9 replies to this topic

[ruth masawi]

Morning

 

I would like to find out if there is a standard which says anything about locating offices in food processing areas i.e high risk area. Is it allowed or are there any restrictions. Please help me with some reference material. 

[Nomaan Asim]

I Hope somebody with food safety specialty will help you... :) Cheers! 

[mamad123]

hi

 

i have never known about the rules restricting beetwen office and process, yet, I usually consider the office as low care area which means should be fully separated (eg. by wall or thick glass) with process room. Once we encountered BRC inspection they also put a concern about the office cleanliness. also the asked us to tag every single things in the office (desk, lamp, computer, chair, printers, doors). type "hand book of food hygiene pdf" then you will see a bunch of reliable sources".

 

regards

[ruth masawi]

Thank you. I Hope to get more information. 

[Charles.C]

Dear ruth masawi,

 

I am a little puzzled by the OP.

 

The probable (ie I'm guessing) answer to yr query is likely (implicitly) related for most hygiene standards to a risk assessment (ie the various potential cross-contaminations). But it anyway seems intuitively  illogical tp place a whole office within a high risk production area ? May i ask for what purpose ? Is this some unusual product / process ?

 

Rgds / Charles.C

[ruth masawi]

The office will be for the production manager so that he does not have to move up and down the premises as his office is located upstairs and helps him to keep track of production and see whats going on

[Charles.C]

Dear Ruth Masawi,

 

It's good exercise.

 

The theoretical hygienic design objective, fom memory, for a high risk production area is to prevent cross-contamination. Seem to me that adding an office would be the opposite.

(in contrast I believe the target for a high care area is minimization,  presumably since the latter is typically associated with RTE chilled food production..

 

Rgds / Charles.C

 

PS - you could always install a video monitor, commonly known as a spy-in-the-sky?

[Mr. Incognito]

As long as you have an appropriate room there shouldn't be an issue with cross contamination.  Of course going into his office would require full GMPs as he is traveling through a high risk zone so no coffee, soda, etc in his office... personally I'd hate you all if my office was in a high risk zone.  You don't really want to deal with me for the first 8 hours of the work day if I can't have my coffee.

 

Also you'd want to have a handwashing sink just outside of the office because he'll need to wash his hands when he reenters the high risk area.

 

Is there a way you can make an office with 2 doors one from a non-production area into his office then another into the high risk area?

 

 

----------------|--------------|----------

Non            |                 |(sink)

Production  /    office   /  high risk

----------------|--------------|----------

 

Hopefully your walls are straighter than my txt drawing

Edited by Mr. Incognito, 20 November 2014 - 01:03 PM.

[fgjuadi]

As long as you have an appropriate room there shouldn't be an issue with cross contamination.  Of course going into his office would require full GMPs as he is traveling through a high risk zone so no coffee, soda, etc in his office...

 

Coffee is ALWAYS the first thing they ask for.  I'd love an office (perhaps the production manager's, not my own) in a high risk area so I can watch the employees, that's good.  But yeah, coffee.  At the dairy we made creamer, and we had to test it, so we always had to have a fresh pot in the lab .... ah....At one point coffee in a logistics office became an office battle.  The HACCP team met and decided it wasn't a hazard to have coffee in there if they carried it in sealed & brewed in their office.  That was low risk warehouse though. 

 

Totally agree with Mr I that it's nicest to have access to both offices and production.  You'll want to make sure the outside of the office is cleanable (if it has a low ceiling  or is a modular, it can be hard to clean the tops).  You don't want stuff like a wall mounted air conditioner in there if they leak.  During construction you'll want to limit traffic and take a lot of environmental monitoring samples because it can disturb the environment and reintroduce any little nasties you had as house pets. 

[CMHeywood]

I work for a company that makes flexible plastic packaging for food products.  We recently achieved SQF Level 2 certification.

 

We have supervisor offices and the QA Lab located adjacent to production and storage areas.  Food is allowed in the QA Lab because they have a sink.  Our locker room is in the basement and employees have to carry their lunches through production areas to store them in the breakroom.  Food and beverage must be sealed or covered to prevent spills.

 

If your supervisor office is considered a low risk area, when they leave the office and enter a high risk area, people will need to follow the same rules you have anyone entering a production area:

• Wash hand per your hygiene rules
• Wear hairnets, etc. per your rules
• Use footbath per your rules
• Prevent any cross contamination

To make it simple you will probably need to have the same contamination controls for the office area so your supervisor doesn't have to go through all the hygiene activities when leaving the office.