ISS Facility Services – Healthcare is part of the international ISS group. The group has grown over the past 20 years and they are one of the leading hospital support services suppliers in the UK.
The challenge
ISS Healthcare wanted to ensure that both their company and their suppliers were adhering to all the necessary food safety regulations. Without trained internal assessors in food manufacturer and supplier safety, they decided to use an external body.
The solution<
With years of experience with supplier assessment, STS was the ideal partner to also provide a comprehensive solution for the food suppliers to ISS Healthcare.
ISS Healthcare awarded their first contract to STS in 1987. Initially this was for training their cleaning staff and ward hostesses in both food safety and health & safety, and then the contract expanded to include development of company food safety documentation, and STS implemented a comprehensive auditing programme of each catering operation, a programme still undertaken annually.
Creating relationships
We have developed a successful working relationship with ISS Healthcare over the last 20 years.
With a vast knowledge of their company, services and suppliers, built up over the years, we give specific information and guidance that meets their exact requirements. STS continue to provide audits of their catering operations and supplier assessment to help ISS Healthcare meet and exceed high standards of food safety expected of hospital caterers.
ISS Facility Services - Healthcare
Thomas Cook is the longest serving, and one of the best known, brand names in travel. They operate in all parts of the travel industry – airlines, hotels, tour operators, travel and incoming agencies. They have a strong international presence across all sectors.
The challenge
Tour Operators and accommodation providers have a legal obligation to ensure the safety of their guests. The industry has taken considerable action to meet these requirements, including the development of a comprehensive Code of Practice, pro-active auditing programme and re-active investigations in the case of any illness outbreak.
With the demand for safe accommodation, the ‘blame-claim’ culture and legislative requirements, there is a need for Thomas Cook to set comprehensive standards for accommodation, assess performance and provide clear guidance. This includes standards in keeping of the country’s legal requirements.
The solution
There is a very limited number of companies with the experience and personnel to undertake such work. Thomas Cook identified the need to utilise qualified and experienced Environmental Health Officers with good communication skills.
STS have both the personnel and the experience, working with the Federation of Tour Operators to develop both the preferred Code of Practice and audit layout.
Creating relationships
STS have developed a successful working relationship with Thomas Cook over a number of years. We have provided telephone support for any queries, a worldwide auditing programme and where necessary, support for hoteliers implementing food safety management systems based on HACCP.
In the event of increased illness in a unit or resort we examine the illness figures to determine any trends, etc. and in appropriate cases travel to the resort to investigate and identify the potential cause.
Thomas Cook
Nottingham University is a well-established, reputable university. It has a student population of around 25,000. The university’s catering department is extensive and it alone has an annual turnover of £32 million+.
The challenge
Nottingham University has high standards of food safety and health & safety, and wanted to ensure that they were maintained and where possible improved across all of its catering outlets and halls of residence.
Due to the substantial number of halls of residence and restaurants, it was difficult to organise and monitor safety checks. Maintaining consistently high standards would involve investing considerable time, resources and finance.
It proved more cost effective and to employ the expertise of STS.
The solution
We were able to help the university in a variety of ways, all of which enabled them to maintain the necessary high standards, whilst saving precious time.
We first conducted an initial assessment of the university’s operations. By analysing and understanding their requirements, we tailored STS’ ‘Simply Safe’ Food Safety and Health & Safety documentation to the university’s own specific needs.
Management were trained on the system and subsequently the training cascaded down to all food handlers.
Ensuring ongoing results
To ensure that high standards were maintained in all areas, STS introduced annual audits. These enabled us to check that the correct safety standards were being followed. In each catering operation, documentation and practices are observed.
The auditor also spends valuable time with the manager, discussing practical solutions for areas requiring more attention.
STS understand that to maintain these standards the workforce needs to be motivated. This is why we provide each catering operation with a comprehensive scored report, based on their overall standards achieved. The units that achieve 90% or above during their audit receive the STS ‘Certificate of Excellence’. This creates healthy competition between outlets; which is encouraged, as it helps to drive standards upward.
Audits are unannounced throughout the year, to encourage team to maintain the highest safety standards all year round.
STS have provided further support to the university by responding to technical queries, updating documentation and development an ‘eye-catching’ HACCP poster for display in each catering operation.
Creating relationships
Over the years we have developed an excellent working relationship with staff and management alike. This, along with an established proven track record of success with the university, has meant that they were happy to renew 5-year contracts with STS, which are ongoing.
Nottingham University
