8 replies to this topic

[Quality Is the Goal]

Packaging material: paper; (new company, been here for 3 month). We are preparing to the first SQF audit;

 

Is there is any way to control the wood in production area? We have wooden air tables (for transferring the paper from one station to another) that company been using forever, also, there is wooden tables, wooden cards, wooden shelves, wooden broom handles, ply wood boards etc. basically there is a lot of wood in production area. Its a dry plant, so basically no water involved in sanitation process, just only liquid sanitizes.

 

Im planing to create a list of all the wood in the plant and check it on a regular basis something like a glass and brittle plastic audit, but i don't know if it will work, if it will be acceptable for auditors, any suggestions, advice will be really helpful!

 

Thank You!

[SQFconsultant]

run a documented risk analysis. Documented meaning to show the auditor if requested.  Next, create an inventory listing of every single piece of wood in the facility (and yes, similar in nature to a brittle plastic/glass register) and include the audit of same on your Internal Auditing Schedule.

 

As to cleaning implements, I don't know but I would er' on the side of caution and say replace them with non-wood implements.

 

How is it that you clean with sanitizer chemicals when sanitizer is the overlay after general cleaning, etc? Just wondering.

[Quality Is the Goal]

run a documented risk analysis. Documented meaning to show the auditor if requested.  Next, create an inventory listing of every single piece of wood in the facility (and yes, similar in nature to a brittle plastic/glass register) and include the audit of same on your Internal Auditing Schedule.

 

As to cleaning implements, I don't know but I would er' on the side of caution and say replace them with non-wood implements.

 

How is it that you clean with sanitizer chemicals when sanitizer is the overlay after general cleaning, etc? Just wondering.

Thank You for Your help!

 

I meant that we do the dry clean up (vacuum) then after we wipe down the equipment with cleaning solution (to remove the grease, silicon etc.) and than we sanitize the equipment. Sorry i did not explain it  correctly.

[Charles.C]

Hi QitG,

 

Frankly, without eliminating some of the objects you list, I would anticipate that you can expect SQFauditorial complaints. Almost guaranteed IMO if paper is for direct food contact.

 

It sounds like yr Company are simply unwilling to invest for Hygiene. My sympathies.

[Quality Is the Goal]

Hi QitG,

 

Frankly, without eliminating some of the objects you list, I would anticipate that you can expect SQFauditorial complaints. Almost guaranteed IMO if paper is for direct food contact.

 

It sounds like yr Company are simply unwilling to invest for Hygiene. My sympathies.

Hi Charles.C,

"Company are simply unwilling to invest for Hygiene" - seems a little bit too strong judgment.

This company been working like this for years, and in one day its impossible to fix everything. I never said that we are not going to replace wooden objects or unwilling to invest. Meanwhile i need to have some kind of inspection before we will fix what have to be fixed, plus we are not talking to invest a $1000 or so, its much more then that, so like all the companies there is a budget and we can not replace all the wood in one day.

So like i said i asked for advice not Your judgment.

 

Thank You!

[matthewcc]

Why not eliminate the wood?  I've seen some facilities with wooden beams on the ceiling, so it just wasn't possible to remove the wood.  However, we removed wooden pallets and wooden-handled swabs, and that's just about 100% of the wood that was in sensitive areas.  That being said, without incorporating the 'no wood' into facility design, it makes it much tougher or impossible.

 

I understand how it won't happen all in one day, but I think if you can set forth a plan for eventually removing all wood, and when it should happen, then I think you're on the right path.

 

Matthew

[Quality Is the Goal]

Why not eliminate the wood?  I've seen some facilities with wooden beams on the ceiling, so it just wasn't possible to remove the wood.  However, we removed wooden pallets and wooden-handled swabs, and that's just about 100% of the wood that was in sensitive areas.  That being said, without incorporating the 'no wood' into facility design, it makes it much tougher or impossible.

 

I understand how it won't happen all in one day, but I think if you can set forth a plan for eventually removing all wood, and when it should happen, then I think you're on the right path.

 

Matthew

Matthew,

 

Thank You. We have the plan in place to eliminate the wood from production area, but i don't know how much time it will take us to replace all of it, and all the process will not happen overnight. That is why i asked for advice/opinion how to control it for now, till we will replace it all,  as soon as we will eliminate all the wood from the facility i will not need the checklist anymore, but for now i need control it somehow.

I will said it again i never said that we don't want to eliminate the wood from production area or that we don't want to invest money.

 

Thank You

[matthewcc]

 

Quality Is the Goal - If I were you I would go out on the floor this week and figure out how to cover all wooden air tables with a cleanable material.  Those are the highest risk.  The problem is that they aren't cleanable and they're coming into contact with your product.

 

Then I would make a plan for eventually removing all wood that isn't structurally a part of the facility, including dates when it should happen.

 

Thank you,

Matthew

[Quality Is the Goal]

 

Quality Is the Goal - If I were you I would go out on the floor this week and figure out how to cover all wooden air tables with a cleanable material.  Those are the highest risk.  The problem is that they aren't cleanable and they're coming into contact with your product.

 

Then I would make a plan for eventually removing all wood that isn't structurally a part of the facility, including dates when it should happen.

 

Thank you,

Matthew

 

Thank You for Your help and suggestion. I already request couple quotes from the manufacturer of the air tables. Those air table what we have here is a ply wood and they covered with some kind of the plastic (really smooth) material, and they are cleanable, but they need to be replaced.

Thank You