20 replies to this topic

[garyandrews]

Dear All,

Standard no. 6.3.2. of BRC Issue 4 states that " Where the company is aware of a person who has entered the premises that is suffering from a relevant infectious disease, steps shall be taken to minimise any risk to product safety."

I have two issues in relation to this clause, which are...

(1) I work for a small dairy processor with no security personal or barrier gate system to regulate and control all visitors to our premises; and our office is only open Mon to Fri 9-5pm. What would be a suffcient level of control of visitors for our site?

(2) What would be a suffcient level of documentation in order to comply in our circumstances with this clause?

Regards,

Gary

[Simon]

Covering specifically visitors I take it they can only enter the factory during office hours. Do you have a reception area? If so visitors could complete a simple health questionnaire as part of the 'sign in' process; this could be reviewed prior to them being allowed in. If there were any problems you could decide whether to refuse entry or they could have their movement (where they can go, what they can touch etc.) controlled.

You could include the main personal hygiene rules and procedures, H & S, Fire safety etc. points on the questionnaire which they must read and sign at the same time.

The retained quality documents would be the visitor questionnaires and you would have a simple procedure describing how it works and the decision making process.

I think I have an example questionnaire somewhere.

Is this what you are after?

Simon

[garyandrews]

Covering specifically visitors I take it they can only enter the factory during office hours. Do you have a reception area? If so visitors could complete a simple health questionnaire as part of the 'sign in' process; this could be reviewed prior to them being allowed in. If there were any problems you could decide whether to refuse entry or they could have their movement (where they can go, what they can touch etc.) controlled.

You could include the main personal hygiene rules and procedures, H & S, Fire safety etc. points on the questionnaire which they must read and sign at the same time.

The retained quality documents would be the visitor questionnaires and you would have a simple procedure describing how it works and the decision making process.

I think I have an example questionnaire somewhere.

Is this what you are after?

Simon

To a certain extent yes.

I have a system along those lines for vistors, however I am trying to cover all types of visitors, i.e. odds & sods delivery staff. Should this include visitors that don't enter the production area but can come into contact with members of staff ?

Regards,

Gary

[Simon]

I have a system along those lines for vistors, however I am trying to cover all types of visitors, i.e. odds & sods delivery staff. Should this include visitors that don't enter the production area but can come into contact with members of staff ?

I could be wrong but IMHO I would exclude deliver drivers etc. who do not enter production areas.

Simon

[yorkshire]

I could be wrong but IMHO I would exclude deliver drivers etc. who do not enter production areas.

I agree, don't get bogged down with these people.

Remember this clause is talking about your staff as well!
Staff training, return to work interviews and return from foreign holiday forms are the order of the day.

I work for a small dairy processor with no security personal or barrier gate system to regulate and control all visitors to our premises;

Watch out for clause 3.2.1.1 "Measures shall be in place to maintain site security and ensure only authorised staff have access to production and storage areas". You are likely to get a non conformance.

[garyandrews]

I agree, don't get bogged down with these people.

Remember this clause is talking about your staff as well!
Staff training, return to work interviews and return from foreign holiday forms are the order of the day.



Watch out for clause 3.2.1.1 "Measures shall be in place to maintain site security and ensure only authorised staff have access to production and storage areas". You are likely to get a non conformance.

Good point,

I am suprised that we have had no issues raised relating to site security, which probably is the reason I am concerned with effective control of all visitors to the site. I went through the BRC audit about a month ago and this issue was not raised.

Regards,

Gary

[yorkshire]

I am suprised that we have had no issues raised relating to site security, which probably is the reason I am concerned with effective control of all visitors to the site. I went through the BRC audit about a month ago and this issue was not raised.

Wow, who are your auditors? I would like to move to them.
We have 24 hour security with CCTV around the perimeter. We got a non conformance (minor) because two doors were not locked.

[Charles Chew]

Standard no. 6.3.2. of BRC Issue 4 states that " Where the company is aware of a person who has entered the premises that is suffering from a relevant infectious disease, steps shall be taken to minimise any risk to product safety."

Interesting but IMO the clause is asking for corrective action steps that your established procedures require you to take should a person with relevant infectious disease had already made entry into the premise. IMO, it is not referring to procedural steps to be taken with regards to pre-entry security measures for visitors / contractors (which is already a prerequisite).

Probably referring to control of non-conformity products, product assurance and validation measures, quarantine measures and procedures and policy etc.

[Simon]

Interesting but IMO the clause is asking for corrective action steps that your established procedures require you to take should a person with relevant infectious disease had already made entry into the premise. IMO, it is not referring to procedural steps to be taken with regards to pre-entry security measures for visitors / contractors (which is already a prerequisite).

Probably referring to control of non-conformity products, product assurance and validation measures, quarantine measures and procedures and policy etc.

You could be right Charles but it might be terminology. If your pre-entry visitor review procedure is sound then you would know there was a problem with them. If this was the case could it possibly mean you should put extra controls and restrictions on the person whilst they are in the factory? Or does it mean when a person (perhaps an employee) decides to liberally share their bodily fluids with colleagues?

