Silicone Wedding bands
Hello all, we are a packaging manufacturer and we have a GMP policy that states wedding bands with gemstones cannot be worn on the manufacturing floor. Some employees have opted for the now popular all silicone bands while at work. What is your take on this? Would you consider this a Food Safe alternative? Our concern is that they are not metal detectable if one were to fall off into our product.
Hello All,
we are a packaging manufactuer and we have a GMP policy that states wedding bands with gemstones cannot be worn on the manufacturing floor. Some emplpoyees have opted for the now popular all silicone bands while at work.
What is your take on this? Would you consider this a Food Safe alternative?
Our concern is that they are not metal detectable if one were to fall off into our product.
No, I would not consider this to be Food Safe.
SAFER, yes, but there is still the possibility of the ring getting caught in equipment. I don't know if these are food grade silicone and if they are not, how effective is hand washing on getting on clean?
We have no glass no plastics as well as no gemstones, so those wouldn't fly here.
I'll say this, in the time I've been in this business, things have gotten way tighter, and will continue to. I'm a zero wiggle room guy on stuff like this, because it's an easy thing, and I'm too busy with other things to be worried about stuff like this. I draw lines in the sand early, and once they're set, the crew doesn't question it. I've caught a few guys with no beard guard on, and told them "This is the easiest thing in the world. SHAVE! But if you don't, I'd better not see you without a beard guard.
I don't wear a wedding ring, so I don't have to deal with it. I keep my face shaved, even though I'm ugly. It's all just easier.
Thank you for your replies. We came to roughly the same conslusions.
Risk Assessment. What type of packaging, contact or not? How much manual handling is there? Do employees have to wear gloves? Is it a violation of safety policy / procedure? Lots of issues to consider here. Plain band, no stones. It's up to you to figure out if it's acceptable. As a safety manager I would MUCH rather see silicone bands that will break and not de-glove the wearer. I've seen ring avulsion and it ain't pretty! Not a risk with silicone rings.
We have a person here that's been with us over 40 years and will not remove the wedding ring (with stones) because of its deeply personal significance. This person has very limited exposure to any manufacturing areas. My position was that the ring needed to go or try to come up with a way to eliminate or reduce the risk to an acceptable level. I asked if they would be willing to wrap it with a bright colored cohesive tape at start of every shift. This was agreed to and I check it every day. I have not seen that ring since that day and it has never been removed from their finger either. My risk assessment shows this to be an effective measure to eliminate a food safety risk under those circumstances. I will NOT however allow a diabetic person to wear a medic alert bracelet under any circumstances even with the increased! We only allow medic alert necklaces to be worn and must be kept under the shirt. It is more of a food safety risk for bacteria form a bracelet next to our product than a necklace 2 feet away and less likelihood for bacteria.
We added a statement to our GMP's concerning jewelry that wedding bands are allowed if they are smooth (no stones or engravings) and they are metal detectable. The metal detectable part was added 3 years ago to address the silicone bands. From what I understand they are designed to break if they get caught in something for safety reasons. Like Hoosiersmoker, we also have a stipulation about the medical alert jewelry that it is to be a necklace that is worn under the personal clothing.
You can't prohibit a wedding ring, since for some people it's a matter of religion as it can be interpreted as discrimination. A simple example is like prohibiting Halal or Kosher slaughter practices in USA and Europe at all, cause they have strict policies about the wellbeing of animals. However, with discussion common ground can be found that respects both sides, like in post #7.
And also prohibition of such religious, ethnical and other matters are against the policies that all certification schemes try to root out through the equal treatment closes and even the newly promoted safety culture that is going on.
Bottomline you can't prohibit things that have an established significance to the person involved, you just have to respect it and he/she in return has to be open to a discussion for a solution that promotes food safety.