If you get cut or burned

  1. Stop and step away from the food.
  2. Cut: wash it, press to stop bleeding, bandage it. Burn: cool it under cool running water for 10–20 minutes. No ice or butter.
  3. Throw away any food that blood touched or might have touched.
  4. Wash, rinse and sanitize the knife, board or surface.
  5. Wash hands, bandage, put on a glove. Go back only if the bandage stays dry and secure.
  6. Get medical care for deep cuts, bleeding that won't stop, or big blistered burns. Call 911 for heavy bleeding or large burns.

Sources: Source protocols: cuts and burns during food work · Source protocols: incident first steps (cut or burn)

Bandages on your hands

  • Any cut, scrape or burn on hands or wrists gets a waterproof bandage or finger cot, then a single-use glove over it.
  • A bandage alone is never enough on your hands.
  • Bright blue food-service bandages are easy to spot if one falls off. Check the food if a bandage goes missing.
  • Replace a bandage that gets wet or loose. Change the outer glove often.

Sources: Food Code 2-401.13 · Source protocols: bandages on the hands

Boils, pimples and infected sores

Tell the person in charge about any sore with pus that isn't covered. Cover it this way:

  • Hands or wrists: waterproof cover plus a single-use glove
  • Arms: waterproof cover
  • Anywhere else (face, neck): a dry, tight bandage

If it can't be covered, no food work until it heals. A red, spreading or hot sore, or a fever, means see a doctor and stay off food.

Pus can carry Staph. Its toxin survives cooking and reheating.

Sources: Food Code 2-401.13 · Food Code 2-201.11(A)(1)(e) · Food Code 2-201.12

The rules behind it

  • Employee health: report, exclude, restrict. Food workers report vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, sore throat with fever, pus-filled sores, Big 6 diagnoses and exposures; the person in charge excludes or restricts. Food Code 2-201.11, 2-201.12, 2-201.13; R392-102-15(4)
  • Personal hygiene. Short clean nails, no jewelry but a plain band, hair and beard restraints, clean outer clothing, no eating or drinking at food stations. Food Code 2-302.11, 2-303.11, 2-304.11, 2-401.11, 2-402.11; R392-102-14(9)–(14)
  • No bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food. Use tongs, deli tissue, waxed paper or gloves; single-use gloves for one task; bare-hand contact only with county approval and records. Food Code 3-301.11, 3-304.15; R392-102-14(1)–(3) (trucks: no bare-hand variance)