Purpose: This study assessed cabin crew handwashing/hygiene knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported practices. Findings will help identify malpractices and also inform development of future food safety training of cabin crew.
Methods: An online quantitative questionnaire was developed using qualitative in-depth interview data from cabin crew training managers/supervisors and previous cognitive research literature. The questionnaire was administered to a purposeful sample of 2500 cabin crew from 20 airlines.
Results: Overall, 307 questionnaire responses were obtained (response rate 12.28%). Results revealed that 60.3% cabin crew reported previous training/instruction in food safety/hygiene (70% female; 30% male). The majority (95%) of those trained knew the main reason for washing hands on-board was to remove ‘dirt and bacteria’; however, in contrast, 90% of untrained cabin crew were unaware. Of concern, 11.1% of respondents reported that they did not ‘always’ wash their hands after visiting the toilet (M = 4.28 untrained, M = 4.17 trained). A positive attitude towards use of antibacterial sanitizers was determined by trained and untrained staff. The majority (61.6%) of trained staff reported awareness not to handle foods with bare hands, however, 64.7% of untrained cabin crew acknowledged to not washing bare hands when touching any of body parts, e.g., hair.
Significance: These findings could be used by airlines with no/limited food safety training to cons cabin crew hand hygiene malpractices and thus introduce appropriate training to reduce the potential risk of foodborne disease from on-board aircraft.