6 replies to this topic

[Haley La Franco]

Hi,

 

We are a small Contract Wine Bottling Company but have clients who export to UK supermarkets that require BRC.

 

We have been on the BRC journey now for a year.  I do however have push back from Management in certain areas and trying to find solutions can be very difficult.  

 

In regards to Pest Control the company wants us to manage Pest in house.  However I am no trained pest controller and am pretty sure that simply having a site map with bait stations (old school mouse traps with Peanut butter as we also are BIOGRO certified) and have someone monitor these weekly is enough.

 

Help!!! How do I convince management that we cannot go into a gap audit this way and unfortunately our company culture dictates I will be in the firing line.

 

I have not previously worked in a company that hasn't outsourced to professionals.

 

 

[Tony-C]

Hi Haley,

 

 

I think the BRC standard is quite clear on what you need to do to comply:

 

2.2 PREREQUISITE PROGRAMMES
2.2.1 The site shall establish and maintain environmental and operational programmes necessary to create
an environment suitable to produce safe and legal food products (prerequisite programmes). As a
guide these may include the following, although this is not an exhaustive list:
• pest control

 

4.14 PEST CONTROL
The whole site shall have an effective preventive pest control programme in place to minimise the risk of infestation and there shall be the resources available to respond rapidly to any issues which occur to prevent risk to products.

4.14.2 The site shall either contract the services of a competent pest control organisation, or shall have appropriately trained staff, for the regular inspection and treatment of the site to deter and eradicate infestation. The frequency of inspections shall be determined by risk assessment and shall be documented. Where the services of a pest control contractor are employed, the service scope shall be clearly defined and reflect the activities of the site.

4.14.3 Where a site undertakes its own pest control, it shall be able to effectively demonstrate that:
• pest control operations are undertaken by trained and competent staff with sufficient knowledge to select appropriate pest control chemicals and proofing methods and understand the limitations of use, relevant to the biology of the pests associated with the site
• staff undertaking pest control activities meet any legal requirements for training or registration
• sufficient resources are available to respond to any infestation issues
• there is ready access to specialist technical knowledge when required
• legislation governing the use of pest control products is understood
• dedicated locked facilities are used for the storage of pesticides.

 

4.14.2 Interpretation Guideline
Where pest control is handled in-house, responsible employees must have appropriate training, as evidenced by training records (clause 4.13.3).

 

You need to make these requirements quite clear to the management.

 

Good luck!

 

Tony

Edited by Tony-C, 20 May 2015 - 05:09 AM.
Added Interpretation Guideline Line

[trubertq]

Sometimes you have to let things go and have them brought up by the auditor.... make your point, show them the requirements, tell them you don't have appropriate training and cost the training and see is they're willing to have you do that. If it's a pre-audit then you don't need to worry too much , the auditor will just tell you what you need to fix to be audit ready. If your management don't get the message then, well... that's a whole other kettle of fish.....

[Haley La Franco]

I have read many topics about setting the company to fail and fail hard and I believe this might be the best way to get management to listen.  Thank you for your feedback.

[DeeTeeQA]

Hello,

 

This is my first time posting here.  I have come to this site several times to look for answers to my questions.  I finally became a member so I could get in on the question and answer sections. 

 

In reading Haley's post, I have a similar situation at our company.  We are a small packaging manufacturer for dairy and agricultural needs.  For pest control we have an outside company that does the external traps and the internal fly lights.  We take care of the internal traps our selves.  We are working on IFS PACsecure Certification and I was wondering, what kind of training is needed for one of our employees to be the person in charge of the internal traps?

 

I like the idea of the pest control company doing the whole pest control program, that goes along side what we have in place. That way when the auditor asks, we could hand them the binder and have all the information clearly set up and explained.  The current pest control company is more geared toward residential pest control.  It was suggested to us by a 3rd party auditor that we change to a more commercially capable company.  If any one has any information on how to help us with this process I would greatly appreciate it.

 

I just feel so overwhelmed by all of this.  I hope this wasn't too much rambling on the topic. 

 

Thank you.

[TDunn]

Your question made me go back to the standard itself… So my answer is (according to section 4.13 "Pest Monitoring/Pest Control"):

 

Yes, you can designate your janitor to maintain the internal pest control traps, and

Yes, he or she must be trained to do so.

 

Specifically, the standard requires a "pest control system ..based on hazard analysis and assessment of associated risks" that has "qualified and trained in-house staff and/or ... the services of a qualified external provider". The standard goes on to list additional requirements including using a trend analysis to monitor the effectiveness of the system.

 

As I look into the qualifications and training for pest control personnel, it is apparent that the majority of such programs deal with chemical pesticides rather than mechanical traps. If the plan is to have only "snap traps" or maybe "sticky traps" for rodents or insects you will need to find at least some initial guidance to prepare documented training materials. The use of chemical pesticides presents its own hazards to your food packaging manufacturing operation so if these 2 non-chemical control techniques are adequate, then you may be able to put together appropriate "training" for your janitor.

 

Perhaps you can solicit ideas from your external trap and fly light provider about internal pest control tactics but then limit your contract with the provider to only the external services and then use your trained janitor to conduct the internal pest control program.

 

In short, I think you can save this money (however much of represents) in exchange for some additional internal documentation and record keeping.

[bobbynajar]

According to me you should proceed with pests control services.This will help out people facing problems with pests and want to get rid of it.My grandfather was into this business used to provide services and enjoyed doing it.

Edited by Simon, 17 February 2016 - 09:27 AM.
removed link