PPE Risk Assessment

So we just passed our first Tesco approval audit against TFMS v6 after months of preparation (hurrah!) but now left with a ream of corrective actions (boohoo). One of the areas of non-conformity against the standard was in relation to a PPE risk assessment, namely me not having conducted one!   So I just started to think about how to tackle this one and have had a block.  Can't determine the best way to approach it.  Should I identify hazards based on operator role, by PPE type, by task being conducted, argh!  I'm pretty sure I'm making this harder than it needs to be but if anyone can steer me in the right direction that would be great.  And of course I'll be cheeky and ask directly if there are any Tesco approved techys out there who have something they might be able to share with me that would be great so that I can make sure I'm attacking this in the right way to meet Tesco expectations.   If its relevant, we're a bakery making low risk ambient ready to eat products.

Can you let us know what you use and for what purpose?
 

We use a variety of the basics.... mob caps for hair covering, externally laundered knee length white bakery overalls and steel toe capped bakery shoes.  We then have disposable aprons, gloves and arm sleeves for "dirty" jobs such as those involving batters or sticky dough.  Furthermore we have colour coded disposable items for the handling of products and ingredients containing allergens where I have identified a risk of cross contamination. 

I've asked a few "techy" friends if they've had to carry out a similar exercise for their businesses supplying Tesco and they've all said no, just shows that an audit truly is a snapshot and they've luckily avoided having to do this little gem!   Needless to say we're following standard industry practise and the auditor raised no issue in relation to the decisions we'd made, just that I had no evidence to back up the range of items we have in place, where it can be worn (e.g overalls cannot be worn outside or in the toilets), etc.

Hi Elaine

Congratulations.

i think file below may help you little bit for your risk assessment.

http://www.kelsi.org...nt-guidance.doc

Regards

Satya

Link does not work for me Satya.

:notworking:

If you have to do it (and I can see some value of a PPE overview) I would create an excel with maybe “Activity” down the left side and along the columns.

- Activity Description

- PPE Item

- PPE Description

- Colour coding

- Purpose (food safety / personal safety or both)

- Order of putting on

- Hazards / risks

- Who Wears it

- Where it can/cannot be worn

- Change frequency

- Safe Disposal

Something like that.

Hope it helps.

Regards,
Simon

Thanks Simon, I've been spending a bit of time this afternoon muddling with a few ideas and your suggestion worked well. Much appreciated!

Hi, 

I like Simon's questions.  May I suggest the "hazard" one is broken down to be more prompting.  The PPE is there to prevent contamination, so the use of sub-questions such as Micro;, Physical; Chemical: Allergen may be not only an aid, but would also be very clear to an auditor what was being assessed

Philip

Why not just swab gloves and aprons for coliform, E.coli, staph, after x amount of time to assure you're not contaminating the product and gather data and call it a risk assessment?

Elaine Hi,

If you contact me directly, i will copy you our SOPs etc on PPE. We are also a bakery and Tesco approved.

cmoloney@milishfoods.ie

Chris