QA Training for Non-QA Staff

Hi all,

Hoping to get some input here. Our Senior Management Team is developing an emerging leaders training program that the staff can apply for. The aim is for the employees who want to develop within the company to learn more of the deeper aspect about each department to give them a broader knowledge of how it all works together.

They're supposed to be 3-4 hours sessions and so far I have the below as topics to cover. Is there anything else that anyone could think of that could be of benefit?

4.  Quality Assurance in Manufacturing

Scope / Learning Objectives

- Legislative requirements - GMP, Food Safety, HACCP, Food Fraud & Defense

- QA in production - impact and importance

- Cohesive manufacturing and QA interactions

Hi Kelly,

The options may depend on the relative knowledge level of the listeners ? And the Product / Process ?

For example are they all haccp-experienced ? If not, IMO that's one session just for an introduction..

3-4 hours / session is perhaps a little ambitious for prolonged attention.

IMEX understandable slides etc are an essential.

"QA in Production"  hopefully includes things like (Statistical) Sampling- Inspection Modes, Specifications

Hi K,

Firstly, I think it's awesome your senior management team is supportive of this program. 3 - 4 hours for a topic is some serious dedication!

My impression is your presentation is a lecture focusing towards high-level concepts. I recommend introducing concepts high-level, but spending a majority of the time on how these are applied to their daily life. 

With an interdepartmental group of future leaders, this is the perfect time to instill / strengthen food safety culture. 

For example,

(A) "this is what food defense is...."

(B) "this is how it applies to us..."

(C) "this is what each department is doing in pursuit...."

(D) "this is your role in the process"

Hope this helps! 

Hi Kelly,

Agree with above comments. 3-4 hours is quite long for training/lecture, perhaps break it into two sessions or include some interaction - I find people tend to lose focus after a while in a lecture.

Something else I'd add is real-world examples. So if covering allergens , you can of course talk about the legal regulations and internal/third party requirements for segregation/cleaning etc, then what I like to do is drive the message home with an example of a failure to comply so mention a recent case where allergen contamination caused a manufacturer to close, or X number of health incidents. It will need to be done tactically without striking the fear of god into employees i.e. "if you don't do this you could be responsible for deaths and end up in prison", but I think it's good to reinforce the justification for food safety more than "because regulation ECXXX or procedureXX says we must, and re-inforce the responsibility we have in food production. I find it generally engages the audience too.

Add RECALL 

Kelly S. 

I think it is great that your senior management is supporting this! This was an idea that was suggested by my facility's food safety consultant however, she informed me that one hour was sufficient to cover what she wanted which included:

- Review of cGMPs 

- Visitor policy for guests

- A snapshot of BRC topics as they pertained to each department and their roles for the audit

She suggested providing lunch as an incentive for the staff to participate  :spoton:

Hi Kelly

Educating non food safety managers about food safety is an ongoing necessity - 3-4 hours won't even scratch the surface.  I have implemented a monthly session with our managers (we have 8 companies, so it is 8 FS teams!).  My suggestion would be to start with the ethics and reasons that FS is important and how important and necessary it is that the entire company commits to it.  I always start by telling my management that we as FS professionals do not "do" food safety, everyone does - we just provide the tools, monitor the outcome and feed that back to everyone in the company.  Much like health and safety (here I teach the same thing!), you cannot actively or realistically reduce risk unless everyone involved is on board - either as food handlers, or as leaders setting the best examples.

Once you have the commitment, you can do ongoing sessions on all other subjects related to food safety and your FSM system.

Just my point of view.  Feel free to make contact should you need any help!

Best regards

Deborah

Thanks for all the feedback guys; it's greatly appreciated :spoton: