3.1. Categories based on the thematic content analysis 3.1.1. Ideal practices and behavior
In the ideal scenario, all workers are aware of the risk of FBD and act appropriately to minimize them. These agents make the connection between contents learned (during training or seized from the experience in an exemplary restaurant), the importance of the adoption of health standards and the consequences …show more content…
Risk perception and cognitive illusions of restaurant workers Variation in risk perception was identified in the workers depending on their knowledge about the topics of the health standards. That is, the same worker, based on his or her knowledge, can adopt and believe faithfully in the effectiveness of an action to avoid FBD outbreaks, while also performing other actions that are consistent with higher risk of FBD (Figure 3).
Figure 3 – Example of divergent perceptions of risk in a single agent.
Teresa, field 1. On the menu today there was oxtail and at a given moment when, through carelessness, a piece of meat fell to the ground before going to the pot, Teresa picked it up, washed it and put it in the pan again. The next day would have fish, and Teresa said this food has to be done according to the order because it is too “fragile,” so any frying must be done according to the demand so that it does not get “mushy.”
Suzana, field 2. She asked that her manager and Carla put the lids on the pots with the seasoned steaks and chicken, since there were flies flying around. She blew the pancakes so she would not burn her hands when taking them out of the …show more content…
A food handler can hold different attitudes towards the same event, in this case a protective practice (Ajzen, 2001). When you consider risky behavior the conflict is in the immediate benefits versus possible future potential costs (Cavazza & Serpe, 2009). Food handlers know that they must have hygienic practices, however in a scenario where there is work overload, the immediate benefit in handling food is to deliver meals at the agreed times, sometimes in exchange for proper procedures. It is easier to identify (or measure) risky situations in peer’s practices than in our own. Weinstein (1989) explains that admitting that our peer are less susceptible to harm (or in this case “causing harm”) than us threaten our desire to be better, feelings of competence and self-worth. The results observed converge with the presence of optimistic-bias in this group of workers, a fact observed in other studies (da Cunha, Stedefeldt, & de Rosso, 2014b; Da Cunha, Braga, Passos, Stedefeldt, & De Rosso,