How to control mobile phones, keys, bling-blings and related items?

Good Morning Food Safety Bloggers,

 

 I would like to ask some of your ideas on how should our company control loose items such as mobile phones, key chains, bling-blings and other related items?.

 

 we are still undergone a study on how we should control loose items inside processing area and one way to control is to provide a locker for storage of those loose items mentioned above. But our locker was not yet provided with a secure combination padlock to prevent lost or stolen personnel items from locker.

 

So i would like to ask an information on what some alternative ways on how we should control those items mentioned above.

 

ideas are highly appreciated.

 

thank you.

 

Christine

 

 

The only practicable solution is storing in a locker.  These items shouldn't be on a production floor.  The lockers don't have to be massive for this kind of stuff.  In the meantime, make sure all staff leave as many items they don't require at home and you should provide them with some alternative secure storage for money etc.

Agree with GMO, small lockable lockers should be provided for all personnel and placed in a location that is visible, easy to access and secure, maybe protect with CCTV camera.  Once provided be ruthless with discipline. :banned:

 

Regards,

Simon

We do not allow personal items like those listed on the production floor.

Since we provided the lockers, we also provided the padlocks. The ONLY locks allowed are the ones issued by the company. We have all the combinations, so if an employee leaves or forgets their combo, we do not need to cut it off.

We also have cameras in the break/locker area.

It is very difficult to ensure that your employees are not actually carrying them.  It is a problem combated in many manufacturing plants.

 

Just today I had to tell someone to take out earbuds for his mp3 player or phone that he was listening to while doming and doesn't he have the nerve to ask me what the difference is between using those and hearing protection.

 

The problem with phones and other small items is you typically don't know who has them on them without looking at everyone's pants (I'm not not about to be staring at people's lower bodies long enough to tell).

 

The only thing you can do is to make sure everyone is aware via GMP's and training, keep an eye out for someone who is violating it, enact proper punishments accordingly, fairly, and even across the board.

 

Lockers are a good start, once they can be locked, also people can leave them in their personal vehicles and lock them if they so choose.

 

Beyond that it's a struggle all the time to get people to understand why they have to do it.

 

Good luck

 

Merle

We do not allow personal items like those listed on the production floor.

Since we provided the lockers, we also provided the padlocks. The ONLY locks allowed are the ones issued by the company. We have all the combinations, so if an employee leaves or forgets their combo, we do not need to cut it off.

We also have cameras in the break/locker area.

 

We don't have cameras in the break/locker rooms and I'd think that having the combinations is a dangerous thing because if you find something in someone's locker they could try to say it was planted there (if a camera can't see it all the time of course) or that the film was tampered with.

 

I don't believe they have our combinations but our plant did issue locks to everyone.

The lockers we have all have a steel open mesh front door to prevent anyone from keeping food items in it too long and to ease locker inspections.

We don't search employee's lockers. The only time we would go in one is to remove everything for an employee being termed. They get a box or bag that has everything they left in it.

Ah we have lockers like High School lockers that you can't see in other than when the door is open of course.

Dear All,

 

In some environments, employees are distinctly reluctant to both leave their valuable "bling" at home or put in a locker, gold necklaces are a typical example. Theft is an equally typical risk.

 

The topic potentially also overlaps various religion-related items of course.

 

Compromises may have to be made.

 

Rgds / Charles.C

 

Hi Christine, please do not keep adding new topics on the same subject.

If you have further comments add them here to this exisitng topic

I have merged your new topic with this one.

 

Feel free to start a new topic if you have a different query.

 

Regards,

Simon

Since we provided the lockers, we also provided the padlocks. The ONLY locks allowed are the ones issued by the company. We have all the combinations, so if an employee leaves or forgets their combo, we do not need to cut it off.
 

 

We provide lockers but not locks. We have a sign posted that states something along the lines of "we are not responsible for lost/stolen items" and encourage employees to bring in a lock. Is there a law or something else that states we must provide the locks as well?

We provide lockers but not locks. We have a sign posted that states something along the lines of "we are not responsible for lost/stolen items" and encourage employees to bring in a lock. Is there a law or something else that states we must provide the locks as well?

 

No, not to my knowledge.  It was to provide a nice, uniform appearence (we did a MAJOR locker/break room remodel) and to avoid the issue of cutting off locks if someone left or forgot their combination.

 

We have not yet run into any religious convictions that do not allow for removal of a necklace or bracelet. (Thankfully!!) If they don't feel secure leaving it in their car or locker, they can put it in a pants pocket.  We wear protective smocks in production.  If they don't feel secure leaving it at home... They need to move.

