Science and Food Tech

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RosalieL
Posts: 483
Joined: 28 Jan 2021, 13:24
Job Title: Lab Assistant
School: MCS
State/Location: NSW

Science and Food Tech

Post by RosalieL »

Hey all!

I know I'm not the only science and food tech labbie out there, so I'm wondering if anyone else has tried using risk assess to help with time management by adding food pracs to the scheduling. Is that possible without doing an actual risk assessment? I'm assuming not, but I don't want to 'reinvent the wheel' if someone already has a workable solution! How do you keep on top of both science and food tech?

I've used RiskAssess previously (8+ years ago) and have just signed up for it here at my new school this week so I'm yet to play around with it too much and refresh my memory/see what's new.
Merilyn1
Posts: 1476
Joined: 12 Mar 2013, 08:10
Job Title: Labbie
School: Wollondilly Anglican College
Suburb: Tahmoor
State/Location: NSW

Re: Science and Food Tech

Post by Merilyn1 »

You could easily use Riskassess for scheduling - add it in without signing off on the risk assessment. Your only problem is it will add the food tech pracs in with the science pracs on your schedule, which may or may not be helpful to you.
I've done both jobs for a short time (5 terms) and it was a headache. Food Tech is so labour intensive with time pressures, whereas a lot of Science doesn't have a deadline, except when you need it - think making solutions - great if you can spend time getting these ready before you need them. That was the problem I had. I felt a lot of Food Tech had to be done immediately, whereas the extra stuff we do in Science - ordering equipment, making solutions, stocktakes etc got put on hold, and then there was a panic when a Science prac was ordered and things weren't ready or available.
I suggest trying hard to give time to both and asking for help when it looks like it is about to get out of hand.
I don't miss having to do two jobs and I don't even like cooking!
RosalieL
Posts: 483
Joined: 28 Jan 2021, 13:24
Job Title: Lab Assistant
School: MCS
State/Location: NSW

Re: Science and Food Tech

Post by RosalieL »

Yeah, that's what I was wanting - to have them on the schedule so Science staff can see that that there are other things going on. I didn't think about not signing off on the risk assessments. Does that mean I could just delete them later? I don't want to clog the system with saved food tech risk assessments.
Merilyn1
Posts: 1476
Joined: 12 Mar 2013, 08:10
Job Title: Labbie
School: Wollondilly Anglican College
Suburb: Tahmoor
State/Location: NSW

Re: Science and Food Tech

Post by Merilyn1 »

You can delete risk assessments, so can't see a problem doing that. I assume that Food Tech people do risk assessments? (But that is their problem, not your's) If you decided you need to do a risk assessment for your Food Tech prep, you could use Riskassess for that, but it might be easier to use a "paper" system. I'll be honest, I never did any risk assessments for my food tech role, using a sharp knife was about the riskiest thing I ever did.

And I'll let you into a secret, most teachers have no idea about the scheduling feature on Riskassess, even though it has been used here for a long time. So the chances are they won't look at it. It is always good to keep records of your workload to show to management if the need arises, regardless of the fact the teachers won't look at it!
RosalieL
Posts: 483
Joined: 28 Jan 2021, 13:24
Job Title: Lab Assistant
School: MCS
State/Location: NSW

Re: Science and Food Tech

Post by RosalieL »

Yeah my main food tech role is buying the ingredients and helping out in some of the classes (if I'm here those days) but it really isn't a massive part of my job. I am also wanting to have it in the RiskAssess schedule for myself so I don't forget to go shopping or can "tick it off" when it's all ready instead of having 2 different schedules/diaries/piles of paper to keep track of! I think I will see if they would be willing to do the requests on RiskAssess. I guess if they did it in detail it wouldn't hurt to save the recipes and they can reuse them each year like Science if they generally cook the same things each year... :thumbup:
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