Hair can genuinely become a physical hazard when not kept in place. A physical hazard is an object that can cause your clients to choke or injure themselves.
A good number of these hazards tend to happen naturally, like piths in fruit or bones in chicken; however, note that any physical hazard, whether it’s natural to the food or not, can endanger your customer. Hair can also be a biological hazard because it can carry numerous pathogens on it, including Staphylococcus bacteria.
These bacteria can cause food borne illness and quickly make customers feel unwell. While it is normal to have these pathogens on your skin and hair, it’s necessary to avoid them getting into foods or other things. You can avoid hair from slipping into food by wearing the right attire, such as gloves and a hair restraint.
It is imperative to wear the right hair restraint when working with or around food to ensure that hair doesn’t get into the food. In the United States, hair restraints like hair nets, baseball caps, or hats are acceptable to wear. If you decide to use a disposable hair net, always remember to dispose of it once you are done or if it has a hole in it. Ensure to use a beard net or other restraint to cover your facial hair, including beards, mustaches, and goatees.
Employees That are Required to Wear Hair Restraints and the Nature of Their Job
There are numerous industries and employees that need hair restraints to guarantee the integrity of their products or the health of their patients. They include;
Table of Content
Chefs/Cooks
Chefs are always advised to put on hair restraints; however, this advice is often not adhered to in all professional kitchens. Although every individual kitchen is allowed to decide, note that there are numerous benefits to wearing hair restraints as a chef.
It’s easier to prevent hair from getting into food than trying to repair any damage done because a hair restraint was not worn or improperly used.
Nature of Their Job
A chef or cook is tasked with leveraging their culinary expertise to create appetizing dishes for customers to enjoy. Note that their job includes overseeing kitchen staff, tasting dishes before going to customers, and restocking food produce as required.
Food Servers
Nobody likes to see hair in their food, and every staff in food production positions including food serves are expected to wear hair nets, bouffant caps, and/or beard snoods during every shift. Note that the FDA mandates all food employees to wear “hats, hair coverings or nets, beard restraints, and clothing that covers body hair” at work.
Nature of Their Job
The primary job of a food server is to see to the needs of customers before, during, and after their meals by helping them order, receive, and pay for their orders. They are also expected to ensure the fast delivery of food and beverages by checking on their tables periodically throughout the service time.
Surgeons
Hospitals and healthcare clinics always require hair restraints to help keep hair out of wounds to prevent infection. Have it in mind that even recently washed hair is contaminated with loads of bacteria. Owing to that, surgeons need hair restraints to minimize the risk of hair falling into the sterile area during surgery.
Nature of Their Job
Surgeons are known to treat injuries, diseases, and deformities through operations. By leveraging a wide range of instruments, a surgeon corrects physical deformities, repairs bone, and tissues, or carries out preventive or elective surgeries on patients.
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Workers
Pharmaceutical manufacturing workers need hair restraints to ensure that hair doesn’t enter pill bottles, solutions, or other mixtures used to create drugs. You will never find hair in your prescription because this industry follows very stringent rules and protocols to prevent contamination.
Nature of Their Job
These workers are involved in almost all aspects of the development, manufacture, and distribution of pharmaceutical products.
Nurses
When treating a wound on a patient, nurses are expected to wear hair restraints for the safety of their patients. Since everyone’s hair and scalp contain germs, wearing a hair restraint helps to ensure that the nurse won’t pass germs to patients.
Also, note that using a hair restraint is even more critical in a sterile environment like an operating room. They also help to keep long hair or bangs out of one’s face.
Nature of Their Job
Nurses are tasked with planning and providing medical and nursing care to patients in hospitals, at home, or in other settings who are dealing with chronic or acute physical or mental ill health.
Semiconductor Fabrication/Electronics Manufacturing Workers
Businesses in this industry tend to work with micro products that have features far smaller than dust particles. Owing to that, things as little as human hair, or even a single speck of dust, can cause product defects rendering the product unusable.
With the help of hair restraints and other notable control measures, these businesses can limit the risk of product contamination and product defects.
Nature of Their Job
These workers oversee the manufacturing of electronic semiconductors, which are known as integrated circuits or microchips.
Laboratory Staff
Depending on the substances being tested in the laboratory or within the chemical manufacturing process, staff may be required to use hair and beard restraints. Aside from the fact that they prevent human hair from contaminating samples, they can keep long hair from getting caught in rotating equipment.
Nature of Their Job
These workers are known to carry out the following duties;
- Carry out and support scientific investigations and experiments.
- Record and evaluate data.
- Demonstrate and show procedures.
- Collect, prepare, and/or test samples.
Food Packaging and Food Processing Workers
Same as with the pharmaceutical industry, have it in mind that food packaging and processing industries also require hair restraints to prevent food contamination, recalls, and factory shutdowns. Food assembly line workers, packagers, inspectors, and manufacturers are all expected to put on hair restraints to guarantee high productivity and low contamination.
Nature of Their Job
These workers are tasked with working in the food production line and loading ingredients into industrial baking equipment. Also, note that they monitor the machinery during the cooking and mixing process to guarantee that product quality standards are always met.