Glass/Brittle Plastic Inventory - How Detailed Must it Be?

Our production area is mostly like a flour mill, with a few differences.  We have a lot of sight windows and pressure gauges.  My glass/brittle plastic inventory is very extensive, and I went so far as to count all the gauge covers on the fire extinguishers hanging on the walls.  Do I need to be that detailed, or should I stop being so OCD and only including those items that are of significant size or likely to be near product.

Our process is almost entirely contained within the equipment, so the chance of the fire extinguisher or other pressure gauge covers getting into the product is pretty slim, though still there.  The more significant risk is breakage of the sight windows on the nautas, transfer augers, and hoppers.

How detailed is your inventory?

Thanks in advance,

Martha

We are actually working on our register now and it includes the location, description and qty (if more than one)

No, you're not OCD you're just an experienced QA person Martha. That's just as about as specific as you need to get. Don't forget your overhead lights as most people do.

No, you're not OCD you're just an experienced QA person Martha. That's just as about as specific as you need to get. Don't forget your overhead lights as most people do.

Thanks for the help.  I have the overhead lights, and the exit lights over the doors, and the bug lights, and the lights on the forklift.  It's all those gauge covers that are a nuisance, they are everywhere.  Our product flows by vacuum, so the speed of the process is related to the vacuum in the piping.  I keep finding them in the strangest places!

Martha

Best thing I find is to take photographs to. Word of advice, take these photographs in a specific area, download then delete off camera! I got so mixed up, didn't know which gauge was where when I did the whole site in one hit!!

Caz x

At the yogurt plant all of the rooms were pretty small (every area was segregated) so when I set it up I added direction from the door (Far wall, near wall, left wall, right wall) to make it easier for inspectors to find the items.

What is annoying and confusing to me, is that in our most recent SQF Level II audit, the auditor told me I was TOO detailed in my Glass/Brittle Plastic audit. He claims that in a auditor refresher, they were told to not look for every gauge or forklift light to be mentioned.  I asked to to show me where that was mentioned in the standard and I would change my audit, He could not and I won't be changing it.

STANDARDS!  Should be uniform, consistent and conveyed!  (still a bit tired and cranky from last week--we're on OT also)  :beer:

Best thing I find is to take photographs to. Word of advice, take these photographs in a specific area, download then delete off camera! I got so mixed up, didn't know which gauge was where when I did the whole site in one hit!!

 

Caz x

Caz x, that is good advice, though it gets more interesting.  The sections of piping are sometimes re-arranged, so pictures and locations will change.

At the yogurt plant all of the rooms were pretty small (every area was segregated) so when I set it up I added direction from the door (Far wall, near wall, left wall, right wall) to make it easier for inspectors to find the items.

Our production facility is one huge open building.  Directions would be very interesting (walk in between the nautas and the cutting mill, then look left and up, lol, or something like that.)  And some of the gauges are on pipe sections that get removed and reconfigured at times.  It is a unique set up.  It took me several times trying to find them all to locate what the inventory was talking about, since it takes up a full page.  Then I found out that we had added components just when I came and that the gauge covers had not been part of the original, so I had to re-do it all over again.

What is annoying and confusing to me, is that in our most recent SQF Level II audit, the auditor told me I was TOO detailed in my Glass/Brittle Plastic audit. He claims that in a auditor refresher, they were told to not look for every gauge or forklift light to be mentioned.  I asked to to show me where that was mentioned in the standard and I would change my audit, He could not and I won't be changing it.

 

STANDARDS!  Should be uniform, consistent and conveyed!  (still a bit tired and cranky from last week--we're on OT also)  :beer:

I feel your pain...

Martha

Hi Martha

I feel your pain! I can come in and find a whole new machine in production!

Caz x

I like this example...I'm sure I got this off this site

That's awesome RG3.  Once I get the chance, I'm going to re-work mine (again..)

Martha

Good afternoon,

   Same type of Question, regarding how detailed the inventory must be. Do you need to do all offices? that are not in production area?

We have some offices with 25-100 glass bottles that they have collected over the years from the industry we are in.

Do I need to account for each one of those?

Any help would be greatly appreciated !!!

Thank you

Robert

Good afternoon,

   Same type of Question, regarding how detailed the inventory must be. Do you need to do all offices? that are not in production area?

We have some offices with 25-100 glass bottles that they have collected over the years from the industry we are in.