LeeSQF it's hard to tell you what the laws are when we don't know where you are your profile says your on earth.

Sorry. U.S.

This is a part of our GMP Policy. Every new employee who is hired goes through an initial training and our GMP Policy is part of the initial training. However, what are some corrective actions policies for people who are repeat offenders of not following GMP's in the workplace? For example: first offense is a verbal warning, second offense is a written warning and third offense is Management discretion/termination.

 

As the sole individual in our QA Department I have been having trouble getting upper management to act on a corrective actions policy even though I document the non conformances and present them to my immediate boss. What are some good corrective action policies so these GMP's are being followed?? Besides training obviously, because this is already being conducted. I realize I need more support from management, dont we all!!

Hi Christine, please do not keep adding new topics on the same subject.

If you have further comments add them here to this exisitng topic

I have merged your new topic with this one.

 

Feel free to start a new topic if you have a different query.

 

Regards,

Simon

 

Hi Christine, please do not keep adding new topics on the same subject.

If you have further comments add them here to this exisitng topic

I have merged your new topic with this one.

 

Feel free to start a new topic if you have a different query.

 

Regards,

Simon

hi;

 

I'm sorry.

thank you

Hi Christine,

 

In addition to the lockers, make sure you also have a policy on personal items ie you are not allowed to wear jewellery, watches etc in the production areas. All employees should be made to read this when they join and to sign a register to confirm that they have read this.

 

Anyone not obeying the policy could be subject to disciplinary action.

 

Hope this helps!

 

DP2006

 

Good morning everyone,

Good day everyone,
i would like to asked some of your ideas on how to control loose item before and after access into processing area?
 
I know the locker is one way of ensuring no loose item could access
processing area, but our problem right now is that personnel locker is
not yet controlled and people entering processing area bring with them
there personal belongings, so i would like to asked or any one could
share there ideas on how could our company controls loose item.
Ideas are highly appreciated.
 
 
hope you would respond and input some ideas on how should i control those loose items to prevent any risk of foreign matter contamination during operational.
thank you!
 
- Christine

 Hello Christine,

As others' comments, all loose items have be prohibited to bring into the production areas. All workers should aware about this basic requirement (via policy, GMP / personnel hygiene procedure, induction training, etc.) and the workers should not bring the loose items to work and if they bring any loose items, they need to left somewhere outside the processing areas.

However, some loose items are necessary to bring along to work such as money, keys, mobile, etc. Again, these loose items should be kept somewhere outside the production areas. Locker with combination lock is good one, so no key to take care and avoid issue of stealing / losing due to each worker has to take care his/her own locker and combination code.

You indicated that the lockers are not yet available and you are looking for alternative control methods.

Most of factories in Philippines that I visited, there are security guards and/or sanitation inspectors to inspect (sometimes even perform body search) workers, including visitors, before entering the production areas. Therefore, I think the loose valuable items (e.g. money, jewelry, and mobile) might be able to leave with these guards and/or inspectors. Well, if each workers did have many loose valuable items, each worker can put all loose valuable items together in one sealed bag, put his/her name on, and registered (with details as necessary - to prevent false claims and stealing issues) with the guards or inspectors. It needs to have a system to control return items to wrong person. This system can be similar to system using at the bag or luggage storage at airport or department store. However, each worker has to aware that the guards or inspectors will just do their best to taking care of their loose items. It cannot guarantee zero stealing or losing issue. CCTV at this inspection/storage point might be useful.

Again, the bottomline is no loose items that did not related to the production activity should be brought into the production line. In case, it is necessary to allow any workers / visitors to bring the loose items into the production areas, inspection for condition and registration for quantity of the losse items before and after visting the production areas need to be done. Reasons and authorize approval should be recorded as well.

Hope my ideas can help. :)

Having carried out Jewellery & Personal Property audits over the years we've found that secure lockers are the best way to go in parallel with regular (but unannouced) audits. Staff may be asked to empty ALL their pockets (personal and company clothing), show arms and around the neck area and will not be touched without their permission.

Consider investing in metal detecting wands used in airports to check pockets without interrupting workers - you can get them for under £100.

The thing to remember is that no matter how much training you give, no matter how many policies or procedures are in place you will ALWAYS get some smart-alec that thinks it's OK to wear/take these things onto the shopfloor and the rules don't apply to them.

Provide them with lockers and ask to lockup all personal belongings. We are asking the staff to provide landphone number of the company to  persons who may need to contact them in case of any personal emergency.