Teaching a class on controlling microbial growth in the environment.
Imagine you are teaching a class on controlling microbial growth in the environment. To test your students, you will present them with a scenario including a site and some probably microbes present. They must design a strategy to eliminate harmful microbes from the area.
In this discussion, each student should present a scenario for analysis by his or her classmates, and propose an answer to another classmate's scenario. Be as creative as you can!
Sample Solution
Student 1: The scenario I have chosen is a hospital environment. Harmful microbes present at this location could include bacteria such as E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Klebsiella pneumoniae (CDC). In order to eliminate these microbes, it is important to practice proper hygiene. This includes hand-washing for all staff members before entering the hospital and making sure that surfaces such as bedrails are regularly cleaned and disinfected (CDC). It is also important to ensure that all medical instruments used on patients are sterilized in accordance with standards set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Student 2: My scenario would be a food processing plant where harmful microbes can easily spread due to the production of large amounts of food. Microbes found here could include Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Clostridium perfringensand Campylobacter(CDC). To reduce their presence in the area it’s essential that adequate hygiene practices are followed ,such as regular cleaning and sanitizing of equipment and personnel washing areas(Food Safety Magazine) . Additionally , Food safety management systems should be implemented which involve implementing policies such as HACCP plans which focus on controlling both microbial contaminants & other possible hazards throughout entire supply chain (Food Safety Magazine ) . Finally ensuring temperature control throughout facility is also key not just for eliminating harmful bacteria but preventing growth of new contamination.(Food Safety Magazine)
As discussed by Bottazzo (2005), a company’s employees are one of its main groups of potential stakeholders. As a result, the satisfaction of employees is considered equal to the satisfaction of customers and shareholders, becoming an important element of an organisation’s strategic mission. This has created a paradigm shift of internal communication from one-way informing of employees, to a two-way communication with the inclusion of training, education and motivation.
The goal of internal communication is to achieve employee-company advocacy, with workers buying into the missions and values of the organisation and reflect those to other potential stakeholders. Therefore it’s necessary for Recticel to maintain the use of different platforms for everyday communication, including email, telephone, webinars and Skype – which allows a range of users to ‘dial in’ to a meeting and share computer screens. For a multi-national company, well-rounded communication from management is crucial – to offer information, support and a sense of community for plants that cannot be supported through emails or phone calls alone (Pinsky, 2015).
Recticel address this through an internal intranet system, RICK (Recticel Intranet Centre of Knowledge). RICK contains all of the documents, training and support required by individual plants to help run their business successfully. In a manufacturing environment, changes can take place rapidly – this method of instantaneous communication will assist individual plants to sync their business activities.
RICK boosts the company’s efforts of ‘on boarding’ – the introduction of new employees to the company. In a company of this size, the automation of an on boarding programme streamlines talent management initiatives and improves productivity long term. A personalised level of access to the intranet system facilitates a steady flow of well-timed information to new employees (Friedmann, 2012). There are instances where automation in the ‘on boarding’ and communication processes have their disadvantages. In large manufacturing companies like Recticel, where most employees work the assembly line rather than at a desk, not all employees have the same access to information and training.