Incident free statistics at JIC

“Safety cannot be compromised at any cost or schedule” The combined efforts and individual’s responsibility of JIC staff has resulted in incident free environment at our work place.

There were no incidents, accidents or near miss cases reported in the month of July 2015. As a token of appreciation for this achievement, HSE department organized a small get together for its staff on 25th August 2015. A brief talk on “How each employee is accountable and empowered to stop any unsafe act or condition at the workplace” was shared as an encouragement to continue to maintain the momentum and pursue the safe working practices. The staff expressed their happiness for the achievement. 

Tips to organize emails

We all use Outlook. To make it effective and helpful in our daily use, follow these simple steps:

Rules of engagement

Rules option in the Outlook helps you to set Rules, which is a great inbuilt feature that lets you set a variety of preferences. Example: your emails can be organized in the designated folders by setting the rules with a specific subject line or from the sender. You can also set alerts for the emails received as per your priority.   

Folder arrangement

If you do not want your emails to be in the alphabetical order, you can make the folders and drag the emails and drop in the specific folders. You can arrange your folders as per your priorities. This option helps the lapse of time while searching for emails.

Search string success

A search folder can be created wherein all the important messages displaying the specific criteria can be stored. The hassle of searching the important messages can be avoided and the time can be saved.

Set up a Customized Group of People to Email (Distribution List)

If there is a frequency of emails to be sent to the same group of people, you can customize the email ids and create one list. The group id created for these email ids can be used while sending the email, this helps in avoiding the mistake of missing the people to whom the email has to be sent and it is a great time saver.

Try these tips to enhance the work experience with the outlook.

Computerized Accounting Versus Manual Accounting

Very important aspect in a business is accounting. It is mandatory to record the income and expenses in detail. It depends on the individual companies as to how they want to record their transactions, manually or computerized.

Accounting for every company is mandatory and it is generally accepted that companies should reveal certain financial and management information to the management and public as it is vital decision making process.

Manual accounting requires an accountant to record the transactions to the Journal, general ledger. These transactions are recorded individually either in the books or in the excel sheets.

Computerized accounting system allows the accountant to pass the transactions in the accounting package wherein all the relevant ledgers are updated. Unlike going through each ledger to prepare financial reports in the manual accounting system, the computerized accounting system automatically provides the required reports with just a click on the required report.  

Time

Manual accounting is time consuming in comparison to the computerized accounting. Once the data is passed in the computerized accounting system, generating reports is much easier than manual reports.

Accuracy  

The possibility of errors is greater when the transactions are made in manual accounting, but in computerized accounting the accuracy is higher.  

Reports

When you require complex reports, it is time consuming to extract manually whereas computerized accounting helps in getting all kinds of reports and in less time compared to the manual accounting. The reports in the computerized accounting is automatically updated and instantly available.

Each time management wants reports from different dates and in different formats it would be time consuming to generate manually whereas in computerized accounting system it would be easy to generate as and when required and in whichever format.

Considering the facts discussed above it is left to the individual companies to decide on having a manual way of accounting or the computerized accounting.

Food Cold Room Temperatures

Why is it necessary to check the actual temperature of the food cold rooms?

Many times we feel that food kept in the cold room is safe from bacteria formation as the temperature inside the cold room is appropriate to keep away the formation of bacteria. But in actual it is not the case, when the temperature is not appropriate then the tendency of microorganism’s growth is more. The very purpose of food cold rooms is to keep the food out of the temperature danger zone.

The food cold room temperature display indicates the temperature inside the room; in order to determine whether the display is indicating the exact temperature of the cold room a thorough check need to be incorporated.

How to check the actual temperature of the food cold rooms?

The simplest way to check the actual cold room temperature is as follows:

1) Leave a container with water inside the chiller or the freezer of the cold room for 24 hours. Water is chilled as per the cold room temperature.

2) Note down the temperature which is shown on the cold room temperature.

3)  Place a calibrated probe thermometer in the same chilled water to note down the temperature.

4) Compare the reading of both the thermometers, if you find the readings are almost the same, then you can confirm that the cold room temperature display unit is correct. If there is a huge difference then a necessary corrective action has to be taken.

Relying on faulty temperature display unit may result in food storage safety issues. Therefore it is always safe to double check the cold room temperature display unit as it is the very critical food safety equipment.

Strategies for Fun Work Culture

Employees want a positive energetic force at the work place. This brings the liveliness at work and can ward off the difficulties and excuses the employees are facing.

Our employees want a challenging and encouraging workplace where Fun is also part of the workplace culture. 

Our workplace culture tells our company’s complete story, which consists of success celebrations, awards and accomplishments, employee satisfaction, to name a few.

In order to keep the productivity high, stringent work rules should be relaxed and fun should be induced into work atmosphere.

The fun culture facilitates an employee to get the feeling that they belong to the company. This sense of belonging creates an understanding to perform better and thus helps the company’s growth. This belonging helps the employees to focus on their work, learn from each other, get inspired and try innovative things in collaboration with the fellow employees.

Few strategies for a fun work culture

Introduce challenges within the teams

When friendly challenges are introduced within the team, there is a competitive atmosphere, wherein all the teams will strive hard to be the winner and get diverted from the regular work which helps them to revive and work with refreshed minds. At JIC we have introduced fortnightly & monthly games where friendly competitions are held. These competitions within the teams help them have a better coordination and understanding within the team members, and they work together towards winning the game. This helps them in bonding and also getting distracted from their work routine. 

