Advice needed on preparing for a BRC Audit
Hi guys,
Hi, this is my first post and have really enjoyed all the information and collaboration on this network so far. Thanks for having me!
Our company is preparing for our first BRC audit. I would like some advice how can I be ready for the audit day
Thank you
organize organize organize
And get plenty of sleep between now and then!
on a serious note, do a full internal audit of the facility by more than one person from different departments (doesn't matter who) different eyes see different things!
Conduct your Hazard Analysis/Threat Assessment and build your food safety plan first. Build your overall program gradually outwards around that, according to BRC Issue 8 standards. The BRC Issue 8 Interpretation Guide is also very helpful!
Recruit your multi-disciplinary HACCP team and ensure they "buy-in" and assist you in any way they can regarding QA and Food Safety functions. This includes not only QA and Operations, but Purchasing, Maintenance, and Ownership too.
And reading the standards carefully, and following each point meticulously will always help you achieve a great score!
what the others said, plus:
Use the brc self assement tool / auditor check list. Be honest with yourself when doing so. Know how you will address each item. organize your program so that you can find / access policies, procedures, and monitoring records quickly. an auditor once told me that in a two day audit, they have ≈ 4 minutes to ask a question, you to provide the answer / document, them to review the document, them to record. they get angry when it takes too long for you to provide evidence.
make sure all employees are trained well. they need to be able to answer simple questions regarding there roll in haccp /ccp monitoring, sanitation, gmps, allergens, brc/gfsi, non conformities, etc
Hello,
Do an IA a month before the audit. Conduct briefing to your staff and R and F. Check procedure if it is followed, monitoring forms filled up, real time monitoring must be done in real time. Avoid "stupid NCs". Ex: uncleaned exhaust fan blades, unlock water treatment door, and other minors NCs which most of the time were overlooked, but if it were add up, can give you B or C grade not mentioning if you have major NC.
We experienced that, focusing on big things, but lost control on some "small things" but since they were plenty, gives us only grade B. It gave us lesson, for 2 consecutive years we have Grade A.
Hope this could help.
regards,
redfox
Hi guys,
Hi, this is my first post and have really enjoyed all the information and collaboration on this network so far. Thanks for having me!
Our company is preparing for our first BRC audit. I would like some advice how can I be ready for the audit day
Thank you
Hi EBB,
I'm surprised that nobody has suggested doing a BRC pre-audit. IMEX the value cannot be overestimated.
This should tell you where you have to make major changes if such defects exist, ie should prevent you being blindsided.
You can also anticipate that the "intensity" of the audit will likely relate to yr (unknown) Product(s) / Processes(es)'s Safety Risk/Status as perceived by auditor.
PS - also see this parallel thread -
Hi guys,
Hi, this is my first post and have really enjoyed all the information and collaboration on this network so far. Thanks for having me!
Our company is preparing for our first BRC audit. I would like some advice how can I be ready for the audit day
Thank you
Hi EL BATTAH Bilal,
:welcome:
Welcome to the IFSQN forums.
The self-assessment tool that Mike referred to (to use to check compliance in preparation for your audit) can be downloaded here:
Self-Assessment Tool BRC Global Standard for Food Safety Issue 7
Other things to consider in preparation:
Communicate to all staff about the upcoming audit and what to expect
Book a room or allocate an office for the Audit days
Arrange refreshments and lunch
Ensure protective clothing is available
Arrangements and attendance for opening and closing meetings
Guides for the day
Allocation of responsibilities for the day
Log of location of food safety management system documents and records
Kind regards,
Tony
Welcome to the forums!
You have gotten some great answers from the big experts on this one. I would just add that on top of getting everything together for your audit that you should just remember that the auditors do not want to come in and find reasons to fail you. The auditors genuinely want you to succeed and will help you along the way with any trouble areas that they feel you can fix quickly or are not serious enough to warrant them writing them up (this time). Go into the audit with the idea of teaming with the auditors to help it go smoothly. Give them the space and resources they need and make sure that you have a solid working knowledge on where all of the files are located. nothing is worse than being asked for a file and then searching around in your computer for 15 minutes looking for the one obscure file that they are looking for.
The BRC checklist is great and it wouldn't be a bad idea to do a dry run as early as you can so that your team is on board and can assist in getting documents in the event that someone freezes under the pressure and forgets where everything is. Also, it helps that everyone on the team gets involved in the event that someone calls in sick. I always find that Murphy's Law always comes into play on audit days "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong, at the most inopportune time." As long as you are prepared you will do great. Relax with it and use it as a learning tool to get a better score next time.
Cheers!