12 replies to this topic

[Girzaznot]

Hello Everyone.

 

I have been reading the recent topics for a few weeks now and there seems to be great support and good discussions. I am very new to this industry and am really interested in learning more about food safety and quality. I will chime in to other topics if I can help.  Having recently been given more responsibility regarding preparing for our annual BRC audit, I am juggling many issues with our plant.  For now, I would like to ask for a little guidance on a few subjects.

 

1. GMP violations: We are having a very hard time getting our employees to follow GMP guidelines, in particularly wearing beard-nets properly. We have tried integrating a system of writing people up and repeat offenders get their supervisors written up, but the supervisors do not seem to care.

 

2 That leads to my next problem, communication and respect between production and QA. For the most part we get along, but they are not willing to help with GMP violations. There seems to be broken links in many of the departments regarding communication of problems to solve.

 

I could spend all day finding people with GMP violations on the production floor, but that would be in efficient for my position. The other QA employees help but they have a lot to do as well. Upon starting this new position, my supervisors told me I will be fighting a very steep uphill battle, but the accomplishment will be a great payoff. Anyone have simple solutions or recommendations for either of these issues, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[Simon]

In a nutshell you need to sit down with the big boss to find out if you are on the same page and take it from there.

P.s. welcome to the Forum.

Regards,
Simon

[brianweber]

Keep writing them up and documenting it. Like Simon said, talk to upper management and make sure they are on board and show support. You may need to make an example out of someone. Few day suspension, fire them etc...

[Girzaznot]

Thank you. My supervisor likes to handle situations like that, so I have been reporting to her. Ironically, the problem is upper management in production suggested the write-up system.

[Charles.C]

Thank you. My supervisor likes to handle situations like that, so I have been reporting to her. Ironically, the problem is upper management in production suggested the write-up system.

 

Hi Girzaznot,

 

Perhaps you could suggest to yr Supervisor  that, for Management Review Meeting(s),  this particular "topic" be "Performance" Evaluated as per -

 

Avoidance <--1-5--> Top Management <----6-10---> Control

[Jus'me]

Maybe consider taking the opposite approach of discipline to a reward system.  Have them earn "points" or given a card or something along that line for whenever you "catch" them following proper GMP.  Then let them "cash in" the points for a prize, Could be something like lottery tickets or a free lunch, an extra break, whatever you can come up with, the more points saved, the better the prize, (but has to be something they will desire.  And maybe even have an annual dinner or lunch where the top point winners are recognized and upper management can present them with a special prize and a  certificate of achievement or something along that line.   Many studies in psychology show that rewards are way more effective than punishment in changing behavior.   

If you use both together, discipline and reward system, think you will find it more effective. Presently sounds like upper management is not giving you any support so the "write-ups" are meaningless. But if you allow them to get involved in a positive manner they may be more supportive in both areas.  

[Plastic Ducky]

Sadly, I agree with Simon. Until you have commitment from upper management you are just pissing into the wind. Upon receiving said commitment and you send a couple employees on an unpaid 2-3 day vacation, attitudes change in a big hurry!

[MWidra]

Hi and welcome.  All the advice so far has been excellent.  Changing human nature and getting rid of bad habits are very hard tasks.  Humans have been trying for thousands of years, and we're still struggling with it.

 

I have a few comments:

 

1. Keep at it.  It takes at least 21 days of constant reinforcement to change a habit.  It won't happen overnight.  I'm still reminding people to wear their hearing protection.

 

2. Nagging is a useful technique, especially if it is with a smile.  I know, I've raised a teen to adulthood :).  They will start automatically adjusting the beard nets when they see someone coming, and that's the start of them doing it right on their own.

 

3.  It is easier to substitute a good habit for a bad one.  Instead of working on one item, try to start by substituting an entirely new sequence of putting on PPE and hand washing, using the right techniques.

 

4. If they are not wearing the beard net properly, make them adjust it, then make them re-wash their hands.  It's correct for them to re-wash hands after touching the beard net, but also it breaks up their work routine and helps reinforce the issue.

 

5. Remember that these are people, they are not perfect, and that Rome was not built in a day.  Everything that involves human nature has to proceed by baby steps.  Working with people rather than playing policeman is more effective.

 

Good Luck!

 

Martha

[trubertq]

Flogging worked for me.....

 

 

Seriously though you need to get Senior Management on board, if you have a Quality meeting ( which you should be having) become the broken record.... report how many violations of PPE in the previous month. Do this for the next 3 months and I guarantee by Christmas everyone will be soooo sick of listening to beard snoods that they'll do anything to stop you going on and on and on about it. I has a beard snood issue this past while , two Quality meetings sorted it out as the supervisors know that it will go into the trending which will be shown at the Management Review meeting in front of the CEO, it's not going to look good if it keeps recurring.

