Employer Liability: Your contract catering budget and food hygiene legislation.

An independent audit carried out by external consultants reduces operational risk for you as an employer.

All bias is removed preventing employees and suppliers

having an operational free hand.

Why bother? Clearly because contractor standards impact both your liability as an employer and your budgets!

Can you demonstrate due diligence?

Consider your catering facilities in isolation, do you contract your services out?

As the employer and duty holder yes you can delegate the duty, but not your responsibility for a negligent performance!

An audit checks against all aspects of employee welfare including both catering contractors performance and food hygiene legislation. Auditing catering facilities helps employers prove due diligence, cut operational risk and subsidies because it introduces minimum statistical standards!

CSSolutionsLtd: WHY CHOOSE US? We have many years experience independently carrying out employee welfare audits for businesses throughout the UK. The food hygiene audit element includes assessing catering contractors and vending operators performance standards...
We are successful because your data uniquely links best practice to statistical benchmarks and is tailored to site.

Common law duties: As an employer your duty of care to your employees is personal and non- delegable. You can delegate the duty to your contractors or employees but not your responsibility for a negligent performance!

Using catering contracts or vending contracts as a defence for poor standards is no excuse; as an employer you have employer liability responsiblities. You are the duty holder and as such have a duty of care!

Contract catering budget: You are responsible for all bottom line related costs! Your business has to be compliant and totally reliant on its employees; so their welfare and any catering costs are your first and second priorities...

You have common law duties and catering costs, reduce your operational risk now.

To establish your standards.... Click here.

Preventing bias when auditing; selecting your catering consultants...

You create obvious bias if you involve your catering department in any way in selecting or recommending catering consultants:

Your caterers standards are crucial to you as the employer because they impact both your common law duties and catering budget. To avoid bias you must organise the monitoring of their standards entirely independently- meaning no vested interest in your catering contractors, vending operators or in-house catering team.... removing any "conflict of interests".

Remember this is about protecting your interests as the employer, not your caterers interests.

The two are significantly different!

Your catering consultant must be bias free and provide clear statistical benchmarks.

Any vested interest at all incentivises the catering consultant not to divulge information that could risk or jeopardize the catering contract. Making you extremely vulnerable to both additional risk and costs!

Data integrity must be beyond debate...

Unbiased food hygiene audit data reduces both operational risk and catering subsidy!
It's not sufficient to say employee welfare standards are good or bad; how do you prove it?
Without control you cannot 'manage' standards & catering costs as effectively.

Food hygiene legislation, employment liability guidelines and your food hygiene audit:
No matter what size your food prep facilities do not underestimate the very real potential risk from basic food poisoning to your employees. The Food Standards Agency estimate 850,000 per year with most cases going unreported.

AS AN EMPLOYER LEGALLY YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE AS THE DUTY HOLDER!

THIS IS YOUR RISK BECAUSE THIS IMPACTS YOUR EMPLOYEE'S.

Food hygiene legislation and your catering contractors.

Consider the following; both clearly related to poor catering standards:

Profit for them; if the in-house caterer, vending supplier or contract caterer cuts back on less profitable areas for them they create more margin for themselves but create higher risk for you.
Profit for you; when the catering contractors or vending operators cut corners, canteen standards and merchandising goes downhill reducing sales, making the catering subsidy higher than is necessary for you.

Also consider:

Convenience; it's very easy for contractors to hide standards without "independent" auditing.
Familiarity; if standards fall to far the only option left is tendering the vending, cleaning or catering contract.
Staff knowledge; lack of guidance and control!
Interest; lack of it due to having unspecified goals. To set goals you require percentage benchmarks with recommendations relating to current standards!

In reality the reasons for poor standards are irrelevant.

Remember your duty of care. your contract catering budget, catering costs and subsidies.

Most importantly remember you cannot hide behind locally agreed contractor agreements including catering contracts or vending contracts!

To arrange your free site survey; telephone 0151-929 3273 or see the Cssolutionsltd Contact us page.

Your Liability As The Employer

In reality the reasons for poor standards are irrelevant.