Simon

[Gaskit]

Would it not relate to what process you should have in place should an employee inform you that they have been diagnosed whith HIV / AIDS or Hep A / C??

Just a thought, regards,

Steve

[Charles Chew]

r does it mean when a person (perhaps an employee) decides to liberally share their bodily fluids with colleagues?

I said interesting not exciting

Would it not relate to what process you should have in place should an employee inform you that they have been diagnosed whith HIV / AIDS or Hep A / C??

I believe when there is a compromise to the pre-entry procedures, there is a likelihood of potential product contamination which does require corrective actions followed by root cause analysis and preventative measures against re-occurence.

However, should an employee be found to have acquired HIV/AIDs etc then emergency response program should apply.

For example, under our ISO 22000 FSMS, we have an emergency response program for potential outbreak of "bird flu". Education had been done and response testing procedures had also been verified and God forbid, if we may have to response to an outbreak, we would deal with it accordingly to protect the premise and the business...........no difference from having realised that a person with relevant infectious disease had entered the premise.

[YongYM]

Dear all:

Referring to the subject discussed, may I know what are the common types of diseases that we need to check for when we employ a new worker who are to be based in processing area? TB, HIV/AIDS, STD etc.?

Is there any compulsory vaccination you need to give to your people? In Malaysia, we need to provide the Typhoid / paratyphoid vaccination to each food handler and it is lasts for 3 years.

Please advise.

[cazyncymru]

Dear all:

Referring to the subject discussed, may I know what are the common types of diseases that we need to check for when we employ a new worker who are to be based in processing area? TB, HIV/AIDS, STD etc.?

Is there any compulsory vaccination you need to give to your people? In Malaysia, we need to provide the Typhoid / paratyphoid vaccination to each food handler and it is lasts for 3 years.

Please advise.

I think that if you ask a potential employee if he/she has HIV/Aids/STD then you'd deserve a smack in the face!

If your that concerned, then you need to send ALL of your potential employees to visit a doctor before commencing employment. If he/ she finds something that will affect their health or be a food safety issue (i'm sure you can provide him with a list of potential diseases that you don't want people working with at the plant) and all he need say to you is "yes their suitable" or "no their not". You don't need to know why!

[Charles.C]

Dear All,

I think it is possible that different countries are going to show legal variations on this issue although not necessarily scientifically justified regarding specific food safety risks.
(my guess is that similar disagreements / variations exist when traveling to other countries although probably less than prior times)

For example I seem to remember a representative of a large uk importer showing me a list of health related items which a company was not allowed to inquire of to potential employees (for legal reasons, not fear of pugilistic reaction!) plus certain diseases which did not represent grounds for company rejection in the case of an employee informing such had occurred although re-location within the manufacturing area could be an option.

Maybe there is an official eu guideline on this but have never seen it. ??

Rgds / Charles.C

[jamesgibb]

Charles,

In Turkish Cyprus all employee have to have a health check every 6 months to confirm they are "healthy"

this is a pass fail based on the legislation and does not give specific marks.

Is this the same as other countries?

James

[Simon]

To add to the debate.

Millions of people worldwide are infected with the HIV/AIDS virus. IFST addresses some of the concerns there may be about people with HIV/AIDS working in the food industry and provides important advice to employers, food handlers and the general public.

The UK's Institute of Food Science & Technology statement on AIDS and the Food Handler

[Charles.C]

Very nice link Simon (and BTW also includes v. useful links on trans FA and allergic items amongst others).
I guess this sort of validates Caz’s earlier post. I am sure that there are other misconcepted diseases from a food-handling viewpoint also.

@ James, I wonder what the actual requirements are? I have seen one official list elsewhere which included a Doctor’s certification of no “visible” signs of alcoholic intoxication - but only at the initial time of job application.

Rgds / Charles.C

[jamesgibb]

Charles,

I know that Hepatitis and Salmonella are checked for but I can't remeber if there was a check for HIV

james

[Simon]

Very nice link Simon (and BTW also includes v. useful links on trans FA and allergic items amongst others).

Yes I posted direct to trans fat from the other thread.

Regards,
Simon

[Charles.C]

Dear James,

I did a bit of googling and your memory certainly seems in line with the US viewpoint (don’t know about UK) on restictions for food handlers which initially focuses on – Salmonella spp, Shigella spp., shiga toxin- producing E.coli, Hepatitis A virus, norovirus.
The HIV aspect seems to be similarly addressed to the UK as previously given.

Typical practical summaries for US are at –

http://www.foodsafet...giene/hyg3.html

and

http://www.fw-ac-dep.....ontrol 06.pdf.

The above are based on the highly detailed FDA food code 2005.

http://www.cfsan.fda...s/fc05-toc.html

(go to Annex3)


Rgds / Charles.C

[Simon]

Great googling Charles, some very useful documents there.

Thanks,
Simon