BRC chapter 4.13.8 "in depth pest control surveys"
Does anyone know what this demand really means - what shall be done by this to please auditor
That`s one to put the cat amongst the pigeons, especially for those auditors in the uk.
In fairness the ones I have met did have a rudimentary understanding of pest control and what they think to expect but they are not pest controllers and not expected to know the difference in a good inspection and a poor one IMO.
I would like to think that this is the first step in moving the PC industry forward, demands by the likes of BRC do encourage innovation and improvement in general standards from the ground up.
But I suspect that demand refers to "field biologist" inspection and not technicians in the field
Bunny
I guess you are right, that Field biologist are wanted to fullfill the demand. Well I find out in March to BRC-audit
Does anyone know what this demand really means - what shall be done by this to please auditor
I do not know what is the international name for such, so I will try to explain in a lot of words ;^)
If you have a pest controller company hired, they mostly also offer some kind of hygiene/building inspection. Frequencies are annual, twice a year and sometimes even 4 times a year.
During such inspection, some one else then the regular pest controller comes to you company and conduct an inspection. This inspections does not include the baits and traps themselves but is focussed on building, work hygiene, etc. Focus is on places were pests can integrate the site, and were housing of insects is possible. This inspection will result in advice/actions on prevention and control. These action should be followed by the organisation. These inspections are called technical inspection on the site of Rentokil and Anticimex.
What do you think, can this be done by the organisation itself?
I do not know what is the international name for such, so I will try to explain in a lot of words ;^)
If you have a pest controller company hired, they mostly also offer some kind of hygiene/building inspection. Frequencies are annual, twice a year and sometimes even 4 times a year.
During such inspection, some one else then the regular pest controller comes to you company and conduct an inspection. This inspections does not include the baits and traps themselves but is focussed on building, work hygiene, etc. Focus is on places were pests can integrate the site, and were housing of insects is possible. This inspection will result in advice/actions on prevention and control. These action should be followed by the organisation. These inspections are called technical inspection on the site of Rentokil and Anticimex.
What do you think, can this be done by the organisation itself?
Thankey very much for the explanation - helped a lot. The new BRC for food ver. 6 demands such an technical inspection 4 times a year - we have ordinary pest control inspections 6 times a year (in DK some firms have inspections each month). I think that I will talk to Rentokil about having such a technical inspection with me by their side and learning....As we do not have og have had any problems with pests at all since 1998 (plant started) I think I would try to challenge this demand.
Then perforn it 3 times a year your self. Maybe you can include it in your hygiene-site-inspection. What is also in BRC issue 6. Make sure it is recognisable. This mean document some "in depth pest control inspections"-issues in your hygiene-site-inspection checklist.
Please let us know, what was the result after the audit you challenged this.
I would suggest it would be easier to bring the regular technician inspections in house and then contract the biologist inspections.
I've never been on a site which has had a field biologist inspection less than 4 times a year, 4 times a year, IME is really typical! A field biologist generally is more knowledgable regarding pest species and prevention than a technologist
Hello GMO,
Things are likely very different here.
I have to say that I only come in few companies(<10) that contracted pest controller to perform these inspection annually and I know only one company that has performed it 4 times a year. This company stopped with this high frequency, because they were not able to solve the action ithin the 3 months time frame.
Let me tel you first, that i come only in 'wet' industry: meat, meat production, fish, fish production, ready to eat meals/salads, snacks, canned pet food, produce and
prepared fruits/vegetables. I have no knowledge/experience from dry food companies. Maybe this make the difference.
I am also not quite sure what you mean by field biologist inspection. I suppose it is, what I have described in a previous post in this thread.
In general the companies I visit have a contracted pest controller (I have no customers wich employs onw pest controller). The contracted pest controller conducts 8 to 12 times a year an inspection. Follow ups are done if needed. Circa 40% of my customers contract the pest controller to do a hygiene inspection annually. If no infestation occurres. I do not see the need to conduct such an inspection 4 times a year. Esspecially when most organisations are not doing this at all at the moment and do not have any problems.
So, rather we are talking about different inspections or we are operating in different industries or we just have different opinions/experience about this issue.
I am really interested to hear from other members in other regions how pest control inspections and survey requirements are filled and if this is sufficient.
I have just read another thread about this requirement: http://www.ifsqn.com...-expert-survey/ and I am now concluding that this is indeed a specific Britisch thing, which is not applied as such in other parts of the world.
I am sorry for my harsh words in above post.
Perhaps you could argue if you do have a quarterly field biologist inspection you could then reduce the technologist visits though. We have 8 technologist visits a year, 2 per quarter then the field biologist comes as the 3rd visit per quarter.
Just had an auditor tell us that the REVIEW is the critical part of this. This needed to be an undefined combination of a commentary on the trend analysis over the past 3 months, plus a minuted review of the pest control activity over the past three months.
Mind you, this was an auditor who also told us that he expected an 8-12 page report on a site that has one process line, is the cleanest site I have in my portfolio, and has not had a pest problem apart from a mouse that ran in through a door for a few years.
I struggle to get two pages of pest related items out of the inspection!
In general, the interpetation seems to be Field Biologist inspections. However, the review bit may mean more needs to be done.
I now have had visit of an field biologist and learned a bit about mouses and rats - 3 small changes by roofing (small holes which mouses could use to enter our ceiling). I asked if they would consider having a course and hope they will so that I could learn more of the behaviour of pests. But I think that my risk analysis will end out in having visit once a year as we never have had pests in our traps - inside or outside.
Happily, this is the only instance of this I have so far experienced, but I expect this clause to result in aome variances across our portfolio of clients.