Handling diseases

Clause 7.5.1 from the BRC IOP standard states that employees that have a disease that can be transmitted trough food contact should report this and so on.
For visitors it is relatively easy, you simply ban every person with a disease from your facilities.
With own personnel it is somewhat different I think.
I tried to compile a list with diseases and some guidelines how to handle reported cases in day-to-day operations.
First step was to contact people in the packaging and food producing industry but I did not get I me rock solid advice. Also the medical advice I sought was not able to give me a list with diseases that I could use straight forward.
I have the following questions:
What diseases are recognised as being transmittable through packaging materials or food.
Are there diseases and production circumstances that are absolute no go's.


Be yourself there are plenty of others,

Okido

Hello Okido,

A definitive list of illnesses is not so easy (for me) but probably more important are the symptoms. If someone feels sick they should report it immediately before they hurl over product.

Symptoms that should be reported are:

 Diarrhoea
 Vomiting
 Nausea
 Ear, eye or nose discharges
 A septic cut, wound or other skin condition that leaves an open wound or broken skin, or any other skin condition or infection

Employees must also report symptoms of food-borne illness amongst members of family and close personal contacts. This is because the person could be a carrier and could be a source of pathogenic bacteria without showing any symptoms.

An important consideration is what you do with an employee if they are well enough to work but present a contamination risk. Maybe you could transfer them to a low risk area where they will not come into contact with food packaging e.g. a warehouse or perhaps doing some administration work.

So to the illnesses list:

 Typhoid
 Paratyphoid
 Salmonella infections
 Amoebic or bacillary dysentery
 Staphylococcal infections
 Cholera
 Hepatitis A
 Gastric upset causing sickness, vomiting and/or diarrhoea

Its not complete, hopefully other members will make it so.

Regards,
Simon

Dear Simon,

This looks all OK when one has to administer the employees. What should one do if....
1) We outsource our laminates for conversion into pouches
2) If some outsourced agency is employed on our shop floors for housekeeping etc.
Mess?Any suggestions?

rgds

Shivendra

This looks all OK when one has to administer the employees. What should one do if....
1) We outsource our laminates for conversion into pouches
2) If some outsourced agency is employed on our shop floors for housekeeping etc.
Mess?Any suggestions?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

1) They will have to have to work the same system or you may as well not bother. It will mean working with the supplier to get it in place then auditing the system to ensure it stays in place.

2) Agency / temporary workers should be working to the same standards as all other employees; they should have induction training and hygiene policy / hygiene rules training etc. If the agency workers are not working directly with product the reporting illness system is not so critical for them however sometimes it's better to just include everyone as it causes less problems.

Just my opinion.

Regards,
Simon