[MWidra]

Flogging worked for me.....

 

 

Seriously though you need to get Senior Management on board, if you have a Quality meeting ( which you should be having) become the broken record.... report how many violations of PPE in the previous month. Do this for the next 3 months and I guarantee by Christmas everyone will be soooo sick of listening to beard snoods that they'll do anything to stop you going on and on and on about it. I has a beard snood issue this past while , two Quality meetings sorted it out as the supervisors know that it will go into the trending which will be shown at the Management Review meeting in front of the CEO, it's not going to look good if it keeps recurring.

LOL, that's a good point.  Using the Boring Beardnet Babble is a good tactic. 

 

Martha

[Simon]

Maybe consider taking the opposite approach of discipline to a reward system.  Have them earn "points" or given a card or something along that line for whenever you "catch" them following proper GMP.  Then let them "cash in" the points for a prize, Could be something like lottery tickets or a free lunch, an extra break, whatever you can come up with, the more points saved, the better the prize, (but has to be something they will desire.  And maybe even have an annual dinner or lunch where the top point winners are recognized and upper management can present them with a special prize and a  certificate of achievement or something along that line.   Many studies in psychology show that rewards are way more effective than punishment in changing behavior.   

If you use both together, discipline and reward system, think you will find it more effective. Presently sounds like upper management is not giving you any support so the "write-ups" are meaningless. But if you allow them to get involved in a positive manner they may be more supportive in both areas.  

 

I like this reminder Jus'me, we tend to focus on the negative.

 

Catch people doing the right thing and make an example of them.

[herdy]

One of our suppliers did a huge overhaul of their methods of dealing with problems like this and I really liked their solution. If you have more than one shift, you could make a competition out of it. Each day that everyone follows the GMPs correctly, their shift will "gain" ten yards on a posterboard sized football field. Each shift has a different color for their team and whichever team makes a "touchdown" on the "football field" gets a prize. So, if first shift makes it, they would get a bonus or a pizza party or something like that. I can re-explain if this is too confusing! But basically, not only do the people on each shift have an incentive to follow the GMPs personally, they will remind each other to follow them as well.

The biggest problem with this is that when we tried it for our production shifts, they got way way too competitive. They would sabotage the other teams which would end very badly. So, we can't do competitions anymore. But, other companies have had a lot of success with this! I am still working on a way to do this without having sabotage and also not just rewarding everyone all the time... Has anyone done something like this before?

[MWidra]

One of our suppliers did a huge overhaul of their methods of dealing with problems like this and I really liked their solution. If you have more than one shift, you could make a competition out of it. Each day that everyone follows the GMPs correctly, their shift will "gain" ten yards on a posterboard sized football field. Each shift has a different color for their team and whichever team makes a "touchdown" on the "football field" gets a prize. So, if first shift makes it, they would get a bonus or a pizza party or something like that. I can re-explain if this is too confusing! But basically, not only do the people on each shift have an incentive to follow the GMPs personally, they will remind each other to follow them as well.

The biggest problem with this is that when we tried it for our production shifts, they got way way too competitive. They would sabotage the other teams which would end very badly. So, we can't do competitions anymore. But, other companies have had a lot of success with this! I am still working on a way to do this without having sabotage and also not just rewarding everyone all the time... Has anyone done something like this before?

My concern about this is how to determine that everyone followed the GMPs correctly.  Is someone there monitoring everyone 24/7?  Do you review the security camera tapes?  And does it just make people better at not getting caught and not more compliant?  Are we rewarding compliance or stealth?

 

As a safety officer as well as food safety officer, I have caught someone who put on their hearing protection when they saw me coming, but took them out when they thought I had left (which I had not).  That person got written up for this deception, but how many others did it and were not caught?

 

The use of others to enforce rules (by counting on their desire for a prize to get them to nag others) does not sit well with me.  But that may be my personal hang-up.

 

I give gold stars for "cleaner" scores on the weekly ATP environmental survey results chart that is posted in the hallway outside the lunchroom.  If they are doing the sanitizing and cleaning properly, the results will be good.  When the results are not good, no gold star.  Maybe it's not as strong of an incentive, but it is based on evidence that cannot be faked, because I don't do the survey at the same time or on the same day of the week.  They don't know when I'm coming.  And, believe me, it shows me when they have gotten lax and when they are doing what they are supposed to do.  Since I started it, the workers are getting more proud of keeping the production areas more sanitary.  And we work together to find ways to make it even better.

 

Martha