BRC-IOP requirements on protective clothing

hi there,

thanks for all the suggestions you have made on my queries..this site is so helpful really.
wanna get your advise regarding brc-iop requirements for protective clothing for category 1 packaging..(we manufacture packaging materials for direct food contact)

our company's existing protective clothing have outer pockets and sewn on buttons..and brc-iop requires them otherwise.
in our hazard & risk assessment, we conclude that we can retain the existing uniform ( cuz it will cost so much for the company to change them), provided we will issue a policy on prohibiting any items to be placed inside the outer pockets like coins, pens, etc)
and the probability of these items getting into our products are remote, cuz the products comes out from stacker upside down, and packer conducts inspection before putting them on the polybags

do you think auditors will accept it?

thanks

I too work in a company that manufactures packaging for direct food contact - mainly for chocolate and bakery products. Our operators wear polo shirts with 3 buttons on and this hasn't been a problem to our external BRC auditor. Toolsetters wear 'normal' boilersuits. The only items bought (before my time) without external pockets are visitors coats.

The auditor has never raised the subject of buttons on polo shirts or pockets in trousers. We instigated frequent pocket checks which we could show to the auditor, if necessary, that no-one carries any item other than allowed locker key and shatterproof pen.

If all else fails you could sew up the pockets!