8 replies to this topic

[John_E]

Hello all, we are a small company and keeping all external doors closed is an issue. We outsource a lot of our maintenance work and frequently have contractors on site. The contractors are always different people or only come once per year, etc. The problem comes when they need to go in and out of the building multiple times in order to do their work. We do not have the staff to monitor them, nor issue them keys, etc. So the result is that external doors get blocked open all day while the work is being done. This is obviously a problem for food defense and pest control. What simple, cheap, and effective solutions have your companies come up with for this problem? I have some ideas, but I am curious what others think. Thank you, -John

[Ieatcookies]

Thank you for the post, I have no idea, I will see what others say. 

[Scampi]

YOU are the customer

YOU dictate what happens in your facility

YOU explain to them what the expectation is.  They need to bring a cart with all of their tools/equipment.  If they need to get something else, they need to find you or another management employee, to let them back into the buiding

 

remember YOU are the customer in this scenario. if they won't do whats required, you find someone else

[John_E]

YOU are the customer. YOU dictate what happens in your facility. YOU explain to them what the expectation is.  They need to bring a cart with all of their tools/equipment.  If they need to get something else, they need to find you or another management employee, to let them back into the building. Remember YOU are the customer in this scenario. if they won't do whats required, you find someone else

 

Sorry, that isn't a solution. We do not have staff to babysit the contractor and I don't want the workers to be responsible for letting people they don't know in and out of the facility.

 

I don't care if the door is temporarily unlocked. I care that it gets blocked open, which allows pests in. I'm more asking for physical options to aid them going in and out with minimal staff involvement.

 

-John

[Scampi]

Are you certified to a GFSI standard?  You're also operating under a certain level of conditions under FSMA, you have obligations no?

 

how isn't that a solution?

 

If your talking about actual contractors---then yes unlock a mandoor away from production and let them use that

if you're talking about annual certifications (fire extinguisher renewals etc) that YES that is a solution

 

Do you not have a visitors policy?????

[SQFconsultant]

We have a full contractor program that requires training and sign off on gmps for contractors, what can be brought in out etc. Leaving doors open is grounds for explusion and there is an escort that stays with them while they are in the buildings.

[Jim E.]

God, I wish I had a good answer for this, as we have the same issue in our facility. If I see a door ajar I will kick out he blockage and report to the maintenance manager what I found.  Some have gotten smarter, I noticed during a recent maintenance shutdown that some contractors had straps that went over the locking mechanism so door did not latch.  The strap also allowed for a pull device to open the door and when it closed there was a good seal on the doors.  What I should have done was inquire with the contractor where they got the strap from.  Good seal and no pest issues.

[kfromNE]

We use electronic key cards and issue some to our outside suppliers.That way we can change them if needed. Another potential option - installing a keypad on a door. We have cameras as well. Most of the time we don't let contractors on site without staff being there.

[TimG]

This has been an issue in most of the medium to small locations I've been in. I was kind of hoping we'd have some good ideas for this by now..