13 replies to this topic

[Simon]

Production and storage areas of a food facility should have a periodic high level clean as part of the cleaning schedule. Such an activity could be extremely hazards to personnel and product if not conducted well and I wondered if any members have undertaken one and have experience to share. Specifically I would like to know:

- Frequency it should be carried
- Method, equipment and tools used (wet or dry?)
- Tips for ensuring health & safety
- Tips for ensuring product safety
- General tips and best practice

Thanks,
Simon

[GMO]

Thanks for the topic. It's something I'm considering right now. We have an approved supplier for environmental cleaning who's conducted these before and I have to be honest, it's not something I've organised in the past. I think getting specialists in is probably a good idea though and I'll let you know how it goes!

[Simon]

Anybody else organised a high level clean?

[Charles.C]

Dear Simon,

I'm still wondering what the phrase means ? Mandatory fumigation ?

Google gave links to window cleaners

Rgds / Charles.C

[Simon]

Where did you get mandatory fumigation from Charles?

[Tony-C]

Production and storage areas of a food facility should have a periodic high level clean as part of the cleaning schedule.
- Frequency it should be carried
- Method, equipment and tools used (wet or dry?)
- Tips for ensuring health & safety
- Tips for ensuring product safety
- General tips and best practice

Frequency should be based on risk to the product.
If there are open filling/production areas particularly.
I have carried out high level cleaning on an annual basis but carried out inspections and cleaned areas that were found to be dirty more regularly.

Have used a "cherrypicker" where able to access high areas and scaffolding elsewhere. Supervision and trained staff required with thorough H&S checks.
We always shut down production to clean.

Washing high level dirt down on to the production area was not seen as the best thing to do. We used damp cloths and damp wide headed mops (with sanitiser) to wipe high level areas. Also covered equipment where possible. Very time consuming.

This was managed using a permit to work system and a thorough clean up and inspection conducted before starting production cleaning procedures.

Regards,

Tony

[AS NUR]

Production and storage areas of a food facility should have a periodic high level clean as part of the cleaning schedule. Such an activity could be extremely hazards to personnel and product if not conducted well and I wondered if any members have undertaken one and have experience to share. Specifically I would like to know:

- Frequency it should be carried
- Method, equipment and tools used (wet or dry?)
- Tips for ensuring health & safety
- Tips for ensuring product safety
- General tips and best practice

Thanks,
Simon

IMEX.. We have schedule for cleaning for all of area and following is the general rule in our company :
1. Frequency cleaning : once per shift
2. Method : for pacakging area using dry method and for the other can use wet or dry method
3. Tips : Follow the rules and make your working area as confort zone for you.
4. Tips : Aware on potential Hazard from material and from activities that potential to make hazard on product.
5. General Tips : Prepare your work to follow the rules, Good preparation canmake good result..

[Tony-C]

IMEX.. We have schedule for cleaning for all of area and following is the general rule in our company :
1. Frequency cleaning : once per shift

I find it difficult to believe that you carry out high level cleaning once per shift!

[Charles.C]

Dear Simon,

Well, I guess it all depends on what you mean by "high level" ( UK terminology?).

The nearest routine thing I hv seen is what some companies call their "weekly washdown" which is often limited to Sunday for a 6-day week. If 7-days running, choices are more limited . I appreciate Europe tends to utilise specific, annual, "full closure" policies for maintenance etc but not sure if this exists elsewhere, USA perhaps ?.

I hv only met a possibly equivalent degree of severity to my initial interpretation of yr term when inspecting battermix / flour producing facilities. This was a trimonthly, weekend, shutdown where the entire facility was sealed off and “gassed” similar to the method used for ships. Primary reason was for infestation control, considered obligatory despite the heavy use of various anti-rodent systems and FIFO procedures etc. Didn't see any validation data.

Perhaps this is (in practice) industry / high risk product specific ?

Now I am also wondering what a “cherrypicker” is ?

Rgds / Charles.C

[MRios]

At our mill, we do this annual general cleaning and gasification usually during Holy Week on Wednesday, since we get Thursday, Good Friday, Saturday and of course Sunday off. This gives us enough time for exposure to the fumigant.
Usually we have deep cleaning, but not as thorough as the annual one, every month, since the life cycle of weevils is about 21 days in optimum conditions. The idea is to break their life cycles so we don´t have a growing population all the time. This is usually accompanied by fumigation.
All of it is "dry" cleaning, since using water would encourage the growth of yeasts and molds.

[AS NUR]

I find it difficult to believe that you carry out high level cleaning once per shift!

we implemet that frequency because our facility is almost close during run the production, and we changeover the shift after 12 hour, and before we run the production we have to make sure the room is clean...

[Tony-C]

Now I am also wondering what a “cherrypicker” is ?
Rgds / Charles.C

Cherry Picker

Regards

Tony

[Simon]

Charles high level cleaning is probably considered anything above where you can normally reach without ladders or cherry pickers. In my experience a lot of factories are constructed of painted breeze block up to about 6ft in height and then metal cladding.

The high level would then be everything above breeze block level and would be conducted perhaps every twelve months depending on the need. Up above there are walls and ledges and extractor pipes and fans and all sorts of things that dust can settle on and fall off from onto the product below. In the UK food industry it is expected that high level cleaning is on the cleaning schedule at the appropriate frequency.

Regards,
Simon

[Charles.C]

Dear T and S,

Many thks for the enlightenments. After the above posts, I deduce that "high level" probably is UK-oriented but "cherry picker" clearly not. Amazing how easily one can misinterpret a self-explanative term and misdirect a thread.

Perhaps some more accurate responses may yet appear.

Rgds / Charles.C

PS - I liked this one also -

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