How To Conduct A Training Needs Analysis For Food Safety Trainers

Food safety is one of the most important issues a restaurant or grocer will ever deal with. According to the 2009 International Food Information Council Foundation Food and Health Survey, more than half of all Americans see bacterial food-borne illness as the most important issue in food safety. For your staff to adhere to food-safety guidelines, your trainers need to be well informed, on the same page and in constant communication with you.

Instructions

1.Ask your trainers for a general overview. You will eventually want to conduct your own comprehensive analysis of the situation, but getting your instructors' feedback is a starting point. This will allow you to address the obvious needs. For example, if there aren't enough training manuals or classroom space, these can be quick fixes.
2.Assess the overall food-safety performance of your business. Are there any recurring issues with having to discard expired products? Have there been any food-borne illness incidents with your customers? Study the day-to-day operations of your business and staff, and record your observations. Getting feedback from non-managerial employees is important as well. Let them know they are not in trouble, and ask what they would need to do their job better.

3.Attend training sessions. It ultimately falls on management to instill the food-safety guidelines and procedures. Address any flaws that you see and inform management how it could do better, if necessary. This step will also allow you to follow up on the trainers' initial feedback. Were they correct in their initial assessments? Do you see more things that need improvement that aren't management's fault, such as the class size being too big?
4.Update your curriculum as needed. For example, food-safety laws change regularly, and it is essential that your business stays in compliance. Also, be mindful of how the material is laid out. Is it written in such a way that is easy to understand?
5.Spend what you need to. Budgeting generously for food-safety training is still less expensive than dealing with incidents down the road. You don't want to cut corners at this point. Training hours and textbooks are cheaper than lost business and potential lawsuits.

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