Retail Hygiene Concept

What is a hygiene concept for Retailers?

According to the decision of the Federal Government and the Federal States, each retailer is obliged to develop a hygiene concept on his responsibility based on an adapted risk assessment and a company pandemic plan. This must aim to limit customer and employee contacts and implement the necessary hygiene and risk measures to reduce the risk of infection to a minimum.

At present, this refers mainly to the special situation due to the corona pandemic. In general, however, every retailer is obliged to determine hygiene and protective measures for employees as part of the risk assessment at the workplace, which must be adapted to current circumstances at all times.

Hygiene is an important part of quality assurance. The various measures should be written in individual documents, such as hand hygiene concept, cleaning and disinfection plan, etc., to have a short and clear presentation. The hygiene concept for retailers should be individually adapted to the conditions in and around the shop and the requirements of the company and the local authorities.

This article deals with the following topics:

1. A guide to drawing up a hygiene concept for the retail trade

2. 3 steps for the effective preparation of a checklist for hygiene measures

3. A mobile application for the implementation of a hygiene concept in retail

Guideline for the preparation of hygiene concepts for retailers

The management of a retail store is responsible for drawing up a hygiene concept and for implementing and adhering to the hygiene and protection measures laid down in it. If necessary, it can delegate the task to the person responsible for occupational safety or appoint a commissioner or hygiene team.

Those responsible for hygiene management in the retail trade must fulfil the following tasks:

1. Create and update a hygiene concept
   

   First of all, a hygiene inspection is carried out in the shop using a checklist. In this way, it is determined in which areas hygiene measures must be implemented, how they should be carried out and which ones are already in place. The inventory of the current status supports the planning of future measures and uncovers problem areas.



2. Implement fixed hygiene measures
   In the second step, the specified hygiene measures are implemented with the available resources, necessary corrections are made, and necessary aids and equipment are requested.


3. Inform employees about hygiene measures
   For an efficient and functioning hygiene concept, all employees must be informed about the necessary measures. Depending on the size of the workforce, this can take the form of personal instructions, information sheets or training. Besides, it is advisable to provide employees with appropriate information material on the hygiene concept, which they can use to refresh their knowledge at any time.


4. Monitoring of the measures from the hygiene concept
   The person responsible for occupational safety, the hygiene officer or the hygiene team as well as the management are responsible for monitoring the implementation of hygiene measures by the employees and informing them of incorrect procedures and misconduct.


5. Regular internal inspections
   Hygiene inspections should be carried out at regular intervals using a checklist to identify problem areas and trends at an early stage. This also ensures that sufficient funds and equipment are available and not damaged, so that the hygiene measures can be implemented correctly in the first place.


6. Cooperation with local authorities
   It is the responsibility of hygiene management to proactively inform itself about the status of the necessary hygiene measures. In the event of changes, the present hygiene concept must be immediately adapted to the new requirements.

3 steps for the effective creation of a checklist for the hygiene concept

A checklist for hygiene in the retail trade helps representatives to implement the essential measures quickly and efficiently, to monitor them over a longer period and, if necessary, to adapt them immediately to new requirements. Compliance with hygiene measures is of fundamental importance for every retailer.

A hygiene concept checklist helps the hygiene team to work more efficiently, protecting the business from unforeseen downtime, costly fines and store closures. Regular hygiene inspections, combined with an effective checklist, help ensure that hygiene measures are implemented safely and efficiently, and that problem areas are identified early. Below are the 3 steps that enable an effective hygiene concept checklist:

1. Create a hygiene concept
   First of all, the details of a hygiene concept must be determined, e.g. which measures are necessary to improve hygiene and which employees and areas are affected in which way.


2. Determine the areas to be covered in the store
   Once the details of the hygiene concept have been established, attention will be paid to identifying the points or areas that will contribute to achieving the objective of the hygiene concept. The first step is to assess the environment, using SWOT-analysis as a framework. A comprehensive understanding of the environment helps to create a checklist tailored to the hygiene measures.


3. Create checklists
   If the above information is complete, checklists for the hygiene measures can be drawn up. A checklist based on a retail hygiene concept can include the following questions:

• Do the available means allow the implementation of the hygiene concept to?


• Is there sufficient protective equipment available to implement the hygiene measures?


• Are all employees informed about the hygiene measures?


• Are the hygiene measures implemented?


• What is the overall assessment for the hygiene inspection?


• Who carried out the hygiene inspection?


• Are the hygienic measures up to date?

The use of a mobile app for the hygiene concept in retail

A paper-based hygiene concept can make data collection and maintenance tedious. Creating a report on paper after a hygiene inspection is a challenge for every hygiene manager because photo evidence and comments cannot be easily added. In addition, in hygiene management the loss of paper documents can have unpleasant consequences, the effects of which may not be resolved in time.

Lumiform is a powerful hygiene management application that replaces all paper-based checklists, protocols and reports with digital ones. Every day, hygiene managers benefit from the following advantages of the Lumiform app:

• Perform efficient paperless hygiene inspections and checklists via the mobile device


• Easy insertion of photo documents and comments into a checklist during an exam


• Immediately forward problems identified during an inspection by assigning corrective actions


• Automatically create complete reports and release them immediately


• Save and document collected data immediately and manage them via the online dashboard



• Adapt existing templates quickly and easily to new regulations and send updated versions to all employees immediately


• Use the hygiene app free of charge in small teams and benefit from many more functions with the premium account.