When you’re working with Deliveroo you are responsible for handling food for our customers.
It is important that you are aware of some simple things to ensure the food is handled safely on its journey from the restaurant to the customer.
Health condition
Firstly, be aware of when you are unfit to work. If you are suffering from any of the following medical symptoms, you should get in contact with rider support to let them know that you should not be doing deliveries:
- contagious viruses (e.g. food poisoning, stomach bug, flu, COVID-19)
- diarrhea, vomiting, fever, sore throat, and abdominal pain
- open sores and wounds
- eye infections
- skin conditions
Please then follow instructions from your doctor and do not work until at least 48 hours after the symptoms end.
Avoiding contamination
Secondly, you need to make sure that you are delivering the food in a safe manner, food must be untampered and delivered in a manner that maintains its quality. Please use a thermal bag when transporting the order.
Using a qualified thermal bag will protect the food from germs and allow you to separate food with allergens – we’ll talk about this more in a bit.
For health and safety reasons, you must not carry anything in the thermal bag which could contaminate the food or cause germs to spread.
Food should be stored in covered delivery containers to protect it from harmful microorganisms, foreign objects, and cross-contamination with other ingredients.
Ready-to-eat food should be separated from raw food and non-food items during transportation.
When carrying several orders please remember to keep them separately in the bags provided.
Restaurants take extra care to ensure that any customer allergies are taken into account and mixing orders up would cause cross-contact.
Food spillage
Food may spill while carrying orders. If it does, you need to contact Rider Support to let them know as you will need the restaurant to re-make the order. It is critical that you clean all your equipment thoroughly with disinfectant after such incidents. To avoid spillage, food should be properly packed and positioned to avoid crushing or damage to food containers.
If an order spills, or another order spills on it, both orders will need to be re-made. You should contact Rider Support so that the orders can be re-made. Not doing so could put someone’s health at risk.
Once you have picked up the food, you must not eat, drink or smoke while delivering an order, as it could contaminate the food with germs.
The length of time that orders are kept out of temperature control should be minimized.
If needed, you are free to take a break at any point. However we advise that should you require a toilet break, you do so before accepting or after completing an order to avoid the unlikely event of any contamination. Remember to never personally handle unpackaged food or drinks.
Personal hygiene
Remember to do the following things to make sure everything is clean enough when you’re delivering food:
- Wear clean clothes at all times, and regularly wash them to ensure it is free of bacteria
- Keep long hair tied up
- Open cuts or abrasions on any exposed part of the body should be covered with suitable waterproof dressing
- Sanitise your hands before each delivery order. It is important to wash your hands thoroughly as often as possible, especially after using the toilet, sneezing, coughing, smoking or cleaning
The correct way to wash your hands
Firstly, wet your hands with warm water and apply antibacterial soap. Lather your hands by rubbing them together, scrub for at least 20 seconds.
Rinse thoroughly under water to get rid of any residual soap.Dry thoroughly with paper towels or a hand dryer. Finally, turn off the taps with a paper towel.
You can ask restaurants to let you use their toilet and hand washing facilities whenever you're collecting an order from them.
Hygiene of equipment
Aside from personal hygiene, you must also keep your scooter or bike and your delivery equipment clean; whether that’s your thermal bags, backpack or box.
Always remember to clean as you go and remove waste regularly. When you are cleaning your equipment you must use food safe chemicals. You should read the manufacturer's instructions carefully to ensure that the product is suitable for food surfaces and that you are using it correctly.
To effectively kill any harmful bacteria properly, you should make sure you:
- leave the cleaning product on the surface for the time specified in the instructions
- read the manufacturer's guidance to check if it needs to be diluted before use
Always remember to keep chemicals away from food and drinks and wash your hands thoroughly after use.
Also, be aware of pests; such as cockroaches and mice. If you ever find any evidence of these, thoroughly clean all contact surfaces before carrying any food or drinks.
For more detailed information, please refer to the Practical Guide on Take-away Meal and Meal Delivery Services provided by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) at the following website: https://www.fehd.gov.hk/english/licensing/guide_general_reference/practical_guide_take_away_delivery_services.html