Socializing 

There are instances where the employees might not get along very well because of which the work suffers and the productivity dips lows. Where there is coordination and understanding between the employees there they tend to perform better and the productivity increases. To enhance the bonding between the employees, JIC took an initiative to conduct Fun day picnics, Team building activities and Fortnightly activities for the staff. This is the time where the employees get to know more about their fellow employees and the interaction in these sessions help them to bond which results in a revived mindset and they perform better together. 

Breaking the monotony of continuous work

To break the monotony of continuous work without proper break, JIC took an initiative to provide breaks during the work hours which helped the employees to work with a focused mind and give enhanced productivity when compared to the continuous work. 

Awards & Accomplishments Celebrations

At JIC we make it a point to recognize employee’s achievements; they are rewarded with the awards like star of the month and star of the star. Apart from employee recognition, as a token of appreciation the management makes it a point to celebrate with its employees on the event of receiving awards. This encourages the employees to perform better as an individual and as a team. 

Follow these strategies to get a happy employee with increased productivity

Importance of Hand Washing in Food Business

Why is it important to wash hands in food business?

Washing hands prevents food contamination when handled by food handlers. When hands are washed properly using hand washing techniques, harmful bacteria such as E. Coli, Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus and virus like norovirus present on the food handlers hand will be removed and the food is saved from contamination.

How often should the hands be washed?

Hands should be washed as often as necessary and always: 

• Before starting work 

• Before handling cooked or ready-to-eat food 

• After handling or preparing raw food 

• After handling waste 

• After cleaning duties 

• After using the toilet 

• After blowing nose, sneezing or coughing 

• After eating, drinking or smoking 

• After handling money 

Hand washing should be carried out before putting gloves on, between glove changes and after gloves are removed.

What are the Hand Washing Techniques?

Hands should be washed for at least 15-20 seconds using these techniques: 

- Wet hands under warm running water

- Use enough soap to form a good lather 

- Rub all parts of hands with soap and water 

Lather for at least 10-15 seconds, vigorously and thoroughly rubbing all hand surfaces, including the fingertips and thumbs 

- Rinse hands thoroughly with running water 

- Dry hands thoroughly

- Use hand sanitizer to sanitize the hands

What kind of facilities should be provided:

One of the fundamentals of food safety is hand washing properly before food is handled. However we can’t have good hand washing if the facilities are not available.  A designated sink for hand washing must be provided in food preparation areas. It must be easily accessible, not likely to be obstructed and located close to the working area. Check for adequate supply of soap, paper towel and clean water supply at all the designated wash basins.

Management Information System

Management information system is unique from the regular information system which is used in order to manage a company efficiently and effectively. It is regarded as a subset of internal controls procedures in a company, which covers the people, procedures and technologies which are used by the management to resolve issues like costing a product, strategy or service.

Why should a company have a good Management Information System (MIS)

To gain a better insight, align strategies and identify critical relationships and gaps along the main dimensions of the company a good management information system (MIS) is required.

Management information system (MIS) is used to set strategies and accomplish business objectives. Provides detailed information on financial statements to the management which helps in taking appropriate decisions.

To improve the efficiency and productivity, set procedures and policies need to be followed. This saves the time and the work will be completed in time. Proper MIS in maintaining the records and documents will help in minimizing the time and information delivery to the concerned will be quick.

Having a proper MIS helps in protecting the vital records and the critical company information will be safeguarded. In addition to that it helps management to take appropriate decisions required by the company.

Therefore it is recommended to have an appropriate MIS in place in order to increase the efficiency, productivity and appropriate business decision.

Common computer problems

We want to share the most common problems we face with our computers in our daily life and handy tips to resolve the problems are given below

My Computer is too slow:

Most common problem we all face. There might be a number of reasons for a slow computer; but the most common reason may be that extra space is being occupied when you are downloading some information from the internet or may be lack of maintenance. Corrupted files or fragmented data.

To overcome these problems, we should have a track of all the programs. Delete all the corrupted files and run Disk defragmenter.  

My computer keeps restarting:

Sometimes it is so difficult to analyze why the computer is restarting on its own. To ascertain that we should check whether some automatic windows updates happenings which require the computer to restart. It might be virus or adware or simply might be overheated.

To overcome make sure that you downloaded your antivirus and antispyware software is updated. Computers have safeguards that shut down the system if a component is overheated, which might be the cause of restart.

My computer shuts down on its own:

Sometimes due to fluctuations in power supply, faulty cable connection or overheating; the computer shuts down on its own.

To overcome this check if there is fluctuations in power supply then stop using it until there is consistent power supply. Check whether the cables are properly connected and if the computer is very hot check if the fan needs cleaning of dust.

I forgot to back up my data:

Data backup is an overlooked security task of many of us. All the data like important documents, photos, emails etc., are automatically stored on the computer’s hard drive, which is a mechanical and electrical device. When it breaks down the data will disappear forever.

To overcome this it is mandatory to take back up of your important data onto an external hard driver or server. You can make use of cloud services where in all your data can be stored.

My computer screen is blank:

Sometimes the computer screen goes blank. There may be an issue with the connection between the computer and screen.

Check if the computer monitor cable is plugged into power point properly or not and the connection and the connection between the monitor and computer hard driver is secure or not.

Following these easy steps will help you when you face these kind computer related issues.