Food-Service-Manual-for-Health-Care-Institutions

Food Service Manual for Health Care Institutions
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Again, maintaining one entrance and exit for employees and authorized personnel is a good
measure. All outside doors should be kept locked except for deliveries. Distributors’ representatives
should have specific times and days allowed for visits and should not be allowed to enter
the department from the dock area. Employees’ visitors should be limited to the authorized
break area and should never be allowed to enter restricted areas (such as production and storage
areas).
A formal external security program should be designed in cooperation with the facility’s
larger security unit. Many of the techniques used in internal security apply to external security
measures. (Chapter 21 also discusses some design features that enhance security efforts.) Specific
external security strategies may include the following:
• Doors should be checked routinely by supervisors and security personnel to ensure that
they are locked.
• The dock area should be electronically monitored to ensure that shipments are taken to
their intended destinations in the food service department. Assigning a supervisor in the
receiving area when large deliveries are received is recommended.
• Exits should be monitored at shift change to scrutinize employees’ packages.
• Boxes on the premises should be broken down before the employee can remove them
from the department.
• Supervisors on all shifts should be rotated to other shifts occasionally.
Securing and protecting the food service department rely on partnerships between the management
staff and the security unit and between employees and management. To prevent loss,
all functions of the department must be considered and appropriate policies and procedures
established and consistently implemented.
Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Planning
For purposes of this discussion, disasters can be classified as either external or internal. External
disasters take place outside the institution but affect its operation. Examples of external disasters
include natural calamities such as damaging snowstorms, hurricanes, earthquakes, and accidents
(such as plane crashes, explosions, fires, and mass food poisonings) resulting in large numbers of
casualties. External disasters also include national emergencies such as riots, wars, and terrorist
attacks. External disasters can overburden an institution owing to the volume of casualties the
institution may have to handle. They also can affect the institution’s ability to provide services—
for example, when a flood or a hurricane damages or incapacitates the institution’s facilities.
Internal disasters occur within the institution and damage its facilities or threaten the wellbeing
of its patients or residents and employees. Examples of internal disasters include fires,
bomb threats, power outages, and radiation accidents. The health care institution’s overall disaster
plan should include policies and procedures for handling external and internal disasters.
Design of the Disaster Plan
The JCAHO imposes a standard that requires health care facilities to establish a program allowing
for continuous care of patients or residents and responding to the needs of others affected by
a disaster. Under the Functional Safety and Sanitation Standards, it states “all facilities’ internal
and external disaster plans shall be clearly defined. Every facility must have clearly defined and
understandable guidelines in place as part of an overall disaster plan for the operation during
external and internal disasters. The disaster plan must include procedures for treating the injured,
providing food and shelter for those seeking refuge, and continuing the care of existing patients.”
The institution should appoint a disaster committee whose responsibilities include developing
and maintaining the disaster plan and coordinating disaster drills throughout the institution.