1.0: OVERVIEW, INTRODUCTION & STATEMENT OF INTENT AND
OVERVIEW
Community Embrace UK is a and non-profit organisation established to promote diversity, advance cohesion
and encourage dialogues by connecting communities and people of diverse backgrounds together through
food and culture.
As a grassroots community based organisation, we are driven by the passion to support those in need through
our a surplus food distribution program as well as a range of other services which aims support people’s
mental health, reduce loneliness and encourage social inclusion.
We are primarily staffed by a team of volunteers across the town and beyond and partner with other local
agencies which makes our services free, inclusive, non-judgmental, and non-political and solely for the benefit
of everyone in the community who needs our help and support.
INTRODUCTION
Community Embrace UK has an obligation under the Health & Safety legislation to ensure the health, safety
and welfare of its teams, volunteers and members of the public against any foreseeable health risk or hazards.
To discharge our legal Health and Safety and other obligations, it is a condition of all team members and the
general community to observe the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act (1974), especially,
but not limited to, their own safety and that of others.
The primary goal of the management of risks associated with any food collected, prepared or distributed by us
is to ensure the protection of everyone’s health by controlling such risks as effectively as possible through the
selection and implementation of appropriate measures
We therefore fully accept the legal obligation to obey all of this legislation and confirm that it will cover all the
key areas of concern.
STATEMENT IF INTENT
Community Embrace UK is fully committed to providing and ensuring that all foods distributed by us to our
service users, partners and the general community are safe and healthy for human consumption. We work in a
very clean hygienic environment and all volunteers have been trained to the very high standard of observing
basic food safety measures when collecting sorting, preparing or distributing food.
By this document we aim to:
Establish standards which take account of legal, statutory and other requirements
Establish and maintain interest in, and awareness of, those standards and provide training which will
maintain those standards
Ensure that any food donated or distributed is fit to eat and will not cause any harm to the user
Require the commitment of all parties to exercise personal responsibility to do everything possible to
prevent injury to themselves, other employees and members of the public
Review this procedure every 12 months
2.0: DEFINITIONS AND RISK ASSESSMENT
DEFINITIONS
Risk Assessment:
Risk assessment is the process of identifying hazards, ascribing to its values for likelihood impact and
calculating risk. This method of risk assessment is qualitative (description based upon subjective judgment)
and meets the Health and Safety Executive requirements.
Hazard: Something having the potential to cause harm.
Likelihood: The probability of something happening causing injury/loss
Severity: The probable impact or magnitude of injury/loss if it happened
Main Steps to Risk Management
1. Look: Look for the Hazards
2. Who: Decide who may be harmed and How
3. Evaluate: Assess the risks and existing precautions (eliminate hazard if possible)
4. Record: Record findings and introduce Control Measures to minimize
5. Review: Review and revise to ensure control measures remain effective
Evaluations
Assess the probable Likelihood (L)
(L) = Likely (P) = Possible (U) = Unlikely (VU) = Very Unlikely
Likely: It could reasonably be expected to happen in the foreseeable future
Possible: There are reasons to suggest that it could happen
Unlikely: Could occur under exceptional circumstances
Very Unlikely: There are no reasons to suggest that it will happen
Assessing the probable Severity (S):
(Ca) = Catastrophic (Ma) = Major (Si) = Significant (Mi) = Minor (Ne) = Negligible
Catastrophic: Multiple deaths and/or life threatening injuries
Major: Single death/life threatening injury OR injuries to a number of people requiring hospitalization
Significant: Single hospitalization injury OR injuries to a number of people who require first aid treatment
Minor: Single injury requiring first aid, involved parties feel anxious and are concerned about their safety
Negligible: No real harm; no more than inconvenience, discomfort, frustration, etc.(COMMUNITY EMBRACE UK) FOOD SAFETY & RISK ASSESSMENT
Community Embrace UK – Food Safety & Risk Management Plan
Food Handling and Food Hygiene:
Community Embrace commits itself to compliance with the requirements of the Food Safety Act 1990, Food
Safety & Hygiene (England) Regulations and subsequent regulations and requirements as a basis for its
minimum standard. All our volunteers preparing food have undergone the basic food safety training and the
management team takes responsibility for ensuring this in order to adhere that standards are met and that
training is provided to all food handlers to commensurate with their responsibilities.
All food being made from scratch are prepared from a clean kitchen with the necessary guidelines clearly
displayed for volunteers and helpers. Colour coded aprons are provided for those preparing food and those
sorting food.
Electrical Equipment Site Responsibility:
Any electrical equipment is a potential health hazard. Nobody shall be engaged in any work activity where
technical knowledge or experience is necessary to prevent danger or injury unless they possess such
knowledge or experience, or is under such degree of supervision as may be appropriate having regard to the
nature of the work. This provision needs to be interpreted to err on the side of caution. Nobody should attempt
to carry out the simplest electrical work such as fitting plugs or changing light bulbs unless they are certain that
they know what they are doing.
PAT testing of equipment such as fridges, freezers and all other electrical appliances will be carried out to
conform to legislative requirements. Electrical systems will be tested to national standards every two years.
Fire Hazard:
Fire is a considerable hazard in office accommodation where there are large quantities of inflammable
materials such as paper. To reduce the effects of fire operational managers will undertake daily checks to
ensure that all Fire exits are functional and clearly signposted. Fire drills be conducted on a quarterly basis and
Fire equipment will be independently checked on an annually basis. Special consideration will be taken in the
kitchen to identify risks and any specific training requirements in the use of equipment in these facilities.