No stones rings, but not a wedding ring...what's your rule?

Alright folks, this is a very common topic we have had but it still seem vague sometimes, so here is the scenario:

As everyone working in Food Manufacturing, we all have the same rule, NO rings with STONES. Some companies say only a wedding band with no stones, some say no rings AT all regardless if it has no stones or it does. Our rule is no stones on the ring, unless its a plain wedding ring. 

So an employee today showed up with a ring with no stones, BUT it was not a wedding ring. She said well it has no stones,,, and the rule says no stones and a wedding band that is plain is allowed, so how can you tell if its a wedding band or no? 

So how do you guys deal with such issues? Her ring had no stones, very similar to a plain wedding band but it was not a wedding band which we allow... They are not going to understand that though.. 

Any thoughts?

Edit: They all wear gloves. 

We do not allow rings of any kind   People will always look for a loop-hole.

We do not allow rings of any kind   People will always look for a loop-hole.

GMPs are such a pain..  :angry:

I mean......I'm not going to go around asking people if they are married. If my policy says a plain band is ok, then I'm ok with that regardless of whether this person is married or not. 

If you want to get rid of the loop-hole, then no rings are allowed.

I mean......I'm not going to go around asking people if they are married. If my policy says a plain band is ok, then I'm ok with that regardless of whether this person is married or not. 

 

If you want to get rid of the loop-hole, then no rings are allowed.

LOL I agree. I am definitely not going to go around asking everyone if they are married or not.  :happydance:    That's what the employees argument was "how do you know who is married or not". 

We do not allow rings, regardless of type, stones, etc.

We allow plain wedding bands. We don't bother with determining who is/is not married.

If people are wearing gloves, not sure how it's an issue.

Seems like a reasonable compromise to me.

Marshall

The GMP standard is religiously based. 

The reality is so long as it is a plain band with no stones or opportunity of microbiological buildup a plain band is a plain band.

The identified food safety risk was the stone not being removed by the CCP of removal of metal.

The other reality is per employee safety.

A great number of amputations annually were caused by compression or dragging of a ring in production.  I've witnessed 2: one in a conveyor and one stick going over a catwalk.

Many plants are going to no visible personal decoration; earrings, piercings, rings, nails, eye lashes, hair extensions.

As always the decision should be based on your companies risk acceptance level. 

AS per our policy " plain wedding rings are allowed".

When spotted someone with ring....will ask "is this wedding ring or not" ..if they say "yes"...no problem...if they say "NO" its not a wedding ring..then "please remove it" .

End of the story...

Seems as though segregating your employees by "married" (allowed to wear ring) and "unmarried" (not allowed to wear plain band) is an invitation for hostility in the workplace at the very least.

In a professional work environment, there should be no reason for anyone outside of HR to inquire the marital status of your employees. 

Seems as though segregating your employees by "married" (allowed to wear ring) and "unmarried" (not allowed to wear plain band) is an invitation for hostility in the workplace at the very least.

 

In a professional work environment, there should be no reason for anyone outside of HR to inquire the marital status of your employees. 

Thank you. That is part of why I posted this topic. I would feel uncomfortable running around and asking if they are married or no if they are wearing a plain band !  :headhurts:

But if the policy or standard is like " No rings allowed, except Plaint wedding rings" then should we allow or not.....

from my point of view if the standard says only plain weddding rings allowed, then if a staff wearing ring should we ask or not...

NB: To be honest... (layman point of view what is the difference between plain weeding ring & wedding ring. 

We allow plain wedding bands only as per BRC. I don't ask whether someone is married to avoid opening a potential discriminatory/HR case.

The policy has to be clear for every one so either say plain ring are allowed or no ring of nay kind allowed. as an auditor am looking what is your policy is and have you implemented it correctly

But if the policy or standard is like " No rings allowed, except Plaint wedding rings" then should we allow or not.....

 

from my point of view if the standard says only plain weddding rings allowed, then if a staff wearing ring should we ask or not...

 

NB: To be honest... (layman point of view what is the difference between plain weeding ring & wedding ring. 

sorry slight correction ..normal plain ring & wedding ring...

sorry slight correction ..normal plain ring & wedding ring...

