5 replies to this topic

[aab93]

Hello!

 

I am curious for those of you who are working with BRC - does the temporary employee agency need to be identified as a service supplier and therefore, undergo the approval process?

 

Any advice you can provide would be very helpful! 

[SQFconsultant]

yes

[mgourley]

We use one. Yes, they are providing a service.
And it's not just bodies. 

They have to ensure that the people they are hiring and putting in our plant are checked and initially trained before they get their employee entrance door code.

 

Marshall

[MsPloveyou]

 

 

New to BRC. The approval of services needs to be documented? Anyone have examples of their Service Suppliers questionnaire?

[aab93]

New to BRC. The approval of services needs to be documented? Anyone have examples of their Service Suppliers questionnaire?

 

We do not issue a questionnaire - we haven't felt the need to include one and usually IME I've found that questionnaires often get left un-filled out and not returned.

That being said, we only request documentation - while this is acceptable, we recently received a non-conformity for this from our auditor because our documentation list was too general (we were asking for a Scope of Service/Service Supplier Agreement listing the services provided, a Letter of Continuing Guarantee from our company signed by the service supplier representative, and a business license). The auditor wanted to see a list tailored to the service provided therefore, we updated our program to cover: (1) calibration services I spelled out that our facility expects calibration to be performed to NIST and/or recognized standards, a certificate of calibration be provided at the end of the service, a Scope of Service/Service Agreement and a Letter of Continuing Guarantee from our company signed by the service supplier representative. (2) Third-party laboratory services are to provide certificate of accreditation and a certificate of analysis upon completion of analysis and a Letter of Continuing Guarantee from our company signed by the service supplier representative. (3) For general contractors (IE; the electrician, plumber) we ask for a Scope of Service/Service Supplier Agreement, Letter of Continuing Guarantee from our company signed by the service supplier representative and a business license.

 

It's also based on risk - those that perform services inside the facility sign the visitor log which states that, by signing, the visitor acknowledges and will abide by the visitor policy which covers cGMPs. While the service suppliers that provide off-site services are providing the supporting documentation...

 

I hope this information helps - our auditor seemed to like it! 

[pHruit]

We've taken a similar approach to angelicab - I don't think that a single questionnaire (at least not a sensible one) is going to be able to cover everything from calibration of temp probes to employment agencies.

Instead we've defined a list of standard documents that we require per service type, and only have an actual questionnaire for transport/warehousing services.

For example:
Contract labs - evidence of accreditation to ISO17025, countersigned service contract, method schedule.

Staffing agencies - relevant training evidence per proposed employee (food hygiene, FLT licenses etc as applicable) and Gangmaster Licensing info (UK-specific requirement)

Pest control - countersigned service contracts, copies of certificates for memberships of relevant professional bodies.