 Managers have to deliver negative feedback sometimes. Maybe there is a food safety task that is a repeat problem – or perhaps a team member has a hard time getting it right. Managers stand the best chance of having any negative feedback sink in and result in corrective action if they surround any negative feedback with a greater amount of positive recognition of what a person is doing well. Recognition is one of the seven food safety pillars that the food safety consultancy Steritech uses to evaluate a restaurant’s food safety management. Ironically, it tends to be a weak area for many businesses, even though it often provides the motivation needed for change to occur. You can build trust across your team by weaving thanks and recognition into the fabric of the training and support you provide. Thank people for keeping your business safe and encourage (and reward) your team members who recognize and reinforce it with their peers too.
 Even if your business has a strong food safety record and culture, the rapid turnover of a workforce can chip away at it if you don’t take action to protect it. A report from Food Safety Magazine encourages businesses to rise to the challenge in four steps using the acronym SAVE: Standardize your processes across your locations and production zones. Automate processes where possible in an effort to simplify your training and compliance procedures. Validate the effectiveness of hygiene protocols and compliance using tools that can keep you on track. Finally, educate people across your organization about the “why” of food safety – it helps people retain both the training material and your expectations of them when it comes to protecting the business.
 As you monitor and measure your food safety, there may be issues that surface time and again. As you plan new initiatives to make improvements, it can help to start with the low-hanging fruit – the areas of your operation where your team is more likely to generate some early, easy wins. As Chris Boyles of Steritech said in a recent food safety webinar, getting a win on your first initiative can help you build the momentum and staff engagement you need to see other initiatives through. Other ways to build some momentum down the line: Try doing a small-scale pilot with a cross-section of your team prior to a larger launch. These people may become your best advocates, persuading skeptics to get on board.
 The root cause of a repeat food safety problem may not be what you think. When something goes wrong, looking a few layers beneath the surface to understand it. For example, perhaps a drink dispenser isn’t being cleaned as often or as effectively as it should be. Why is it not being cleaned properly? The scheduled team isn’t doing it. Why not? Well, they are almost entirely new to the business – maybe their training hasn’t sunken in. Or, maybe they have been distracted by other tasks. Maybe they are intimidated by the manager working at that time and didn’t want to ask. Maybe the solution needed to clean it simply isn’t at the right concentration. Asking why a problem is happening – and then applying that same question to your response until you land on a clear cause – can help you determine the best corrective action. The cause of the problem may be several steps removed from the manifestation of that problem.
 Restaurants tend to have one day, perhaps even more, when food safety issues are most likely to occur for them. According to a recent webinar from Steritech and the National Restaurant Association, often that day is Sunday – worryingly, a day when it’s common for people to eat out at restaurants – but for your restaurant, it might be any day that your general manager is at an offsite meeting or on vacation. The variance between worst days the better days can be as high as 30 percent, according to research cited by Chris Boyles Steritech, so there are clear opportunities for restaurants to make improvements through corrective action. If you don’t know your restaurant’s riskiest day of the week when it comes to food safety, investigate it so you can identify the root causes of the risks you’re seeing on those days. Who is on staff? Who is not? Then prioritize your biggest risks and the ones you’re seeing the most frequently.
 When a general manager is asked who on their team is responsible for food safety, a common answer is “everyone.” On the surface, that answer makes sense – protecting food safety should be everyone’s job. But it can end up meaning that no one is responsible, with everyone assuming someone else on the team knows the right way to clean a piece of equipment or complete any number of important food safety tasks. An FDA study found that there are more than 60 percent fewer critical issues when the person in charge could describe the operation’s food safety management system. The system should include specific procedures, training and monitoring of how staff are carrying out procedures – and for any critical procedures, the food safety management system should identify the specific people responsible, as well as where they can find additional information if they need help. Does your food safety management system have that degree of clarity? If not, your team members may be assuming that someone else has an important responsibility covered.
 Does your restaurant’s food safety culture run deep – or could it easily become watered down with the departure of certain staff who reinforce it? If you can bring greater standardization to your food safety processes, both within a facility and across your locations if you operate more than one, this will go a long way in helping you ensure the consistency you need to weave food safety into the fabric of your business. Consider all of your food safety processes. Are any of them unnecessarily complex – or applied slightly differently in one location than another? How can you make each process simpler, easier to follow, and applied in a standard way across your organization?
 At a time when your restaurant may be using more heaters, both indoors and outdoors, to make your spaces more comfortable and accessible regardless of the weather, it’s important to give your equipment and staff a fire safety check-up. The risk of fire increases in the winter months – and some of the newer or temporary structures you may be heating can present an additional risk to your restaurant if heaters aren’t used properly. In addition to maintaining indoor appliances that can pose fire safety hazards, like your vent hood, now is a good time to deliver updated fire safety training to your staff and make sure your fire extinguishers are in good working order.
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