7 replies to this topic

[rgiuliano137]

Does anyone have a qa playbook that gives instructions how the qa department should run in case qa director dies

 

[kfromNE]

Every facility is different. Your manual - the FDA or USDA regulations. If you have no one trained that can comprehend everything - bring in a consultant or possibly ask the last person in that job if they left on good terms. Then hire someone with experience in being a QC director. They should be able to figure it out by looking at what you have. 

 

I personally have a reminder sheet in case something happens to me. My boss has it. This has the little things I take care of personally. Also where files are located to access things. Everything else - someone is also trained on. 

 

I hope this isn't a real life scenario - if it is - I'm sorry and good luck. 

[G M]

Broadly speaking you don't want anyone to be the only person who knows how to do any task.  Not just for a catastrophic loss like a death, but those people want to go on vacation, can become ill, and some day want to retire.

 

How your department runs in response to any kind of business disruption like a loss of key personnel, natural disaster, power outage etc. is going to depend on a lot of specifics for your facility and product.

[kingstudruler1]

When you say director, is that a person on site or someone who manages multiple sites, things outside of normal plant operations.   

 

If on site, I am agreeing with KfromNE.   Your food safety manual should dictate how the QA department runs.   Since you posted in SQF, you should have a back up practitioner that has a pretty strong grasp of the program.   

[jfrey123]

Yes, it's called my Food Safety and Quality Manual System.  The companies programs and procedures should cover how to do each job and who is responsible (including the backups).  Training to ensure the backups know how to do the jobs should cover everyone knowing what needs to be done in the absense of the QA manager.

 

But I admit a cheat sheet can be helpful.  This could be as simple as the QA manager outlining expected tasks in their absence via email or meeting before they leave.

[rgiuliano137]

do you have a cheat sheet that i could go off of?

[Setanta]

do you have a cheat sheet that i could go off of?

 

It should really be unique to your facility. What needs to happen on a daily basis, what needs to happen weekly, monthly, semi-annually etc., in YOUR facility?

 

You should have other people doing internal audits, maybe they can step in for a short time. If this is SQF, you need a back-up practitioner, they are probably one of the best people to have as the QA back-up.

[Brothbro]

In many companies this "playbook" can come in the form of SOPs. As other users have mentioned, a Food Safety/Quality Manual is an effective tool, and this manual can often be considered a collection of SOPs. In the past, I've separated SOPs by the departments that are primarily responsible for them, so SOPs that describe the high level quality policies are give designations like QA_001, QA_002...Collecting all of these in their own folder gives users an easy place to read through some of the policies that typically only affect directors. Things like, what to do for an FDA inspection, how to coordinate recalls, etc.