There is a difference. Many wedding rings have stones in them which can become a physical hazard and they're more difficult to clean and can harbor pathogens. I agree, don't ask if they're married or not. In the US, employers can get in trouble if they ask this in an interview.

You don't have an escalation of a food safety protocol in this concern. 

If you do allow a plain band the fight is not one that benefits the food safety culture.  This delineation that it has to be a "wedding band" or no band will be painted as trivial and controlling rather than upholding a standard for a good reason.

My larger concern for you is a personnel concern.  Do you have someone who is just pushing the envelope?  If so, giving in once may soon become 2 plain bands or more and we are back to rewriting GMPs in reaction to someone with a rebellious spirit.  That is a battle no one has the time to win.  The next "issue" at "hand" (LOL) will be something else equally hair splitting. 

A charismatic rebel will disrupt an otherwise good food safety culture. If you can win their food safety thought process and make them an advocate for food safety protocol, then fight the battle for the mind not for the letter of the law.  In winning this battle, they will become helpful to you.  If not, consider a non production job for them.

Dave

In order to avoid opening your company up to legal recourse, either allow plain bands or no rings period. Your risk assessment should determine if rings are or are not allowed, it should have nothing to do with religion or commitment - is it safe for your process to allow them? Yes or No? Some states / countries do not allow same sex "marriages" so the representative ring may not technically be a wedding ring (even though a wedding is just the ceremony, the marriage is a commitment). We have removed the word "wedding" and just state "a plain band with no stones" which, according to the risk assessment performed, does not cause a food safety risk.

In order to avoid opening your company up to legal recourse, either allow plain bands or no rings period. Your risk assessment should determine if rings are or are not allowed, it should have nothing to do with religion or commitment - is it safe for your process to allow them? Yes or No? Some states / countries do not allow same sex "marriages" so the representative ring may not technically be a wedding ring (even though a wedding is just the ceremony, the marriage is a commitment). We have removed the word "wedding" and just state "a plain band with no stones" which, according to the risk assessment performed, does not cause a food safety risk.

I guess that is what I am going to have to do. Just a "plain band". I really do not want to go on the discrimination side and create some hostile environment with the employees. Because if a plain "wedding" band poses no food safety risk, then a "plain non wedding band" is going to be the same. I always look at risk rather than just throwing out rules like that. We are a dry, spices RTE manufacturer and they must wear gloves all the time. 

in our plant, we do not allow ring (with or without stone) and this is stated in our policy. Though the standard allows plain wedding band. But; for food safety reason,we do not allow it to be worn as it could be a source of microbial as well as physical contaminant.  :happydance:

I'm not a fan of rings for safety reasons.  We eliminated "plain wedding bands" in our facility (well, the last facility I worked in) because we very nearly had a ring avulsion injury during assembly of equipment.  Don't google that phrase if you have a weak stomach. We did not decide to go with allowing "breakaway" rings or silicone or similar "safety" rings. It's simplest to just go with "no rings".

I'm not a fan of rings for safety reasons.  We eliminated "plain wedding bands" in our facility (well, the last facility I worked in) because we very nearly had a ring avulsion injury during assembly of equipment.  Don't google that phrase if you have a weak stomach. We did not decide to go with allowing "breakaway" rings or silicone or similar "safety" rings. It's simplest to just go with "no rings".

oops! Was about to google....

I agree but it all depends on the type of job being performed. Like you said people working with assembly of equipment or machinery should not be wearing rings for safety reasons. In my facility the people wearing their rings just hand pack product (weight it and placing in bags). 

Simple racking can cause the avulsion injury. I worked with someone at Target who got their wedding ring caught on shelving while they were reaching on to pick something off an upper  shelf in the back room. The weight of their own body did the damage. Any kind of equipment can cause injury to hands with rings                      Spoiler warning      (they lost the finger)

So, I was thinking about this and decided to give this link to owners of companies that don't want to include a No go for plain wedding bands - it works well -- warning - gory.

https://www.orthobul...ulsion-injuries