Before a new member of staff starts work, they need to understand your equipment, products, and procedures. Previous experience is helpful, but it does not replace instruction on how your business specifically operates.
Training should continue as staff take on new responsibilities or working methods change. This guide explains what to cover, how to check that staff can work safely and when further training may be needed.
What Training Is Legally Required?
The main areas to consider are food hygiene, the management of food safety, and safe working practices. The instruction and training required will depend on each person’s responsibilities.
Food-Hygiene Training
Food businesses must ensure that food handlers receive supervision, instruction and/or training appropriate to their work. This applies whether they are preparing ingredients, cooking, serving customers or carrying out other food-handling tasks.
The law does not generally require food handlers to hold a particular certificate, such as Level 2 Food Safety, or attend an external course. Suitable in-house instruction and training can meet the requirement. A recognised course can help establish a foundation, but staff must also understand the procedures used in your business. A qualification may be required by an employer or customer contract which is separate from the general food-hygiene requirement.
Food-Safety Management
People responsible for developing and maintaining the business’s HACCP-based food-safety procedures must receive adequate training in applying HACCP principles. This is usually the owner or manager, but could also be another person with responsibility for the system.
They need to understand the food-safety hazards, the controls used to manage them, the checks required, and what to do when a control fails. The training must be sufficient for those responsibilities, but the law does not require a particular external course.
Other staff need to understand the procedures relevant to their work. They do not all need the same level of HACCP training as the person responsible for the system.
Equipment and Workplace Safety
Employers must provide adequate health-and-safety training for the work staff undertake. For machinery, this includes the operating methods, risks, and precautions needed to use the equipment safely. People who supervise or manage its use also need appropriate training.
In the UK, these duties include the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, known as PUWER. Additional training may be needed when equipment, responsibilities, or working methods change.
Required health and safety training must be provided at no cost to employees and count as working time. If it takes place outside their normal hours, it should be treated as additional time at work.
What Should Staff Learn Before Starting Work?
Before staff begin a task, give them the instruction they need to carry it out safely. Follow this with supervised practice and check their understanding before allowing independent work. Temporary, agency, and part-time workers need instruction suited to their duties, just as permanent staff do.
- Who supervises them and exactly where to ask for help.
- Handwashing, protective clothing, and illness reporting.
- How to separate raw and ready-to-eat food.
- How to respond to an allergen enquiry, where current ingredient and allergen information is kept, and who to ask if they are unsure.
- Which specific equipment and tasks they are currently authorised to undertake.
- How to report damaged equipment, contamination, or unsafe conditions.
- Emergency arrangements, including fire evacuation and getting first-aid assistance.
Use clear explanations and demonstrations, and check that staff understand the instructions. Young or inexperienced workers may need closer supervision.
The Main Subjects Staff Need Training In
The depth of training depends entirely on each person’s duties.
| Training | What staff should understand |
|---|---|
| Personal hygiene | Handwashing, clean protective clothing, covering cuts, and reporting illness. |
| Cross-contamination | Separating raw and ready-to-eat food, correct storage, and using the appropriate equipment and utensils. |
| Temperature and stock control | Delivery checks, storage, cooking and cooling procedures, probe use, date marking and action when a check fails. |
| Allergens and labelling | Checking current ingredient information, preventing cross-contact, handling recipe changes and giving accurate customer information. |
| Cleaning and chemicals | The cleaning schedule, correct products, dilution, contact time, rinsing where required, and protective measures. |
| Knives and machinery | Safe handling, operating limits, guards, stopping, isolation and reporting faults. |
| Workplace safety | Slips, lifting and carrying, burns, relevant PPE and emergency arrangements. |
| Traceability and recalls | Recording and identifying stock, recognising affected batches and escalating problems. |
Machinery Training
Having food-hygiene knowledge does not automatically establish competence to operate a bandsaw or a mincer. Training should cover the particular machine and the tasks the employee will carry out. For every machine, training should address:
- What the machine is suitable for and its operating limits.
- Pre-use checks.
- Controls, guards, safety interlocks, and protective accessories (like pushers).
- Safe loading, operation, and unloading.
- Normal stopping and emergency arrangements.
- What to do if food jams or the machine behaves unexpectedly.
- Safe isolation of energy supplies before cleaning, clearing blockages, or other work.
- Which tasks operators are trained and authorised to perform, and when to stop and contact a service engineer.
Use the model’s operating manual alongside the business’s risk assessment. Someone who has used a generic slicer elsewhere may recognise the basic controls, but they still need instruction on your model’s controls, guards, product holder and cleaning arrangements.
How Do You Check That Training Has Worked?
Training can easily be checked to ensure that the person is now capable of the task:
- Explain the task, its risks, and the precautions needed.
- Demonstrate the correct method.
- Let the employee practise with appropriate supervision.
- Ask them to explain the key precautions and what to do if something goes wrong.
- Assess whether they can complete the task safely before allowing independent work.
- Record the outcome, provide further support where needed, and continue checking performance during normal work.
An attendance record shows that training took place. A practical assessment helps establish whether the employee can apply it. For example, ask them to demonstrate a temperature check or explain what they would do if a machine guard were damaged.
The person assessing the training must be well-suited and competent in the task, although they do not need to be an external trainer.
When Should Training Be Reviewed or Repeated?
There is no legal expiry date for food-hygiene training. Reviewing staff knowledge and performance regularly is beneficial for the whole team. The timing should reflect the risks, how often the task is performed, and any changes in the business.
A review may lead to a short briefing, supervised practice, or a more substantial course. The amount of training should match the gap identified.
| When to review | What to check |
|---|---|
| New employee or new duties | Whether existing knowledge covers the work and what local instruction is needed. |
| New machinery or operating procedures | Whether staff understand the changes before undertaking the work. |
| Changed recipe, ingredient or supplier | Whether preparation methods, allergen information and labels need updating. |
| Mistake, complaint or near miss | Whether training contributed to the problem and what corrective action is needed. |
| Long absence or infrequently performed task | Whether skills and knowledge remain current. |
| Changed legislation or guidance | Which procedures and staff instructions are affected. |
| Planned periodic review | Whether staff continues to follow safe methods and whether refresher training is due. |
Some qualifications have specific validity periods. First Aid at Work and Emergency First Aid at Work certificates normally last three years, so arrange the appropriate requalification before they expire. HSE strongly recommends annual refresher training, but annual refresher attendance is not itself a general legal requirement.
What Training Records Should You Keep?
A record of staff training is very important and should contain:
- The employee’s name and role.
- The date and subject covered.
- The relevant equipment model or procedure version.
- The name of the trainer or assessor.
- The assessment outcome.
- Any further supervision required or restrictions placed on the worker.
- The planned review date.
Do not simply record “slicer training completed”. Keep course certificates alongside records of instruction in your own procedures, practical assessments, and any follow-up training. Together, these help demonstrate how staff have been prepared for their work.
Your Next Steps
Check that each member of staff has received instruction for the tasks they perform and that their practical skills have been assessed where appropriate. Record any gaps and arrange the support or training needed.
If you are introducing new processing equipment, contact SMS Food for the relevant machine information and to discuss what operating guidance is available. The FSA’s online food-allergy training can also support instruction in your own products and procedures.