Hygiene clearance checklist?

Hi all,

during our last BRC audit, one of the auditors was asking for the Hygiene clearance checklist. All I could produce was a tool issue register from the maintenance department and he wasn't happy with. He was insisting me to have a specific checklist for ensuring that the production zone is maintained hygienic especially after the maintenance jobs (like accountability of the tools taken in for the maintenance etc.).

I expect some really good thoughts in this matter. And if someone have an example "HYGIENE CLEARANCE CHECKLIST", it would be highly appreciated...

Thanks,

SANS

Hi Sans,
This is what we use. It can be taylored to your needs
Regards
Sharon (Dewsbury)

HygieneClearance Maintenance handback

After maintenanceor break down repairs the following Hygiene Clearance checks must be carriedout on on the line before production can re- commence on the line.

Maintenanceclearance is recorded on the relevant Asset C re sheet. (see 8.5 above)

Break downclearance is to be recorded on the relevant work ticked on the MIS

On completion of the task the following will be considered by the responsible Ltd employee

Equipment appropriately re-assembled and operational (validated)?

All tools accounted for?

Un-used spare and redundant parts accounted for?

General area and equipment foreign body sweep (and removal if anything is found)?

Complete a gross debris clean in readiness for production handover and full hygiene clean down

Engineer must take proactive corrective action to resolve any hygiene foreign body / physical contamination issues prior to equipment hand back. (add comments on back of this permit if required)

Engineer and Area Leader/Manager jointly inspect equipment and confirm joint approval of equipment condition

Final production cleaning / hygiene procedures must be completed under the control of Area Leader/Manager.

Area Leader/Manager record clearance for breakdown on work ticket MIS OR for maintenance on the Asset Care sheet

Hi all,

during our last BRC audit, one of the auditors was asking for the Hygiene clearance checklist. All I could produce was a tool issue register from the maintenance department and he wasn't happy with. He was insisting me to have a specific checklist for ensuring that the production zone is maintained hygienic especially after the maintenance jobs (like accountability of the tools taken in for the maintenance etc.).

I expect some really good thoughts in this matter. And if someone have an example "HYGIENE CLEARANCE CHECKLIST", it would be highly appreciated...

Thanks,

SANS

Something like this?

Nice responses.

This is the kind of documentation which IMEX engineers resist involvement at all costs although I would hv said that it is basically their operational responsibility from a safety POV ?. Reflects the HACCP team make-up / training ?

Rgds / Charles.C

Hi SANS

We normally look for the following on a maintenance checklist (jobcard) when we audit.

Tools in = Tools out ?

Suitable Protective gear for maintenance staff ? (Have seen some really scruffy guys in processing areas doing maintenance )

Food Safe Lubricants in use ?

Post Maintenance Cleaning Inspection ?

These checks should be performed by an on-line QC and not the maintenance person.



Hope it helps

Nice responses.

This is the kind of documentation which IMEX engineers resist involvement at all costs although I would hv said that it is basically their operational responsibility from a safety POV ?. Reflects the HACCP team make-up / training ?

Rgds / Charles.C

It's part of my attempt to have those involved take some responsibility. Strangely enough, there was very little push back from the maintenance staff when this was implemented. All the more strange considering the work environment (staunchly union, where people generally refuse to sign anything other than their pay checks.)

As we do not have any QA staff, it's up to the line supervisors to have the last say and accept the equipment back into production.

Marshall

It's part of my attempt to have those involved take some responsibility. Strangely enough, there was very little push back from the maintenance staff when this was implemented. All the more strange considering the work environment (staunchly union, where people generally refuse to sign anything other than their pay checks.)

As we do not have any QA staff, it's up to the line supervisors to have the last say and accept the equipment back into production.

Marshall

Hi Marshall,

I saw the same type results in a union shop a few years ago. My experience had taught me to expect a long road ahead of me when we implemented this type of hygiene inspection as we started to get our systems squared with GFSI standards. A brief meeting was held with the maintenance group to explain that while they lovingly referred to BRC as “Bankrupt ouR Company”, the future success of the business, and in turn all of our future paychecks, depended heavily on the company wide paradigm shift required to take us to that certification level. Of course there were a few “This is just another hoop that corporate wants us to jump through and they’ll forget all about it next year” responses, but pointing out that even if it was simply a hoop to jump through, it was THE hoop for now and our job is to jump through it seemed to help with the buy-in process. I think what played an even more significant role in successfully implementing that procedure was giving ownership of the various areas to specific maintenance personnel. I know that can be difficult in smaller companies that don’t have a large maintenance staff, but it really seemed to make a difference. “The*&^#@ filler” became “my filler”.


The procedure included:

Pre-work Assessment

-Adjacent areas protected?
-Acknowledgment of hygiene rules
-Trained personnel assigned to task? Names _____
-Supervisor(s) notified?
-Contamination/Foreign Material risks addressed and controlled?
-Work permit issued?

Detail maintenance work involved:

Verification and release:
-Repair complete and to standards? (standards = sanitary welds, etc.)
-Area cleaned sufficiently?
-All parts and tools accounted for?
-Hygiene/Safety assessment performed?

Release to production? Y/N

After a few alligator belt lacings went through a slicer, the concept finally caught on and these forms became a habit.

-Chris

Something like this?

Thank you for sharing the document. It really helped me to create a document for our company in Sri Lanka.