Buddhafield Café Health and Safety Policy

Topics covered on this page

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Statement of Intent

Buddhafield will endeavour to provide a working environment that is safe and promotes healthy good practice.

The Café managers will be responsible for ensuring a safe and healthy environment in the Café and for carrying out this health and safety policy.

We will always be open to revising and updating this policy.

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Gas

All appliances use LPG gas, and a number of checks are in place to ensure the safety of the appliances and the gas cylinders.

  • Cylinders are kept outside the Café, firmly secured in an upright position and always closed off at night.
  • Only trained staff have responsibility for changing over bottles.
  • Gas spanners are stored near the bottles for quick use.
  • Hoses (pipes) and regulators are checked each time a bottle is changed.
  • Each appliance is connected to a rigid gas pipe fixed beneath the stainless steel table with isolator taps fitted, both at the point of connection and at the end of the rigid pipe, allowing a choice of places to shutdown quickly.
  • Should a leak occur the appliance, pipe and cylinder will be closed off and checked.
  • Should a small fire break out, people will be evacuated and the fire smothered with a fire blanket, wet cloth, or dry powder extinguisher.
  • All gas appliances are checked and certified annually by a Corgi registered dealer, and checked by the managers between events.

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Transportof Gas

  • As far as possible all gas will be purchased on site and used up before we leave.
  • A maximum of 45kg of gas will be transported per vehicle when necessary, secured in an upright position and of course disconnected and turned off.

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Water

Generally we are supplied with a mains water tap outside the Café with an extension into the kitchen. The outside tap is used for washing vegetables and filling any necessary containers, the inside one for filling urns. Staff are made aware of the risks of spilling water by overfilling containers and the need to mop any spillage straight away. There are separate washing areas for:

  • Handwashing — hot water is kept topped up in an insulated container with a tap, situated on a table by the entrance and supplied with bacterial handwash, nailbrush and paper towels.
  • Vegetable washing — a table is set up outside for cleaning vegetables before they come inside to the prep tables.
  • Washing up — the bowls are filled with hot water from the urns and topped up with cold water from the tap when necessary, there is a pot-soaking bowl, two washing bowls and a very hot rinsing bowl.

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Design and Layout

The kitchen and Café layout is designed to ensure:

  • Plenty of room to work and move about
  • The cooking area is separate from other general areas
  • The urns are positioned between the washing-up and tea-serving areas
  • The prep tables are in the centre of the kitcen allowing easy access to the vegetable stores, to the exit for washing and to the cooks area. This also allows the cooks to oversee good practice at the prep table (ie washing and food preparation practices).
  • Good hygeine practices can easily be followed.
  • Floor surfaces are as level as possible, anti-slip and easy to clean and disinfect.
  • Fire fighting equipment is well displayed and accessible.
  • Fire exits are kept clear and accessible and signs are well displayed.

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General Hygiene

We ensure a high standard of food hygiene by training all our staff in our Food handling policy before each event and displaying the Basic rules for food handlers and the cleaning schedule in full view at the handwashing station. Please see these three documents which are included here.

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Waste Disposal

We are obliged to follow the guidelines given at each event by the organisers but as far as possible we aim to:

  • Recycle as much as possible, ie glass, cans and tins, paper and cardboard, plastic, food waste. If facilities for recycling are not provided at the event we take what we can away with us.
  • Collect food waste in buckets and transfer it to lidded containers or plastic sacks outside the Café, raw and cooked kept separate when required.
  • Transfer all liquid waste to containers supplied or to a soak-away.
  • Collect any non-recyclable waste in plastic sacks and store them outside the Café awaiting collection.
  • Provide recycling bins and compost bucket in the Café area for the customersÕ use.

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First Aid and Well-being

We maintain a fully stocked first aid kit as well as a secondary non-emergency kit, both are kept at the handwashing station and the attention of all members of staff are drawn to their position. These rules of best practice are followed:

  • There is always a trained first-aider, usually on each shift but if not then at least quickly contactable.
  • Any serious accident will be recorded in the incident book by the shift co-ordinator. The incident book is kept in the shift co-ordinators box and used for recording anything the managers need to know about.
  • Guidelines for manual handling are given during the training session at the start of each event.
  • Each shift meets for half an hour before starting work in order to report in on any health or well-being issues or anything the co-ordinator needs to know.

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Fire Extinguishers

At every event there is a water extinguisher at each end of the Café area, dry powder

extinguishers by each exit of the kitchen and a CO2 extinguisher by the cookers. All units are checked between events and annually re-filled and certified by a professional fire safety service provider.

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Pest Control

Any food at risk of invasion by pests are kept stored in plastic bins with well-closing lids. All stores are regularly checked by the managers and rotated as necesssary to ensure freshness.

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Lighting / Electricity

All the lighting and sound is powered by a 12 volt battery system recharged with solar panels, therefore any risk is minimal. Wiring is carried out by trained staff members.

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