28 replies to this topic

[mckief]

Can anyone let me know why wooden brooms are not allowed to be used in food factories. My company has been asked to stop using them and move to polypropylene brooms but we are unsure as to why wooden brooms are not allowed.

[tsmith7858]

Can anyone let me know why wooden brooms are not allowed to be used in food factories. My company has been asked to stop using them and move to polypropylene brooms but we are unsure as to why wooden brooms are not allowed.

Mostly micro related. Wood cannot be cleaned very well. It could also be viewed as a physical hazard with possible splintering.

[Charles.C]

Out of curiosity, were they wooden bodies with hair bristles also ?? Next problem.

Rgds / Charles.C

[GMO]

Seriously? There are so many reasons why not! Wood gets easily abraided and splinters (FB issue), cannot be easily cleaned (micro issue) as the posters above have said.

But seriously? In the UK a food manufacturer is still using wooden brooms and is curious why they shouldn't? I don't mean to be patronising but this is terratory covered by Level 2 food hygiene. I suggest your workplace review the training of key members of staff!

[Mike Green]

As above- I didn't realise they were still in use in production environments in the uk-still see a few in catering establishments though

attached doc is about wooden pallets and packaging-but i think it highlights the problems pretty well

Mike

Attached Files

•  foodwood.pdf   846.5KB   162 downloads

[Liberty h]

I think you should probably think about conducting an audit of your premises to identify any other wood based objects in your production area. Have a wood amnesty! But make sure that you have replacements for them as your staff will be unhappy when their tools go missing. You haven't mentioned in the post but if you are audited it will definitely reduce your score.

[D-D]

In the UK a food manufacturer is still using wooden brooms and is curious why they shouldn't?

Hmmm....how about this then:

We extract plant matter with solvents which are then removed to yield extracts and essential oils etc.
1) A lot of the seeds, fruit, leaves etc have the potential to have wood contamination as a natural contaminant (everything gets filtered at the end).
2) If we used plastic brooms and they started falling apart and getting in the mix the solvents would dissolve them (and that would not filter out).
3) A lot of our areas are x-proof due to the flammable nature of the solvents and plastic brooms present a static electricity risk.

I feel obliged to press on with the plastic just to tick a box for BRC but I think the above 3 points are more than enough for, in our particular situation, to say wooden brooms are preferable. Can I successfully argue that out with an auditor though? I don't know yet.

[GMO]

Hmmm....how about this then:

We extract plant matter with solvents which are then removed to yield extracts and essential oils etc.
1) A lot of the seeds, fruit, leaves etc have the potential to have wood contamination as a natural contaminant (everything gets filtered at the end).
2) If we used plastic brooms and they started falling apart and getting in the mix the solvents would dissolve them (and that would not filter out).
3) A lot of our areas are x-proof due to the flammable nature of the solvents and plastic brooms present a static electricity risk.

I feel obliged to press on with the plastic just to tick a box for BRC but I think the above 3 points are more than enough for, in our particular situation, to say wooden brooms are preferable. Can I successfully argue that out with an auditor though? I don't know yet.

I would say that presents a different situation. In your case, I would have plastic brooms where I can and where I can't I would do a risk assessment (BRC love that stuff) and probably conclude that the safety hazard means I can't use plastic and so I have to use wood but have an inspection of the broom before and after use, handwashing after use every time and a frequent replacement schedule (suggest brooms are marked to ensure they are replaced, say, monthly). Then stick all that in a procedure and make sure you adhere to it!

Obviously not ideal but in your specific circumstances it's probably the only way to go, just like in flour mills there are often wooden floors due to the explosion risk, there are (rare) circumstances where it is the only solution but I would say they're not common and the poster didn't mention any.

[Tony-C]

Hmmm....how about this then:

We extract plant matter with solvents which are then removed to yield extracts and essential oils etc.
1) A lot of the seeds, fruit, leaves etc have the potential to have wood contamination as a natural contaminant (everything gets filtered at the end).
2) If we used plastic brooms and they started falling apart and getting in the mix the solvents would dissolve them (and that would not filter out).
3) A lot of our areas are x-proof due to the flammable nature of the solvents and plastic brooms present a static electricity risk.

I feel obliged to press on with the plastic just to tick a box for BRC but I think the above 3 points are more than enough for, in our particular situation, to say wooden brooms are preferable. Can I successfully argue that out with an auditor though? I don't know yet.

