Pest entry way and Visible Light.
Hello all,
So after being audited recently the auditor cited multiple places providing pest ingress by pointing out that visible light was coming through small crevices in dock doors (we manufacture plastic packaging in a huge warehouse). I am familiar with this citation as in my past I was a Health inspector for the City and used the exact same reference (visible light) to cite pest entry points. So, we once again employed a company to come out and install devices around the dock bay doors, around the dock leveling plate in the floor and every where else. I asked the installation worker if he had anything he could stick into the small hole (housing) where the pull chain is that activates the leveler. He looked at me like I was crazy and stated he had never been asked that before. The material being used to stop the "pest ingress" is the typical black brush fiber material. To get the installer on the same page as my headache with this task, I explain to him that our pest control records and trend reports indicate that we do not have a problem with pest ingress at all, not with mice or rats or bugs or birds or raccoons or lions, tigers & bears OH MY. The installer looks confused, so I tell him the truth, "we don't have a problem with pest ingress, we have a problem with LIGHT INGRESS!" I then ask him what he has on hand to stop the small razor thin glimmers of light from coming through because that is the real issue here. He again looks at me like I am crazy. In my experience, you could spend piles and piles of money on every dock door (we have 20) and still have some light coming through ( I mean, lets be realistic, they just don't fit like Legos)
Is this visible light standard of measurement international? Is it truly the standard we are all experiencing? Is it over-the-top?
Hello all,
So after being audited recently the auditor cited multiple places providing pest ingress by pointing out that visible light was coming through small crevices in dock doors (we manufacture plastic packaging in a huge warehouse). I am familiar with this citation as in my past I was a Health inspector for the City and used the exact same reference (visible light) to cite pest entry points. So, we once again employed a company to come out and install devices around the dock bay doors, around the dock leveling plate in the floor and every where else. I asked the installation worker if he had anything he could stick into the small hole (housing) where the pull chain is that activates the leveler. He looked at me like I was crazy and stated he had never been asked that before. The material being used to stop the "pest ingress" is the typical black brush fiber material. To get the installer on the same page as my headache with this task, I explain to him that our pest control records and trend reports indicate that we do not have a problem with pest ingress at all, not with mice or rats or bugs or birds or raccoons or lions, tigers & bears OH MY. The installer looks confused, so I tell him the truth, "we don't have a problem with pest ingress, we have a problem with LIGHT INGRESS!" I then ask him what he has on hand to stop the small razor thin glimmers of light from coming through because that is the real issue here. He again looks at me like I am crazy. In my experience, you could spend piles and piles of money on every dock door (we have 20) and still have some light coming through ( I mean, lets be realistic, they just don't fit like Legos)
Is this visible light standard of measurement international? Is it truly the standard we are all experiencing? Is it over-the-top?
I think that how much light is allowed is up to the discretion of the auditor. BRC only says that the doors are to be "close fitting" and SQF uses similar language. Mice can squeeze through a 1/4" gap, and of course other bugs can go through something even smaller. I would ask the auditor for a reference to the standard that she is using.
Is this a GFSI audit, FDA/state, or some other standard?
Martha