Accommodations made for the Certification Exam

The food safety certification exam is composed of randomly selected questions from a test bank of questions developed by Alberta Health and Wellness. The timed exam consists of fifty (50) text based questions which may be a combination of multiple choice and true/false questions with a range of difficulty. To pass the test, a 70% is required. One trainer cited that, "those with limited reading ability have a lot of trouble with true and false questions." Even though the exam is reported as being fair, with many workers achieving the pass grade, trainers said that accommodations to limited literacy and language skills are made during the exam. Trainers said they:

• read test questions to those with limited essential and language skills and have participants respond orally.
• give participants extra time to complete the exam in a safe environment.
• explain terms that appear on the exam that were not covered in class.

Suggestions for Solutions, Incentives and Supports

Suggestions for improving accessibility and support to food safe training and certification are possible strategies directed at the barriers the interviewees identified. One employee summarizes the general picture:

"Having food safety certification wouldn't be a bad thing. It needs to be made accessible so people are encouraged to do it. If they have an incentive such as getting more money per hour, this might get people to take the course".

Managers, supervisors and employees offered the following ideas for participation supports.

Delivery Considerations

Alternatives

• Provide a correspondence course.
• Develop computer-based training that staff could take on their own time and at the operation's convenience.
• Have a workbook on food safety available at the worksite.
• Have a mini-manual issued to staff with a test they could write after each unit.

Location

• Offer courses that are local and accessible.
• Have a course facilitated on site by the food inspector. "You can learn more in a comfortable environment".

Time

• Offer training at convenient time frames.

Format

• Provide an introductory six-hour course on food safety to service staff and dishwashers. Cooks would take the two day session. "The four day course is okay for supervisors and floor supervisors. It is an excessive amount of information for frontline staff".