Dirty Hands in the Restaurant Kitchen: Fact or Fiction?

Good hand hygiene is a simple practice that helps combat the transmission of food-borne illnesses and diseases in the food service industry. However, despite the acknowledged benefits and investments in training, lack of compliance with established standards and protocols by food service industry workers continues to contribute towards a significant industry-wide problem and cost (Guzerwich & Ross, 1999; Collin, 1997). This paper reports on an observation study of trainees in a restaurant kitchen on hand hygiene guideline compliance. The observation checklist described is based on the National Food Service Management Institute (2005) Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for hand washing and the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2005) hand hygiene guidelines. The primary outcome of this data will be to determine if and how violations of the hand hygiene guidelines occur