Staff room hygiene questions

[Duff McKagan]

Just wondering how many of you have working vending machines in your staff canteen?

No vending machines, just a few packets of cereal, some bread and some pasta snacks you add water to food wise oh and some manky fruit. Colleague shop fridge can have food in it for days at a time, and has mould in it. There are rarely any clean cups as most people can't be bothered to wash the dishes.
We are told in our store that the cleaners are in charge of the canteen and are responsible for stocking it with food and milk etc and cleaning the canteen including washing the dishes. The problem with that of course is that we don't have cleaners 24hrs a day so things run out, dishes just get left piled up in the sink as the dishwashers are full and the place becomes a mess.
Shift leaders and managers don't lift a finger to sort it out so it falls on a few of us to put the dishwashers on just so we can have clean cups and plates.

[Sherwoodforest]

Im sure its duty managers job to review canteen facilitys between shifts,cleaners ensure it is clean at start of day,then its self maintainence after that,our machines are all stocked and working,canteen cleaned first thing,free fruit hit and miss,food table usually has cereal,rice,tuna,beans,soup and selection of tin currys,stews

[BobsBananas]

At my store there are only a few people who bother to load the dishwasher (me included), and as such it's become our job. There's very much a "the usual lot will do it" attitude among the rest of the staff, which is incredibly annoying to say the least. Complaints have been made to managers to no avail.
One other thing I've seen is people licking the knife when buttering bread, then sticking said knife back in the spread. That for me should be instant dismissal for gross misconduct. It's absolutely disgusting, and the reason I won't touch anything other than cereal pots in the canteen.

[lucgeo]

That habit may be gross...but it wouldn't constitute gross misconduct. It is not a designated department and the staff using it are not the designated team for the area. That'd be like trying to discipline a colleague for picking their nose in your line of sight!

This is a constant ongoing discussion with regard the staff canteen...to clean or not to clean?

Clean as you go rules don't apply here, as it's a case of compulsory and legal hygiene standards not being met. You have a store health and safety rep who is your first port of call on the first rung of a complaint for non compliance of ensuring the health and safety of store colleagues using equipment and utensils provided by Tesco for the use of all staff!

[redeo]

One of the biggest problems with the canteen is that idiots who put them in didn't design them with any common sense.

[Sherwoodforest]

@knowles2 there designed for people who aernt idiots,sadly most dont fit in that category,ours been in years and theres plenty of f@ckwits who use plates,cups every shift and never switch on,load or empty it,tesco should abolish it all,let them eat off the floor or drink out the tap,

[oldfashionedplayer]

would help if the dishwashers were even half decent... ours get run twice and the stuff still comes out as bad as it went in...

then you've got ones just adding dirty stuff to the finished cycle... it's usually the same ones urinating on the toilet seats and floors that grow up with their wives cleaning up after them as a "duty"...

If they abolished it they'd have to provide something else since it's a basic requirement so they can't even abolish it.. atleast stuff was more clean and whatnot when we had ACTUAL canteen and staff for it.

[lucgeo]

This old argument being raised again...to clean or not to clean

There is no set job description for the cleaning of crockery or utensils, no department umbrella that it comes under nor designated person responsible for meeting the basic hygiene standards set under H&S regulations

Who is responsible for the deep cleaning of the dishwasher, microwave, toaster etc.? Is there a daily chart displayed with when it was last cleaned and by whom, as with the toilets?

If there are no clean crockery or utensils for the use of, or the appliances are unclean, then you would be in your rights to call the duty manager to arrange the cleaning to provided ready for your use under the agreed terms and responsibilities.

Are the store forums still active? The instore H&S rep should be asked, to bring this up at the next meeting. The forums are manipulated by the manager, but the answer should be given, and the notes of the forum meeting made available to you and the rep for further reference.