Do I need to account for each one of those?

Any help would be greatly appreciated !!!

Thank you

Robert

Hi Robert V,

   Only those that pose a risk to your ingredients, raw material, finished product. If your office windows don't lead into the production room/warehouse/cooler/freezer, than the answer is no.

Thank you for the reply..

The office are in the front of the building, and the end of the hallway, leads to a door that goes into the production area...

So the offices I don't have to do an inventory at all?

What about our Lab, that contains around 3000 + Glass bottles? Windows, lights etc

Thank you so much for your time

Robert

The glass and brittle plastic only pose a risk when they are in the same area where food is produced or stored:  offices should not be part of the production area.  So I would think that you only need to inventory the glass/brittle plastic that is past the door into the production area.

Martha

The level of detail should be based on risk.  A documented risk assessment, done well, can explain the level of detail you choose.  Having this documented ahead of time should help with potential auditor opinions.Define your reasoning based on potential product risk.   Remember a non-conformance is to be based only on - not following the code, not following your own requirements, or not addressing risk sufficiently.  

Martha, The glass register must be as detailed as it needs to be. And unfortunately this is another thing that is very subjective. You may argue you don’t need to include a glass that is far away from production, but any given auditor can think different.

My advice is to do it based on RISK.  What are the probabilities of the item to break? and if it breaks, what are probabilities of reaching the product?. I think you must include as many items as necessary but you cannot include them all as the list would be so extensive and a waste of time. That is one of the purposes of risk assessment, to allocate the resources (in this case the time of an employee to check every single brittle object in the plant) to where there is more chances of risk reduction.  

Additionally, you could also add RISK AREAS. For instance everything that is on or immediate to the production area or equipment is high risk, and needs to be checked more frequently (daily pre-operational).  MEDIUM RISK for items that are adjacent to the area with lower risk of brokerage or contamination (such as the extinguisher gauge in the wall 50ft away from the packing line).. This could be inspected at a lower frequency, such as Weekly or Monthly?.. And LOW RISK for items that are far away (office windows and lights, etc.) and those could have a different schedule such as Monty or Quarterly?

Here is an example of what you could  do for a glass/brittle risk assessment. Based on that then you can create your glass registers.

NOTE: You can format this in a chart.. but I was not able to create or paste a chat in here.  

Item: Packing Line Fluorescent light

Probability of Breaking: HIGH: People and machine activity nearby, within reach of people and machines. Very fragile glass.

Probability of Contamination: HIGH: Bulbs are protected with sleeves, but are located right above product

Area: HIGH RISK AREA

Risk (High, Medium, Low, Very Low): HIGH

Inspection Frequency (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, NOT INCLUDE): Daily

Finally, don’t sort the items in your glass registers alphabetically, but by location.  An easy way and idea is to make a facility plan (such as the pest control map/plan) with the items and use that to check them, or organize the list in the order you will find the object in your walking route.   

Just ideas to make your operation more efficient while keeping it safe.

Wow, lots of good ideas from many people here.  I see an inventory revision in my crystal ball.

Martha

Hi Guys,

This is a very good timing discussion as I am about to start doing glass and brittle materials inventory. Thank you so much!

Regards,

Lorena

Wow, lots of good ideas from many people here.  I see an inventory revision in my crystal ball.

 

Martha

Martha,

   Are you on revision 174?

I like this example...I'm sure I got this off this site

 I found this when I was trying to revamp my G&BP inventory / audit sheets as well. I found this to be a very user friendly format, and as far as re formatting whatever you are using now, it is the least painless, IMO

Good Morning,

  Must I add the following to my Glass / Brittle plastic Register:

Plastic Electric Outlet Covers

Plastic  Tape Dispensers

Small floor fans, mainly of plastic construction

These are all in the Warehouse

Thank you for your time

Robert

If it can break and is in a product/ingredient/processing zone = yes

Don't forget to add any fork lift trucks, pump trucks that you may have operating in the area.

Caz x

The glass list should only include food handling / contact zones.  The catch is - this is not defined by the code - therefore define it yourself, in writing, based on risk.  This helps the code make sense !  In my opinion, items that pose a minimal risk due to distance from exposed product or low likelihood of incidents should be managed by having employees initial at the beginning and end of shift that their area and equipment was clean and in good condition.  This contributes to the glass as well as sanitation records.