Failure to Perform Hand Hygiene During Meal Tray Distribution
Penalty
Summary
Facility staff failed to distribute and serve food in accordance with professional standards for food service safety during a dining observation on Unit 2 South. At approximately 12:30 PM, two staff members were observed in the hallway near the nurse's station delivering and distributing resident meal trays without performing required hand hygiene. This failure occurred despite regulatory requirements under 42 CFR §483.60(i) that employees must avoid bare-hand contact with food and must decontaminate hands by proper handwashing or use of hand sanitizers prior to starting meal delivery and prior to entering or exiting resident rooms or common areas. During the same observation, it was noted that the alcohol-based hand rub station located outside a resident room was not functioning because the handle used to dispense the sanitizer was broken. This meant that staff did not have access to a working alcohol-based hand rub at that location while they were delivering meals. The deficiency was identified during a surveyor observation and confirmed in a face-to-face interview with the Unit Manager, who acknowledged that staff had not performed hand hygiene while distributing the meal trays.
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