Footwear hygiene is just as important as hand hygiene when it comes to food safety. Automated boot scrubbers eliminate many of the concerns that food safety managers must deal with on a day-to-day basis by standardizing footwear hygiene across entire facilities. We explore how automated boot scrubbers make food safety training and standardization easier and explore the pitfalls of other footwear hygiene methods below.
Automated Boot Scrubbers Make Training Easy
A big issue that facilities have when it comes to hygiene training is the hygiene processes themselves. Just like with proper hand hygiene, footwear hygiene is only effective when done correctly, but since humans are imperfect, there’s never a guarantee of it being done right every single time.
With automated boot scrubbers, human variability is removed since the hygiene process is being done by powerful brushes that remove heavy soils and debris. As the person walks through the system, they’ll have their footwear sanitized by the time they step off and can enter production zones without tracking in any dangerous pathogens.
Learn about automated boot scrubbers vs. shoe sanitizer pans
Automated Boot Scrubbers Standardize Footwear Hygiene
The standardization of footwear hygiene across an organization can show exponential improvements to a company’s food safety culture. When hygiene methods are simplified, that makes it easier for employees to understand and improves compliance with hygiene SOPs. Plus, with automated boot scrubbers, it shows your employees and auditors how you care about their and your customer’s health and safety.
Standardization is key to making sure that all levels of your facility are taking adequate hygiene precautions. Simplification of the hygiene process also helps to improve employee compliance with hygiene protocols. One of our customers, Pecan Deluxe Candy Company said it best, “The easier you make it the more compliant they are.”
Learn about why you should make the switch to an automated boot scrubber
Pitfalls of Other Footwear Hygiene Methods
Other methods such as doorway foam units/door foamers can create a slick surface which can become a safety hazard. Likewise, dry quat pellets/dry quat crystals can easily be tracked around the facility which requires substantial cleanup headaches. Another popular footwear hygiene option is the use of disposable shoe covers or booties. These do not have any chemical to kill pathogens on footwear, pose a slip hazard to the wearer and can be quite costly to replenish while producing a significant amount of landfill waste.
