10 replies to this topic

[qualitymanager]

Hello everyone,

 

I have a question please. in this clause 4.5.1 

There shall be a plan of the site which defines:

   • access points for personnel

   • travel routes

   • staff facilities

   • process flow

   • storage areas.

 

We should have one plan of all that or a plan for each item?

 

 

Thank you

[GMO]

 

Hello everyone,

 

I have a question please. in this clause 4.5.1 

There shall be a plan of the site which defines:

   • access points for personnel

   • travel routes

   • staff facilities

   • process flow

   • storage areas.

 

We should have one plan of all that or a plan for each item?

 

 

Thank you

 

 

Either is acceptable.  It just depends on how confused it looks with everything on there in my opinion and I've never had an issue with either.  On one of our factories, it's all on one plan.  In another one, they're separate or else you wouldn't be able to work it out.

[iwonakozlowska]

Hi,

 

This depends on you. We have everything on one plan. But it is not so complicated and everything is visible.

[Gway]

It'll be site / process dependant if you have  complicated processes it may be easier to have more than one which will then also enable you to have more detail applied per category. We have a relatively small site with multiple processes so have set this out on a number of separate plans

[wrighty]

will also need to add access points for raw materials including packaging, we were given a NC for not including this on the plan 

[redfox]

Hello qualitymanager,

 

Please see an example. It may help. You also add the plumbing, drainage, flow of packaging and etc. 

 

 Lay-out Plan_ifsqn.xlsx   43.07KB   680 downloads

 

regards,

redfox

 

 

[Charles.C]

Hi redfox,

 

Very neat/attractive. Thank you.

 

As you say, plumbing lines, etc and things like water sampling points may be added. An engg.-type layout can be useful also.

[Tony-C]

 

Hello everyone,

 

I have a question please. in this clause 4.5.1 

There shall be a plan of the site which defines:

   • access points for personnel

   • travel routes

   • staff facilities

   • process flow

   • storage areas.

 

We should have one plan of all that or a plan for each item?

 

 

Thank you

 

 

Hi qualitymanager,

 

I was a bit confused by the clause you quoted initially, clause 4.5.1 relates to water quality:

4.5 UTILITIES – WATER, ICE, AIR AND OTHER GASES
CLAUSE REQUIREMENTS
4.5.1 All water used as a raw material in the manufacture of processed food, the preparation of product, hand-washing or for equipment or plant cleaning shall be supplied in sufficient quantity, be potable at point of use or pose no risk of contamination according to applicable legislation. The microbiological and chemical quality of water shall be analysed at least annually.............

4.5.2 An up-to-date schematic diagram shall be available of the water distribution system on site, including holding tanks, water treatment and water recycling as appropriate. The diagram shall be used as a basis for water sampling and the management of water quality.

 

I think that you were referring to clause 4.3.1 'There shall be a map of the site which designates areas (zones)', here are the other BRC requirements and guidelines to 'maps/site plans':

 

2.5 CONSTRUCT A PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAM – CODEX ALIMENTARIUS STEP 4
CLAUSE REQUIREMENTS
2.5.1 A flow diagram shall be prepared to cover each product, product category or process. This shall set out all aspects of the food process operation within the HACCP scope, from raw material receipt through to processing, storage and distribution. As a guide, this should include the following, although this is not an exhaustive list: • plan of premises and equipment layout

4.1 EXTERNAL STANDARDS
CLAUSE REQUIREMENTS
4.1.1 Consideration shall be given to local activities and the site environment, which may have an adverse impact on finished product integrity, and measures shall be taken to prevent contamination. Where measures have been put into place to protect the site (from potential contaminants, flooding etc.), they shall be reviewed in response to any changes.
Interpretation Local activities and site environment
Local activities and the site environment must be considered to ensure they do not have an adverse impact on finished product integrity.
(A site plan or map that indicates neighbouring activities may be useful.) Points to consider may include: • derelict buildings, rubbish dumps, wasteland

 

4.3 LAYOUT, PRODUCT FLOW AND SEGREGATION
CLAUSE REQUIREMENTS
4.3.1 There shall be a map of the site which designates areas (zones) where product is at different levels of risk from contamination; that is:
• high-risk areas
• high-care areas
• ambient high-care areas
• low-risk areas
• enclosed product areas
• non-product areas.
4.3.1 Interpretation Designation of product risk zones
Within any manufacturing facility there will be production areas where the product is more or less at risk from the general environment in which the process takes place. The objective of identifying on a factory plan the production risk zones is to ensure that the standards of environmental hygiene, particularly those concerning equipment, buildings, cleaning and personnel hygiene, are appropriate for the work being undertaken. It also allows product and personnel flows to be reviewed, to ensure they do not compromise product safety.

