Dietary Staff Lacked Competency in Dishwashing and Hand Hygiene Procedures
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to ensure that four dietary staff members possessed the necessary skills to safely and effectively perform daily food and nutrition service operations. Two dietary aides were unable to accurately verbalize the correct manual dishwashing procedure using a 3-compartment sink, specifically failing to state the required immersion time for sanitizing dishes. Although both aides had attended in-service training and were marked as competent in their files, their inability to recall critical steps was confirmed during interviews. The facility's policy required a 60-second immersion in sanitizer at 200 ppm, but this was not consistently known or articulated by the staff. Additionally, two cooks did not follow proper hand hygiene protocols before handling clean dishes. One cook used the same gloved hands to touch various surfaces, including a refrigerator handle and their clothing, before handling clean dishes. Another cook touched both soiled plates and clean dishes with bare hands without washing in between. These lapses were observed directly and acknowledged by the dietary supervisor and registered dietitian, both of whom stated that handwashing should occur before touching clean dishes to prevent cross-contamination. Facility policies and job descriptions required frequent handwashing and proper glove use, but these were not followed in practice. The failures in both manual dishwashing procedures and hand hygiene had the potential to place 45 out of 47 highly susceptible residents at risk for foodborne illness. Staff files showed that all involved employees had current food handler certificates and had attended relevant in-service trainings. However, the observed deficiencies indicated a lack of effective competency in critical food safety practices, despite documented training and policy requirements.