Have you looked at the types of brushes supplied by these people:

http://www.hillbrush...afety-solutions

The special ingredient used during the moulding process to produce the metal detectability also gives the products anti-static properties. The products have been independently tested, and the results showed that they are slow dissipative, and the ESD (electrostatic discharge) was zero. Therefore the products are safe for use in flammable atmospheres with ignition energies down to 0.25 millijoules.

Regards,

Tony

[Ian R]

Hi
wooden brushes are not permitted for two main reasons
Firstly it is because wood is porous and cannot be cleaned to a safe standard, for the same reason wooden chopping boards are now not permitted.
The second is that the bristles are not sealed into the head and can easily fall out.

You can use wooden brushes in outside areas like the yard etc but not inside

Hope this helps

Can anyone let me know why wooden brooms are not allowed to be used in food factories. My company has been asked to stop using them and move to polypropylene brooms but we are unsure as to why wooden brooms are not allowed.

[MRios]

GMO:
Our flour mill has wooden floors, since it was built in 1936. All other mills in the corporation have been built with ceramic floors and there has been pressure to get us to change our floors, but it would mean modifying the original structure and several other things that would mean lots of money.
Could you please explain how wood floors help prevent explosion risks? I would really appreciate it, since it would help me argue this point.

[GMO]

GMO:
Our flour mill has wooden floors, since it was built in 1936. All other mills in the corporation have been built with ceramic floors and there has been pressure to get us to change our floors, but it would mean modifying the original structure and several other things that would mean lots of money.
Could you please explain how wood floors help prevent explosion risks? I would really appreciate it, since it would help me argue this point.

Here's a danger of writing on subjects you have little knowledge! If I'm honest, I visited a flour mill about 8 years ago; was told this was the reason for the wooden floors and just accepted it. If there is an acceptable alternative which doesn't have the H&S risk then I agree it's a better way to go.

[Mike Green]

GMO:
Our flour mill has wooden floors, since it was built in 1936. All other mills in the corporation have been built with ceramic floors and there has been pressure to get us to change our floors, but it would mean modifying the original structure and several other things that would mean lots of money.
Could you please explain how wood floors help prevent explosion risks? I would really appreciate it, since it would help me argue this point.

I guess it's a static electricity issue?

wooden and concrete floors are electrically dissapative- static building up on a person 'leaks away' before it builds up to a level that might discharge with a spark-I guess the choice of wood over concrete would be down to the fact that (although statically they are both acceptable) a spark can be produced by striking metal on concrete?

other materials(like ceramic and quartz tiles amd modern polymer coated floors) are very good insulators so staic can build up easily
this is probably all pretty much negated these days by our super insulated work boots though!! I also think that humidity effects explosion risk- so maybe a wood floor that absorbs moisture will result in a higher relative humidity(but I could just be making that up!!)

Regards

Mike

[MRios]

Thank you GMO and Mike. Lately, I´ve only heard of a sugar mill that exploded, but it seems that this was related to heavy dust (sugar dust?) in the air, which of course can be set off by a spark caused by static electricity.
Is there anyone with milling experience in the forum that might want to comment?

[GMO]

Yep I assumed it was a flour dust / static electricity issue too but I don't know how big this risk is tbh.

[Charles.C]

Dear GMO,

I'm guessing tbh = to be honest. Hadn't met that one before. (lower case for speed?)

Hopefully correct since now added to my last post in the forum list of acronyms thread.

Rgds / Charles.C

[GMO]

Dear GMO,

I'm guessing tbh = to be honest. Hadn't met that one before. (lower case for speed?)

Hopefully correct since now added to my last post in the forum list of acronyms thread.

Rgds / Charles.C

Yep. Sorry, should have been TBH but I was being lazy. At least I don't use complete text-speak. I find people who post on the internet who are around 10 years or more younger than me completely incomprehensible. Feeling my age...

[Mike Green]

Thank you GMO and Mike. Lately, I´ve only heard of a sugar mill that exploded, but it seems that this was related to heavy dust (sugar dust?) in the air, which of course can be set off by a spark caused by static electricity.
Is there anyone with milling experience in the forum that might want to comment?

