6 replies to this topic

[Painterchick]

What is the convention for color coding cleaning brushes?  The convention I found is:  raw product Red; pasteurized product White; environment Yellow; drains Black

Can we use black brushes/brooms for floor as well as drains?  

 

 

[FurFarmandFork]

Generally as long as you have a major distinction between product contact and non-product contact, any other distinctions you want to make aren't going to be relevant from a food safety/cross contamination perspective, unless you have a raw/cooked distinction between areas of your facility.

 

The convention is whatever you want it to be in your plant and enforce! I think in general product contact materials should be lighter in color so that it's easier to tell when they become too soiled to use.

[Painterchick]

Thank you for your response.

[mgourley]

With the exception of drain brushes, which generally are black, you can determine your own color code, as long as you follow it and enforce it.

 

Depending on the type of product you produce, you might want to consider food contact surface colors to be contrasting.

For example, in the baking world, if you have white or yellow doughs, you might want (or your customer may demand) something other than white or yellow brushes, so they are more easily visually detected.

 

Marshall

[itreatpets]

Color is mostly your choice. I like red for RTE area, kind of like a big red warning to remind the crew this is a sensitive area. Also easier to spot when employees make the mistake of having them in the wrong production area. I highly recommend black for drains and floors, I have my maintenance dept add a colored handle to help identify what area to keep them in.

[Ryan M.]

I would say you evaluate the risk in using black for drains and the floor.  It will depend on your facility layout, separation of activities, and your traffic pattern.

 

For us, we use yellow for floor and walls, black for drains only (labeled for raw or pasteurized areas respectively) and other colors for product contact (red raw, white pasteurized) and non-product contact surfaces (blue and green).  We are a dairy processing facility so it is pretty easy to keep everything separate and clear cut since we have partitions dividing raw/pasteurized and the products are enclosed (protected from environment) throughout our process aside from one step.

[Tony-C]

To add to the useful comments posted previously, equipment used for cleaning high-care or high-risk areas is usually dedicated for use in that area, and therefore retained in the area. It should also be visually distinct (e.g. colour coded) from cleaning equipment used in other areas.

In addition there should be dedicated, clearly identiiable cleaning equipment (e.g. colour coded) for removal of glass/brittle material breakages.

 

I believe it is important to keep the system as simple as possible whilst controlling risks. Also important is the training and education of staff, to assist this and to serve as a constant reminder I like to see signs like this in each area:

 

 Colour Coding Red Process Areas_001.jpg   102.74KB   0 downloads

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony