Dieticians' Perception of Safety Supervision in Institutional Foodservices (II): Status of Safety System and Safety Education

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the status of the safety system and safety education in institutional foodservices in the Changwon and Masan areas. The survey was conducted from February 1 to March 31, 2009 via questionnaires that were sent to 300 dietitians, and 142 dietitians responded. It was determined that most of the safety managers were 'dietitians (87.1%)', whereas facilities/equipment managers consisted of 'dietitians (45.7%)', 'department of facilities management in the organization (36.4%)' and 'outsourced company of facilities management (17.9%)'. Out of the 11 safety practices, seven safety practices showed less than 50% of total implementation ratio, which meant that the safety systems were not functioning properly. Except for 'non-skid shoes (85.9%)', other safety equipment was seldom used. The survey respondents recognized that safety education was very necessary (4.47 points); however, they responded so-so (3.46 points) to the question of whether or not the actual frequency and time spent on safety education were enough. The average time spent on safety education was 28 minutes 11 seconds. Regarding the difficulties in performing safety education, 'not many safety education materials and media (3.44 points)', 'not many varieties in the subjects and contents for safety education (3.40 points)', and 'not much organizational support on safety education (3.33 points)' showed higher scores than 'lack of education time due to workload (3.20 points)'. The following were cited as education materials that should be developed as it is currently difficult to obtain relevant information and data 'root causes of musculoskeletal injury and preventive measures (15.8%)', 'healthcare and disease preventive exercises for employees who do simple and repetitive works (14.9%)', and 'instruction on safe handling of chemicals (12.7%)'.