Any dust in the right concentration may 'explode' though i beleive it is actually not exploding-just burning very very fast!!!!-smaller the particle size,faster the burn

It happens with hardwood dust,coal dust, flour -and in school I remember we did an experiment with custard powder which was fairly spectacular!

why flour explodes

wikipedia dust explosion

regards
Mike

[Mike Green]

Any dust in the right concentration may 'explode' though i beleive it is actually not exploding-just burning very very fast!!!!-smaller the particle size,faster the burn

It happens with hardwood dust,coal dust, flour -and in school I remember we did an experiment with custard powder which was fairly spectacular!

why flour explodes

wikipedia dust explosion

regards
Mike

oh.........and a doc with some research on static electricity and flooring!!

Attached Files

•  controllingstaticelectricityinmodernbuildings.pdf   428.8KB   8 downloads

[Simon]

I've let this topic bubble away the past couple of weeks and to be honest I’ve only just read it. Fascinating, and lots of reasons not to use wooden brooms in food.

Another reason to use plastic is that you can purchase different colours and so have a system of colour coding of cleaning equipment for different departments or tasks, which helps to prevent cross contamination. And I just love visual factories.

[MRios]

Thank you Mike! Now I have actual support for not changing the wooden floor. At any rate, the whole milling process is closed, plus you would have to really abuse a wooden floor to get splinters, and then have horrible manufacturing practices to have these splinters go into the product at any point.

[GMO]

Any dust in the right concentration may 'explode' though i beleive it is actually not exploding-just burning very very fast!!!!-smaller the particle size,faster the burn

It happens with hardwood dust,coal dust, flour -and in school I remember we did an experiment with custard powder which was fairly spectacular!

why flour explodes

wikipedia dust explosion

regards
Mike

Absolutely. I was going to say the same thing but thought others may accuse me of being a Chemistry geek!

A true explosion has to have an increase in reactions because one of the reaction products promotes the reaction of another substrate, ie one reaction then causes two reactions, then causes four... A fast burn is effectively a linear process, the products don't cause the reaction to accelerate so it's not an explosion; however, the surface area to volume ratio makes the burn so fast that in practical terms it's indistinguishable. I wouldn't be thinking "oh it's only a fast burn" as I was running away from an exploding flour mill

[Dr. Donal Hughes]

Can anyone let me know why wooden brooms are not allowed to be used in food factories. My company has been asked to stop using them and move to polypropylene brooms but we are unsure as to why wooden brooms are not allowed.

It has very little to do with micro issues. Wooden butcher blocks have been used for yonks and have never ceased to amaze me when I have tested them.

The issue is the physical hazard of wood splinters. Some saw its ridiculous, others say its sublime but thats the way it is.

The last food safety related death from consumption of splinters was..................wait..........I cant find one!

Regards

Dr. Donal

[GMO]

It has very little to do with micro issues. Wooden butcher blocks have been used for yonks and have never ceased to amaze me when I have tested them.

The issue is the physical hazard of wood splinters. Some saw its ridiculous, others say its sublime but thats the way it is.

The last food safety related death from consumption of splinters was..................wait..........I cant find one!

Regards

Dr. Donal

It's a good point actually, however, I would say butchers blocks are rigorously scrubbed regularly or cut down to reveal a new surface; also they aren't used for RTE food preparation, whereas I've never seen a wooden broom being cleaned.

It's a fair point about the foreign body risk not being significant; however, I was in a factory where a wood splinter led to threat of prosecution from the EHO and even though the case never came to court, £10,000's were wasted in lawyer fees (and that was a process that had no alternative but to use wood.) I suspect that in most EHO's eyes, there is a suitable alternative to wood and that's why they might prosecute. Certainly after that experience I exclude wood where I can. Also I recently heard of a case where Listeria was found on wood in a factory (suggests to me it was allowed to get and stay damp) so it's not cut and dried that wood isn't a micro risk IMO.

Sorry, just realised in the light of my butchers block comments, I've accidentally made another bad pun with "cut and dried". I'm on fire at the moment.

Dr GMO! (But only a doctor of Chemistry.)

Edited by GMO, 09 December 2010 - 11:24 AM.

[Charles.C]

Dear All,

I don't think the original poster actually specified his environment(?).
For a wet, accessible, arena, I would suggest squeegees are a more successful option. Not only more efficient in removing water, substantial reduction in spray also from my observations. I guess that is a micro. issue.

The wood /plastic cutting board issue vaguely mentioned in previous post has a veritable book of links on google. It seemed to me the current net result was a (grudging) tie, at least micro.speaking, eg
http://www.fsis.usda...afety/index.asp

Rgds / Charles.C