable to harbour contamination and bacteria as the hands.
If you are using gloves properly then whenever you would have washed your hands in the old days during catering operations you should put on fresh gloves - but this never happens! (& if it did it would demonstrate the worthlessness of gloves as instead of getting through hundreds of £ of gloves a year, just wash your hands!)
The PC H&S pedant brigade that brought this in have very little real knowledge of food safety or microbiology and it's all just a Pr exercise - it looks more hygienic to wear gloves to the untrained public, whereas it's quite the opposite.
Gloves could be suitable if a food handler had an allergy to a food (although with PPE being a last resort I'd rather move them to another role of possible).
If someone had a skin disorder or illness that might require gloves then they are not fit for food handling anyway, just like those with a severe cold or recent history of D&V.
In fact gloves can be downright dangerous with hot food as any burn injury will be far worse as the glove melts into the skin underneath.
In the good old days you would simply wash hands regularly, have a blue plaster on any minor cuts and only get gloves out when cleaning the premises to protect yourself from the cleaning chemicals - and thats how it should remain, why do you think the law requires wash hand basins in food premises in the first place?
Rate this!
Phill S
Member - 69 posts
Thankyou for your answers, some great points raised.
0 (0)
