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The food-stall plan has hand gel but no usable sink. What should I ask the organiser?

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I checked the school fete's food-stall setup and found that the nearby handwashing sink was out of use. The organiser pointed to a bottle of hand gel and said, "We've covered hygiene."

I had volunteered to serve food, not to redesign the site. Still, I do not want to treat a bottle on the counter as the complete answer. [CDC says soap-and-water handwashing is important for preventing norovirus and that hand sanitiser alone does not work well against it](https://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/prevention/index.html).

There is another sink inside the building, but I do not know whether stall volunteers can reach it during service, whether it has supplies, or who covers the stall while someone goes.

The organiser thinks I am creating a last-minute task after the layout has been printed. What would you ask them to confirm before agreeing that the stall is ready? I want a usable washing arrangement, not an argument about whether one bottle proves everyone has tried.

Discussion

2 community replies

The inside sink might be an answer if it is accessible, supplied and usable during the shift. Walk through that arrangement with the organiser instead of assuming either that the second sink solves everything or that no solution exists.

[CDC recommends washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and says hand sanitiser is not a substitute for that washing against norovirus](https://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/prevention/index.html). Keeping the gel is not the main dispute; relying on it as the entire plan is.

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