Water bottles in bottle filling room

Hi everyone.

Just a quick question and any insight would be helpful. 

I am aware this has been discussed previously here, but most are quite old.

So we have a bottle filling room (enclosed by right when its filling is exposed and cold fill of juices with low pH)

how is everyone managing bottles of water in there? getting some insight. I will be doing a risk assessment but need to insight and ideas on this and what everyone is doing.

We used to allow bottled water with sippy tops but many were using their fingers to pull the tops up, thus we eliminated the bottles and installed a water fountain in a non-gmp area that has cone cups do they can not carry them and put them down - works well.

We allow water bottles in our production area. They must be spill proof containers that can be opened without the use of hands and they cannot be stored anywhere on equipment. 

We don't allow drinking (or eating) in production area's.
If they need a drink they can go to the canteen (breaks every +/- 3 hours).

But on very very hot days we do put up water stations in low-risk area's. So they can go there, have a drink, and then go back to their work.
I am not expecting my colleagues to go without water when it can run into 30 degrees celsius.

I don't like the risk of touching ones face, mouth and spilling of water.
I also found in the past that if water bottles were allowed, some would try to put lemonade in it (''it's just water with some flavor'').

I was part of a company that bought our staff clear water bottles with the company logo and we said only this water bottle with only water in can be used out on the floor.  Helped to control what bottles could be out there and we had a part of a every shift check to make sure it was only water in the bottles.  It worked out well.  I will say this was a Food Packaging manufacturer though, so rules may be different.

We have a water fountain on each end of the production floor, away from the lines.  They can walk over, get a quick drink and get back to work.  
Our production area gets quite warm, especially in the summer.  Workers need water!

Hi everyone ..

We have water stations identified ,  with thermos and cones ,we are not allowed to have the water bottles in production area , but we allowing to go the stations when they need it ..

Hi The Food Scientist,

Individual bottles is a no no. Especially where there is a possibility of the top or a tamper evident ring getting into the product.

A water fountain may be acceptable.

The best solution is a water dispenser with disposable cone cups, that is what I generally see in hospitals as well so I guess this is viewed as the most hygienic.

Kind regards,

Tony

Bottles would be unacceptable in most facilities I've helped run due to the food/drink and personal item prohibitions in the FDA and SQF guidelines.  Plastic bottles especially so due to uncontrolled brittle plastic (unless you wanted to provide the bottles, number them, and track them in your G&BP register).  We got in trouble from OSHA at one plant when employees complained about us not permitting water bottles.  OSHA didn't care what FDA said, and allowing employees to go to the breakroom for frequent water breaks was unacceptable to them due to distance.  We had to install water fountains near the production lines to satisfy OSHA, and added them to our environmental monitoring to address any auditor concerns.

I will echo what others have said, water bottles on the production floor would not be acceptable. If your facility does not have adequate drinking fountains throughout the area, temporary water coolers with disposable cups could get you through the summer months. However, I would make sure these coolers are just outside of the production room, not inside of it.

Oftentimes during summer months we'd have a meeting with all production staff to reassure them that it's ok to take extra breaks for water. Make sure the production management team is committed to allowing their teams to take extra breaks while it's hot. That's been the root of the issue in my experience, not the accessibility to water! If the team is empowered to take water when they need it, in a GMP-compliant manner, that should please both OSHA and FDA.

...  If the team is empowered to take water when they need it, in a GMP-compliant manner, that should please both OSHA and FDA.

This is what I would expect to meet all the personnel and product safety requirements, no matter what the adverse condition was.  Not to introduce food safety hazards to the production environment in order to overcome hazardous working conditions, but to empower personnel to leave the environment to attend to their needs.

Otherwise, what's next -- everyone carries an Amazon bottle around with them?

In your risk assessment - I would include items from the FDA state food code as well. Even though you're not regulated by them per se, some of the same risks still apply.