6 replies to this topic

[Simon]

Hello All,

I have a question. In version 3 of the BRC packaging standard clause 6.5.4 that states

“Based on hazard and risk analysis, a policy shall be documented and implemented to state where protective clothing can be worn away from the production environment”

This basically means it’s up to you to justify through risk assessment whether protective clothing can or cannot be worn when smoking, eating and drinking and visiting the toilet. In a way it’s quite clever as it forces the supplier to really think about it. In version 2 of the standard removing protective clothing prior to the above activities was a recommendation on good practice, so basically everyone just ignored it and put it in the too difficult file. Now it must be addressed.

Rather than just talk about packaging I wanted to broaden the debate to the wider food industry and get comments on what you do in your company, what you think is best practice and sort of develop a risk assessment if possible. It would be good also if you could mention how other food safety standards handle this difficult topic.

Regards,
Simon

[Dr Vu]

This is a god topic and a bump to you Simon!!

If you are working in areas regulated by CFIA ( meat,milk and fresh vegetables) or you are working in RTE( ready to eat ) foods you will have to take an aggressive approach to this best practice. In the meat plant you had to remove all protective clothing when going outside work station ( except in an emergency) but the key would be on having ample uniforms fo all and they should be -readily removable and not contribute to an overall incrase on cycle time.

whne i was in baking field we didnt have readily removable clothing so we had a number of what we called ' smoke-coats' that people put on to go outside to smoke and these were a different colour - this does not control the risk in any way but is a minimum that we could do.

Going into wash rooms, now thats was a hard one to implement in the bakery , even when eating and drinking. So we relied on training of personnel and a little monitoring. But on some specialised lines you had to implement an aggressive approach- eg people working with cocoa etc since this would pick up odors easily they operated in a different set of rules which ultimately boils down to that much needed management support and the risk.
what i found is that when you do a risk assessment ,and management, once they see baking they think they have elliminated all the other food safety elements related to transient and resident microbes thru that high temperature bake and this usually frustrated me as the quality assurance guy since there is packing after that.

When i was in meat, it was the standard and they used to wash their uniforms right there in the plant so you could change anytime you felt soiled. So, that meant going for break- you dump uniform in the dirty uniform- bin and picked a fresh pne upon return .This was ingrained in people's minds through signs, training and occasional penalties such that we had little problems


i will get back to this topic since i have seen different approaches in the differnt food sectors i have worked in- i have to rush for that early morning team briefing meet

Vu

[cazyncymru]

Hello All,

I have a question. In version 3 of the BRC packaging standard clause 6.5.4 that states

“Based on hazard and risk analysis, a policy shall be documented and implemented to state where protective clothing can be worn away from the production environment”

This basically means it’s up to you to justify through risk assessment whether protective clothing can or cannot be worn when smoking, eating and drinking and visiting the toilet. In a way it’s quite clever as it forces the supplier to really think about it. In version 2 of the standard removing protective clothing prior to the above activities was a recommendation on good practice, so basically everyone just ignored it and put it in the too difficult file. Now it must be addressed.

Rather than just talk about packaging I wanted to broaden the debate to the wider food industry and get comments on what you do in your company, what you think is best practice and sort of develop a risk assessment if possible. It would be good also if you could mention how other food safety standards handle this difficult topic.

Regards,
Simon

We have instigated that no "protective whites" can be worn outside of a production area and have built new changing rooms to house split lockers etc. New whites are issued daily, and we have a boot rack and welly washer! we've also put up a poster to show demonstrate how you should dress ie hair net, then whites, then boots.

i have separate protective shoes for outside.

c x

[MKRMS]

Hi, I'm Matt and work as a food safety advisor for independent retailers and caterers in Ireland.
To me, a risk assessment for wearing of protective clothing outside of production areas is fairly easy: just think about the purpose of protective clothing for a sec: it is intended to keep contamination away from food (or from packaging).
Why not keep it simple and establish one rule for all? Protective clothing is OK on the way from the changing area to the workplace and back (passage should be short and area clean). Want to go anywhere else: change into outdoor clothing. In my opinion, overcoats are not suitable to protect the whites, because they add to contamination risk.
The story is different for PPE worn underneath protective clothing. If shoes need to be sanitised, install a boot wash facility.
Alternatively - if your product is low risk (manufacturer of cardboard outer packaging for prepacked dry foods), don't invest in protective clothing.
The rule takes a bit of policing, though, as every policy does to be effective. Unfortunately, this will cut out short cigarette breaks (smoking is classified as unhygienic anyway). It will increase productivity, though.

Regards

Matt

[Simon]

Hi Matt, thanks for your input and welcome to the forums. I think you're right, we all know it is the right thing to do, but because it is difficult to manage we skirt the issue. Even the BRC have. It is the right thing to do, you cannot conclude otherwise. Well I can’t anyhow.

What do other members think?

[GMO]

Depends on risk always (as ever). My personal ethos is fairly similar to Tescos having supplied them until recently:

Low risk / no open product areas:

Shoes can be worn in toilets, canteens and smoking areas but no other workwear unless as a previous respondant said, a knee length coat is worn over the top in production areas (the hygienic workwear in that situation is the knee length coat and not the trousers or T shirt or whatever.)

In high care / risk or open product areas:

All hygienic workwear including shoes / boots are captive to that area and should be changed each time. Again, the clothing part is the knee length coat so anything worn under that (even if company issued) is not hygienic workwear.

As I've implied above; you can make things easier by your choice of workwear. By having a knee length coat, that's easier to put on and take off. Trousers or boiler suits can never be the hygienic workwear because they drag on the floor when you put them on! Also with the low risk areas, if you ask people to change shoes, you might create a bigger issue because you don't want people continually touching their shoes! I'm having trouble at my site though getting engineers to hold to this.

[Simon]

Good advice as ever GMO.