Graded floor for dry production
Hi,
We are trying to get SQF certified, and the code says that the floor should be graded. As we are going to redo the epoxy finish in our dry production room, I want to make sure we are making no mistakes.
The situation: We only wet clean the production area once a month, and use a mop and bucket.
Question: Do we need to have a graded floor, and does it have to span through the whole production room?
Hi,
We are trying to get SQF certified, and the code says that the floor should be graded. As we are going to redo the epoxy finish in our dry production room, I want to make sure we are making no mistakes.
The situation: We only wet clean the production area once a month, and use a mop and bucket.
Question: Do we need to have a graded floor, and does it have to span through the whole production room?
Hi Jems,
I'm much more familiar with BRC since our company is BRC Certified. I would assume the grading of the floor is in response to standing water. In the BRC standard, it states "Where significant amounts of water are used, or direct piping to drain is not feasible, floors shall have adequate falls to cope with the flow of any water or effluent towards suitable drainage".
I realize SQF has its differences, so I'm not sure if SQF lists that similarly. Based on my experience, you wouldn't need a graded floor if you only wet clean once a month and you don't have pools of water just standing for long periods of time. If you're cleaning, and able to remove the excess water, you'd be fine by BRC standards. If your floor does have pitting, and there are areas where the water puddles and doesn't dry appropriately, you may need to grade, or at least get a floor scrubber that will pick up the excess.
QAGB
If you do not think you need to meet something specifically listed in the SQF code then you need to do a "Risk Assessment" and explain why the method you are using prevents a hazard or complies in a different way than described. We have a few Risk Assessments for our process and SQF has been very good at recognizing them as long as the procedures/method is justified. We use micro testing a lot to justify what we do but we do have a few that we describe other procedures we have in place and explain how those procedures are effective.