15 replies to this topic

[George @ Safefood 360°]

Under Clause 4.13.8 “An in-depth pest control survey shall be undertaken at a frequency based on risk, but typically quarterly, by a pest control expert…”

Just wondering has anyone any insight into this requirement. I have seen these in-depth surveys cost as much as €700. If this is expected to be conducted on a quarterly bases this will mean a significant increase in costs especially for small and medium businesses.

Anyone know if this requirement is being applied rigorously? Or is annually being accepted (based on risk assessment)?

Many thanks

[D-D]

Is it not just your quartley Field Biologist survey, which is typically part of the pest control package?

[mgourley]

Is it not just your quartley Field Biologist survey, which is typically part of the pest control package?

That's how I read it.
I do my own pest control and do an assessment twice per year.
This is the form that I use.

Marshall

Attached Files

•  Pest Management Assesment.pdf   16.26KB   676 downloads

[George @ Safefood 360°]

Hi D-D and Marshell. This is what i am not clear on. The Expert Survey normally refers to the Field Biologist report which in my experience is conducted annually. I think this is different from an internal audit of the pest control system. Perhaps someone who has undergone an Issue 6 audit might be able to clarify...

[Jayqc]

Hi D-D and Marshell. This is what i am not clear on. The Expert Survey normally refers to the Field Biologist report which in my experience is conducted annually. I think this is different from an internal audit of the pest control system. Perhaps someone who has undergone an Issue 6 audit might be able to clarify...

Hi George, Clause 4.13.8 says the in depth pest control service (Field Biologist visit) shall be undertaken at a frequency based on risk but typically quarterly. We have 4 biologist vists and there was no problem with this in our audit, if it was carried out less than this then they would want to see justification I expect.

[Foodworker]

Over the years I have looked at a more pest control records than I want to remember and the most common frequency for a Field Biologist inspection is quarterly.

This inspection should cover all of the same activities as the routine technician's visit and audit their work at the same time. There is usually a lot more in the way of recommendations in their reports.

Something that they frequently do not do is to include their findings in the tabular or graphical records used by the routine technicians. Their data is also part of the trend analysis

[mgourley]

Over the years I have looked at a more pest control records than I want to remember and the most common frequency for a Field Biologist inspection is quarterly.

This inspection should cover all of the same activities as the routine technician's visit and audit their work at the same time. There is usually a lot more in the way of recommendations in their reports.

Something that they frequently do not do is to include their findings in the tabular or graphical records used by the routine technicians. Their data is also part of the trend analysis

Hopefully, this will be cleared up with the Interpretation Guide. I have been doing pest control at the various facilities I have worked at for the last 20 years.
I've never had a "Field Biologist" come out and inspect. Certainly one big difference between the US and the UK.

Marshall

[Aegean]

This must be something different than internal audit for effectiveness of pest control and those trend analysis that the pest control companies do quarterly..

Edited by Aegean, 15 February 2012 - 09:10 PM.

[Chris @ Safefood 360°]

I agree with Marshall - this must be a huge difference between the US and UK. Not only has it not been my experience to EVER hire an outside field biologist to conduct a survey, but I've never heard of anyone doing such a thing until version 6 was printed. I am very interested to hear how this plays out in the BRC audits that are being conducted in the US. Any timely feedback would be interesting as we are being audited prior to the interpretation guide's availability.

[mgourley]

I agree with Marshall - this must be a huge difference between the US and UK. Not only has it not been my experience to EVER hire an outside field biologist to conduct a survey, but I've never heard of anyone doing such a thing until version 6 was printed. I am very interested to hear how this plays out in the BRC audits that are being conducted in the US. Any timely feedback would be interesting as we are being audited prior to the interpretation guide's availability.

I would think that I could show my pest control applicators certificate, show my trend charts and several years worth of internal pest control program assessments and be done with it. I don't see why I should have some piece of paper by a person that probably has less experience than I that says my pest control program is satisfactory.

Marshall

[D-D]

I agree with Marshall - this must be a huge difference between the US and UK. Not only has it not been my experience to EVER hire an outside field biologist to conduct a survey, but I've never heard of anyone doing such a thing until version 6 was printed. I am very interested to hear how this plays out in the BRC audits that are being conducted in the US. Any timely feedback would be interesting as we are being audited prior to the interpretation guide's availability.

An interesting comment because the audit should be comparable wherever it is conducted. Of course, back in the real world that is not going to happen and auditors in the UK, US, S America, Asia etc will all be different (even within a country they are).

Looking back at V5 4.11.2: "The frequency of inspections shall be determined by risk assessment" - good old risk assessment and largely irrelevant as just about every customer/BRC auditor we have had has looked for monthly routine inspection and quarterly biologist survey.

[Foodworker]

Possibly the job title "Field Biologist" is a bit flattering in some cases and is probably a unique, historic UK term.

In many pest control companies, this additional visit is carried out by a more senior (and hopefully more experienced/qualified) person than the regular technician who visits. It is often the Area Manager.

In the contracts that I have seen around the world, there is rarely an additional inspection of this sort, other than in the UK.

The main idea is that there is a periodic second pair of eyes looking for pest issues and that the pest contol organisation is auditing the work of its own technicians. As in all lines of business, there are good and bad technicians. I get very suspicious if I see pest control records that show constant zero activity, particularly externally.

Every company is responsible for minimising the risks from pests and most sub-contract the maintenance of the activity to specialists as they do not have the expertise. All companies should include pest control in their own internal audit programme. This should look at issues such as

Is the contract being followed - are visits happening at the defined frquency, is follow up action taken if activity is found.
Is the pest control documentation completed satisfactorily and thoroughly enough to identify and communicate problems
Does the contract reflect the history of activity and type of materials processed
Have pest control problems been identified by other people - customers, auditors etc
Are recommendations made by the pest controllers properly followed through
etc

It will be more difficult to comply where a company carries out its own pest control and may involve buying in a quarterley inspection by a specialist if there are not sufficient experts on site. However, that is the requirement of the clause, right or wrong, andif you don't do it you will get a Non Conformity.

[George @ Safefood 360°]

Thanks to everyone. The term expert in the standard I suppose will need to be clarified in the guidance (field biologist or senior inspector).


It appears there is variation in the amount of Field Biologist Inspections but every quarter would IMO be excessive when you add internal auditing of Pest Control and routine inspections. This is were trending data on pest inspections and activity will come in useful to support the program in place.

BTW my first introduction to field biologist demands was many years ago during a Tesco technical audit. At that time it was only required annually. This might explain the difference between UK and US...

George

[shea quay]

Under BRC Version 5 we used to have one field biologists report annually - as mentioned previously, it was by the senior technician of the pest control company, i.e. not the regular guy who came out monthly. Unfortunately the Version 4 Tesco standard came along and asked for quarterly reports, so the BRC Version 6 has followed suit. We had a training day with our certification body on the changes from V5 to V6 and this topic came up with regards expense etc. etc. and they said that they had instructed their auditors to accept anything from a minimum of 2 annually. I'm not sure that this will be the case with all bodies, however. If you are in Munster, PM me and I can send on contact details of an independent expert who is actually quite good and inexpensive.

[scuba1]

Field Biologist visits will cover this but you should have some sort of risk assessment in place to determine / demonstrate how many times they should visit per year. This should be straight forward based on historical evidence in your pest control files. Typically larger sites will have 8 routine visits and 4 field biologists (field biologist visiting quarterly). Additionally, at an old site I worked at, we had the quarterly visits I arranged an with the pest control contractors an additional 2 in-depth / machinery inspections per year. The 2 additional inspections were carried out in downtime on a weekend with a field biologist. The Quality Manager together with an Engineer, Hygiene Manager and Hygiene Op attended. This meant machinery, control panels etc etc could be stripped down, inspected, deep cleaned if required. It was a great way to keep on top of a plant, ensure no SPI's were present and really get to know every nook and crany.

[Madam A. D-tor]

Dear all,

This same requirement is discussed in another thread: http://www.ifsqn.com...ontrol-surveys/

Now I understand from the reaction in this thread and the other one, that this is actually a very Britisch/Tesco thing and is probably not conducted on such high frequency in other parts of the world. Might even not be known in other parts of the world.

Until know I have audited 3 companies in the Netherlands and gave a minor non-conformity for not having these inspections. It really took me a while to explain to these companies, what this inspection should be. The companies had interpreted it like this:
1) we contract pest controller to conduct inspection 8 times a year;
2) we have trend analyses conducted. Showing a written report regarding trends in the pest control results.
3) we do internal audits on pest controller.

The first company already send in an action plan and proof of solving the non conformity. They came with a contract with their Dutch pest controller (very local player), saying that the pest controller will verifiy the corrective actions taken by the organisation.
This is because of a translation thing.
An in-depth, documented pest control survey shall be undertaken at a frequency based on risk, but typically quarterly, by a pest control expert to review the pest control measures in place.
The timing of the survey shall be such as to allow access to equipment for inspection where a risk of stored product insect infestation exists.
The Dutch translation for pest control measures can also be read as pest control corrective actions.
I explained it again and hope that they are coming with a survey report as mentioned in this requirement