VOLUNTEER SAFETY GUIDELINES:
The Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana follows Best Practices to promote food and personnel safety. The following guidelines protect your safety and ensure a safe food supply chain at the Food Bank.
Food Safety
- In order to prevent contamination of food products, no persons with cold symptoms, flu, boils, sores, infected wounds or any other infections or communicable diseases are permitted to contact food.
- Volunteers must wash hands before beginning shift, and after eating, drinking, using the restroom, and otherwise soiling hands.
- No food or drink is permitted in the warehouse areas of the facility, including gum and candy. Any spill or improperly disposed of food or drink product can contaminate inventory food products and be attractants for insect pests and rodents. Bottled water is approved and available.
- No one is allowed to consume or remove from the premises any donated or purchased food or other non-food products.
- Report any glass breakage to a staff member immediately. Staff members are trained in the proper procedure to clean up glass breakage in order to prevent contamination of inventory food products.
- The FDA has identified the top eight allergens as wheat, milk, eggs, fish, seafood, peanuts, tree nuts and soy. Spills of any products containing these allergens need to be reported immediately to a staff member. Staff members are trained in the proper procedure to clean up food allergens to prevent contamination of inventory food products.
Personnel Safety
- Volunteers must check-in at the front desk on arrival.
- The minimum volunteer age is 9. All volunteers age 9-17 must be accompanied by an adult.
- Volunteers are assigned to specific work areas in the warehouse. For personnel safety and accountability, volunteers must remain in their assigned work area until their shift ends or they are reassigned to another project. Volunteers should not walk throughout the warehouse without being escorted by Food Bank staff members.
- Please wear close-toed shoes. Open-toed and open-heeled shoes are not permitted in the warehouse in order to protect your safety from powered equipment and the movement of products on pallets.
- Be aware of forklifts and pallet jacks. Pay attention when pallets are being moved.
- Immediately report any injuries and/or unsafe conditions or practices to your Food Bank supervisor.