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Cellphones allowed on the production floor or not?

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Scampi

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Posted 14 March 2018 - 01:55 PM

I'm curious what everyone is doing with cellphones on the production floor. I consider them a hard stop NO. They are a foreign material risk if they are dropped and worse yet, are so highly contaminated by bacteria, they are a virtual cesspool. We all try so hard to keep bacteria numbers low, why undo that by allowing cellphones on the floor?

 

This seems like a no brainer to me, but it keeps rearing it's ugly head time and again.

 

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MsMars

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Posted 14 March 2018 - 03:54 PM

No, no no.  Foreign material risk, bacterial risk, and risk of release of proprietary information.  

 

We have exceptions for management, of course.  :rolleyes:  Usually management members are not handling food or touching food contact surfaces.  We are a small company so we only have a total of about 4 people authorized to carry a phone in the rooms. 



redfox

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Posted 15 March 2018 - 02:08 AM

Hello,

 

On your GMPs, loose items are not allowed inside production area. CP is a loose item. Employee will follow if it is implemented strictly prohibiting CP inside. QA, supervisors and compliance officers should set an example.

 

 

regards,

redfox



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Posted 16 March 2018 - 02:46 PM

We do not allow personnel items to be taken to the production floor and that includes cell phones and since there is no reception in our production areas therefore it is a no brainer.  Of course there are fall backs where management is permitted to use cell phones for taking pictures of issues.  We also use tablets by maintenance for their PM programs and everything is input through these units. We are also looking at the possibility of expanding their use in the future for production monitoring and they will be the same issue then. We will review on a go forward basis, but I would recommend that staff working over the product shall not be permitted to carry anything hat could fall into the line.



bryan63

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Posted 16 March 2018 - 04:01 PM

Something not yet mentioned is they are stealing company money, utilizing work time to use their personal telephone.  Additionally, if they are on their phone, how are they monitoring the quality of the product?  I have seen operators on their phones so long, their product backs up, printers run out of ink, they rush to catch up, not checking the product, just packing it and or scrapping product as a means of catching up.  There is also safety to consider as they are so enthralled with their text messages or Facebook, they are unaware of what is going on around them.  Cell phones have abslutely no place on the Production floor.



bryan63

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Posted 16 March 2018 - 04:01 PM

Something not yet mentioned is they are stealing company money, utilizing work time to use their personal telephone.  Additionally, if they are on their phone, how are they monitoring the quality of the product?  I have seen operators on their phones so long, their product backs up, printers run out of ink, they rush to catch up, not checking the product, just packing it and or scrapping product as a means of catching up.  There is also safety to consider as they are so enthralled with their text messages or Facebook, they are unaware of what is going on around them.  Cell phones have abslutely no place on the Production floor.



bryan63

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Posted 16 March 2018 - 04:01 PM

Something not yet mentioned is they are stealing company money, utilizing work time to use their personal telephone.  Additionally, if they are on their phone, how are they monitoring the quality of the product?  I have seen operators on their phones so long, their product backs up, printers run out of ink, they rush to catch up, not checking the product, just packing it and or scrapping product as a means of catching up.  There is also safety to consider as they are so enthralled with their text messages or Facebook, they are unaware of what is going on around them.  Cell phones have abslutely no place on the Production floor.



bryan63

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Posted 16 March 2018 - 04:01 PM

Something not yet mentioned is they are stealing company money, utilizing work time to use their personal telephone.  Additionally, if they are on their phone, how are they monitoring the quality of the product?  I have seen operators on their phones so long, their product backs up, printers run out of ink, they rush to catch up, not checking the product, just packing it and or scrapping product as a means of catching up.  There is also safety to consider as they are so enthralled with their text messages or Facebook, they are unaware of what is going on around them.  Cell phones have abslutely no place on the Production floor.



dulipeta_958

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Posted 21 March 2018 - 05:26 PM

I strongly recommend to totally ban any CELL PHONES USE within the production area.

Firstly, a cell phone is a highly contaminated source for bacteria and any other microbes. In recent times , a cell phone has become like a body part and one carries it anywhere and everywhere. In general there are several hygiene protocols mandatory in food industry. Just as a recapitulation I would like to delineate them here.

 

* No Smoking and No spitting within the production area

* No chewing tobacco/arecnut / chewing gum

* No eating /drinking

* No wearing of bangles

* No wearing of watches

* No ear rings/Nose rings

* No finger rings

* No nail polish/ nail art

* No nails ( fingernails should be trimmed regularly)

* No  Necklaces

* No buttons on the exterior of aprons/ dust coats

* No pockets on the exterior of aprons/ dust coats

* No beards / No long moustaches / long hair

* Staff wearing spectacles should clean them daily with alcohol at the beginning of work

* Staff with hearing aids should also clean them with alcohol

* While at work , if there is any product spillage on the apron / dust coat, they should be removed and sent for laundry immediately

* Dust coats/ aprons and caps should be laundered at regular intervals or changed daily in critical production areas

* Gloves - if disposable, should be discarded at the end of the shift. If reusable , there should be a systematic washing and cleaning of the gloves on a daily basis.

* Gum boots should be cleaned on a daily basis

* Coughing / sneezing directly on to a food surface should be avoided

* In sterile or long life products processing and packing area , the production personnel should wear mouth masks and further should talk and discuss to the minimum required.

* General health screening programmes at scheduled intervals must be organised for the production staff..

* Into this list of food safety protocols we should include  PROHIBITION OF THE USE OF MOBILES / CELL PHONES. Apart from a high source of contamination, the cell phones distract the workers on the production floor. A system of receiving emergency calls to a designated phone number in the factory should be planned. Such emergency calls should be received at the reception or office desk and the critical information should be transferred to the concerned staff internally and immediately.

 

 I have tried to include all commonly known prohibited items in a typical food industry. If any of them are left out, please include them into this list appropriately.  I hope this information will be useful to all my food industry professionals.  Any comments / feed back is welcomed.

 

 

   Thanks and Regards 



dulipeta_958

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Posted 25 March 2018 - 04:33 PM

Thanks Mr Chrles, for your response.  I do understand your comment.  Shelf life of packaging materials is a very highly variable issue  specifically because of the following factors.
 
a. the type of food product packed - liquid, powder, semi liquid etc.,
 
b. the type of heat treatment the product has been subjected to before/after packaging
 
c. the intended shelf life of the product under specific storage and handling conditions
 
d. the type of packaging material used.
 
Thus, the conditions needed being complex and variable to specific needs , all the variable aspects have to be carefully considered to arrive at the best packaging option for every food item.
 
I therefore suggest / recommend  to refer the following publication that deals in details this subject.       
 
FOOD PACKAGING AND SHELF LIFE
 
A PRACTICAL GUIDE
 
Edited By:  Gordon L Robertson
 
Published By: CRC Press.
 
 
Regards,
D.N.Ravindra




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