What Is a Hygiene Concept for Retailers?
According to the decision of the federal government, each retailer is obliged to develop their own hygiene concept based on an adapted risk assessment and a company pandemic plan. This will aim to limit customer-to-employee contact to keep the risk of infection to a minimum. At present, this mainly refers to the special situation caused by the corona pandemic.
Hygiene is an important part of quality assurance. Each component of the plan should be kept in individual documents, such as the hygiene concept, cleaning, and disinfection plan, etc. for easy access. Each concept should be individually adapted to the current conditions in and around the shops, and it should also adhere to company and local authority requirements
This article deals with the following topics:
1. A guide to drawing up a hygiene concept for the retail trade
2. 3 steps to an effective retail hygiene checklist
3. A mobile application for the implementation of a hygiene concept in retail
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What Are the Retailer Guidelines for Hygiene Concepts?
A retail store’s management is responsible for drawing up and adhering to their own hygiene concept. If necessary, they 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 fulfill the following tasks:
- Create and update a hygiene concept
First of all, the hygiene management team will carry out the inspection via a checklist. In this way, they can more easily identify areas of improvement, such as which hygiene measures should be implemented, how they should be carried out, and which ones are already in place. The current status of these inspections will support future planning and revisal.
- Implement fixed hygiene measures
In the second step, the specified hygiene measures from the first step will be implemented with the available resources. Here, necessary corrections can be made in addition to requesting any new aids and equipment.
- 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 informational material, which they can use to refresh their knowledge at any time.
- Monitoring of the measures from the hygiene concept
The person responsible for occupational safety, such as the hygiene officer or hygiene team, is responsible for inspecting and monitoring employee conduct and safety in regards to the new rules.
- Regular internal inspections
Hygiene inspections should be carried out at regular intervals using a checklist to identify problematic trends at an early stage. This also ensures that sufficient funds and equipment are available so that the hygiene measures can be implemented correctly in the first place.
- Cooperation with local authorities
It is the management’s responsibility to proactively inform itself about the status of the necessary cleanliness measures. In the event of changes, the present hygiene concept must be immediately adapted to the new requirements.
What Are 3 Steps to Creating an Effective Hygiene Concept Checklist?
A hygiene checklist in the retail trade helps representatives to implement the essential measures quickly and efficiently, monitor them over a longer period, and, if necessary, adapt them immediately to new requirements. Compliance with hygiene measures is of fundamental importance for every retailer.
A checklist helps the hygiene teamwork more efficiently, protecting the business from unforeseen downtime, costly fines, and store closures. Regular hygiene inspections, combined with an effective checklist, help ensure that measures are safely implemented and problem areas are identified early. Below are the 3 steps that enable an effective hygiene concept checklist:
- Create a hygiene concept
First of all, managers must determine the details of their sanitary plan, e.g. which measures are necessary to improve hygiene and which employees and areas are affected in which way.
- 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 that will contribute to achieving the objective. The first step is to assess the environment using the SWOT analysis as a framework. A comprehensive understanding of the environment helps to create a tailored checklist.
- Create checklists
If the above information is complete, then you can start writing up your own checklists.
- Do the available means allow the implementation of the hygiene concept?
- Is there sufficient protective equipment available to implement the hygiene measures?
- Are all employees informed about the associated measures?
- Can you easily implement your plan?
- What is the overall assessment for the hygiene inspection?
- Who carried out the hygiene inspection?
- Are the hygienic measures up to date?
A paper-based hygiene concept can make data collection and maintenance tedious. Creating a paper-based report can be challenging for hygiene managers when trying to add photographic evidence and additional comments. Not to mention, paper documents can easily get lost or damaged in the daily grind with unpleasant consequences. Lumiform can help with this and all your retail audit or retail store safety inspection preparation needs.
Digitize Checklists and Internal Processes with Lumiform:
- The flexible form construction kit helps you convert any individual paper list into digital checklists within minutes.
- Lumiform offers more than 12,000 pre-designed templates, so that you can quickly and securely get started digitally, including many change management process templates.
- Save time by analyzing data quickly and identifying areas that need your attention.
- With the super intuitive mobile application, you and your teammates can perform any check in the field with ease.