4.3.2 The site map(s) shall define:
• access points for personnel
• access points for raw materials (including packaging)
• routes of movement for personnel
• routes of movement for raw materials
• routes for the removal of waste
• routes for the movement of rework
• location of any staff facilities including changing rooms, toilets, canteens and smoking areas
• production process flow.
4.3.2 Interpretation Guideline: It is often useful to split the required information onto several overlapping maps rather than attempting to put all the data on a single diagram and this is acceptable providing all the required information is clearly documented.

 

4.4 BUILDING FABRIC, RAW MATERIAL HANDLING, PREPARATION, PROCESSING, PACKING AND STORAGE AREAS
4.4.4 Where sites include high-risk or high-care facilities, there shall be a map of the drains for these areas which shows the direction of low and location of any equipment sited to prevent the back-up of waste water. The low of drains shall not present a risk of contamination of the high-risk/care area.

 

4.11.7 CLEANING IN PLACE (CIP)
4.11.7.2 A schematic diagram of the layout of the CIP system including process piping circuits shall be available.

 

4.14 PEST CONTROL
4.14.4 Pest control documentation and records shall be maintained. This shall include as a minimum: • an up-to-date plan of the full site, identifying numbered pest control device locations

 

5.3 MANAGEMENT OF ALLERGENS
5.3.3 A documented risk assessment shall be carried out to identify routes of contamination and establish documented policies and procedures for handling raw materials, intermediate and finished products to ensure cross-contamination is avoided.............

Interpretation Risk assessment for cross-contamination
A risk assessment process must be completed to identify potential routes of cross-contamination.................An ‘allergen process flow’ diagram or ‘allergen map’ can be useful in understanding where allergenic ingredients and foods exist in the plant and where they are introduced into the process. This usually takes the form of a site plan, on which are highlighted all the routes each allergenic material can take. This map can subsequently be used to identify areas where cross-contamination between allergenic and non-allergenic materials (ingredients, intermediates or products) can occur. (The map should consider process low, environmental factors, production activities, shared equipment and people.)

 

Clearly there is a lot of information required so multiple site plans are not unusual. Having said that as per your post access points for personnel, travel routes, staff facilities, process flow and storage areas can all be one plan plus some of the other items from above. I personally would prefer to have more plans if it makes the information clearer rather than trying to crowd the information into one site map. It is also important to ensure that areas (zones) where product is at different levels of risk from contamination are clearly identified.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

[redfox]

Hello Charles,

 

Yes Charles engineering lay out will do. Plumbing, drainage lay-out and packaging flow must be included and make sure no criss-crossing prevent cross-contact and cross-contamination. What I sent is just an example to qualitymanager for a kickstart.

 

regards,

redfox

[Tony-C]

Hello qualitymanager,

 

Please see an example. It may help. You also add the plumbing, drainage, flow of packaging and etc. 

 

Lay-out Plan_ifsqn.xlsx

 

regards,

redfox

 

Hi redfox,

 

As Charles said the diagram is neat and attractive. A few questions though:

 

Is there a colour coding scheme?

There is a cooking room, where is the flow of the cooked product?
There appears to be two buildings, is there a transfer of personnel and products between buildings? and do staff get changed then go outside to access the other building?

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

[redfox]

Hello Tony,

 

The worker on the cooking area can not enter into the processing area. On the main building, the receiving personnel, packing and canister washing personnel has different entrance from the picking and sorting personnel. The green arrow is the flow of the raw material. Actually cooked crab is still consider on this process as raw material. This is the flow of our pre-processing plant. The finished product of this pre-processing plant is picked crab meat, which will be canned and  pasteurized in our main plant.

 

regards,

redfox