Cell phones at work can affect health, food safety, productivity and customer service.
Harmful viruses are found on phones and other objects. Understanding how to prevent viruses
is crucial to the health of your families, customers and fellow team members.
I find it surprising how lax phone use policies seem to be. Using the phone may affect productivity, customer service and most importantly can lead to foodborne illness for customers and fellow staff.
Productivity – While doing mock health inspections for clients I’ll see food handlers getting their phones out of their pockets even during busy hours. They should stay focused and on task to
alleviate errors and not slow down food preparation.
Customer service – A customer turn off is seeing servicers in the corner on their phone while in
need of something like silverware or the check. This not only reflects on the server but on
management as well.
Foodborne illness – The biggest concern is the potential lack of hygiene and food safety which
can lead to foodborne illness like Norovirus which causes the majority of all foodborne illnesses.
Norovirus is a troublesome stomach bug because not only is it easy to catch, it’s very hard to kill.
Read: 5 Key Ways to Prevent Norovirus from Spreading at Work and Home