Your premises
Your premises include all of the rooms or buildings you use
in your business.
General requirements
You must keep your premises clean and maintained in
good repair and condition.
The layout, design, construction, site and size of your
premises must:
>Allow adequate maintenance, cleaning and/or disinfection.
>Avoid or minimise air-borne contamination (i.e. contamination
carried in the air).
>Provide enough working space for you to carry out all
tasks hygienically.
>Protect against the build-up of dirt, contact with toxic
materials, shedding of particles into food and forming of
condensation or mould on surfaces.
>Allow good food hygiene practices, including protection
against contamination and, in particular, pest control.
>Provide, where necessary, suitable conditions for handling and
storing food while keeping it at appropriate temperatures.
Those temperatures should be monitored and, where
necessary, recorded.
✹
If you are choosing new premises or making changes to
premises you already have, it’s a good idea to ask your local
authority for advice.
Handwashing facilities and toilets
>You must have an adequate number of flush lavatories,
connected to an effective drainage system.
>Toilets must not open directly into rooms where you
handle food.
What the
law says
6>You must have an adequate number of washbasins, suitably
located and used only for cleaning hands.
>Washbasins for cleaning hands must have hot and cold
running water, soap and materials for hygienic drying.
>Where necessary, you should have a separate sink for
washing food.
Ventilation
>You must have enough ventilation, either natural (e.g. opening
windows or vents) or mechanical (e.g. extractor fans).
>Ventilation systems must be constructed to allow access
to clean or replace filters and other parts.
>Toilets must have enough ventilation, either natural
or mechanical.
Other requirements
>You must have adequate lighting, either natural (daylight)
and/or artificial (electric light).
