Level 1 · Lesson 1

Responsibility
and duty of care

Food safety starts with the people who handle the food, in kitchens and on production lines alike. This lesson is about the part you play in it.
Before we start

Where do you handle food?

This lesson uses your answer. What follows is drawn from your kind of operation.
Roughly how many people eat what you make in a day? optional · stays on this device
A sandwich passed over a deli counter. A tray of ready meals sealed on a line. Either way someone eats it, and you are often the last person to handle it before they do.
Whatever happens earlier, you are usually the last person who can catch a problem.
Personal responsibility

Everyone who handles food is responsible for keeping it safe

New starter
Day one
Cook or operative
On the line
Supervisor
Runs the shift
15 years in
Seen it all
Your job title and your years of experience do not change it. If food passes through your hands, its safety is partly yours.
Duty of care

Duty of care means protecting the people who eat what you make

A parent buying lunch for a toddler

An elderly or unwell person who cannot fight off a bug

Someone with an allergy trusting the kitchen or the label

You will never meet most of them, and they cannot check your work. Protecting them is the point of the job.
Duty of care

Who is eating it

A dose that gives one person a bad day puts another person in hospital
Reporting problems

Things go wrong in every kitchen and on every line

A chiller running warm
A delivery that fails its temperature check
Equipment nobody cleaned down
If you cannot fix it yourself, tell a supervisor straight away
Not at the end of the shift. While there is still time to act.
Your turn

What would you do?

Two hours into your shift you notice the chiller is reading 9°C. It should be 5°C or below. Fixing refrigeration is not your job, and the shift is busy.
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The cost of getting it wrong

One mistake can lead to serious consequences

Illness
From a bad stomach to hospital, sometimes worse
Closure or recall
A venue shut, or product pulled from shelves
Legal action
Prosecution and fines for the business
Lost reputation
Trust that took years, gone fast
Most of it can be traced back to one decision on one shift.
Under pressure

The rules matter most when you are busiest

A quiet stretch

Easy to stay careful

Peak service or a big run

Everything at once
Your standard
Keeping the same standard when it is busy is what makes a food handler reliable.

The five things to remember

1Everyone who handles food is responsible for its safety
2Duty of care means protecting the people who eat it
3If you cannot fix a problem, tell a supervisor straight away
4Failures cause illness, closure or recall, legal action, lost reputation
5Standards matter most when you are busiest
Sample question

One question from the quiz

Which statement about food safety responsibility is correct?
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That is one question of twenty

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