10 replies to this topic

[millephiscent]

I am the Sanitation Manager of a 400k sqft. food warehouse. Recently, my boss has decided to take more than half of my 5 person staff daily for sometimes weeks at a time to help the understaffed picking department. We are in the process of trying to get SQF certified. The man in charge of getting everything together for that makes it out to be like everything needs to be cleaned all of the time with documentation to prove it, but when I make that as my argument for why I can't keep giving up most of my employees everyday, my boss says that not everything is an SQF requirement, so it's okay if certain things like dusting get skipped for a while. Is she correct, or do I need to show her proof that she is wrong, so maybe I can get my work done for a change?

[kconf]

She could be right. Not everything needs to be cleaned all the time if they don't get dirty. 

[Scampi]

What you should have is a master sanitation schedule that lays out exactly what gets cleaned and how often and follow it

 

The heart of any food safety plan is doing what you say you will do and prove it (e.g. documentation) 

[Setanta]

What you should have is a master sanitation schedule that lays out exactly what gets cleaned and how often and follow it

 

The heart of any food safety plan is doing what you say you will do and prove it (e.g. documentation) 

 

Agree with Scampi. If you need to change the frequency, that's easy enough. Just document that at one week intervals, not dirt is visible, expanding to every other week.

If it's on the schedule, it probably is there for a reason.

[millephiscent]

I have an MSS, but I was the one who created it, and I did it according to how the SQF manager said to do it. Walls dusted 1x per week, white line daily maintenance, public facilities sanitized 2x per day, racking dusted 1x per month, floors autoscrubbed 1x per week (done daily, but in sections so each section is 1x per week), battery charging area daily maintenance, outside clean up 1x per week, trash 1x per day, weekly cleaning tool and trash collection sanitation. Is he right, or can that stuff be done less? My boss outranks the SQF manager, but I figured the SQF guy was given that for a reason, and my boss isn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, plus it gets very annoying to lose more than half of my staff to go do a job that makes them unhappy, and the rest of us have to work so hard.

[Setanta]

I think it really depends on how dirty it gets. Do it like a risk assessment. Monitor an area at the intervals you scheduled and if you think it can go another week, do it.

 

I would NOT change the bathroom, breakrooms, or trash schedules, but dusting, maybe write it as as needed, but minimum of monthly?

[SQFconsultant]

She is probably correct.

 

I'd be taking a critical look at that MSS and what the "SQF Manager" said to put on it, you may very well be able to cut it down.

 

From the beginning SQF motto has been - "Say What You Do, Do What You Say, and... Prove it"

 

Sounds like you need a rewrite - 5 people for a 400,000 sq foot warehouse is a lot.

[jfrey123]

None of us can say whether that frequency is enough or not, but if that's what your MSS currently states then YOU MUST clean it at that frequency and document it.  Simply skipping it will be a non-conformance with your own internal program as well as SQF 11.2.5.1 (what is to be cleaned, when it is to be cleaned), and possibly escalating to violation of other SQF codes that demand you verify effectiveness of your SOP's to SQF code (if you aren't following your program, you need to show that you caught it and performed a corrective action).

 

To achieve the decrease in frequencies, you need to first change the MSS, recording the reasons in the change log:  "decreased cleaning frequency based on lack of observable dust/debris" (if that's actually true).  Then you can monitor in your sanitation audits as to whether the decreased frequency is still sufficient to keep an area clean.  The monitoring will be important because if your auditor observes buildup of dust/debris in areas, that's a hit all on its own.  Then if they notice the area is one that you reduced cleaning frequency in, then a real jerk auditor could find that you've failed to validate your cleaning frequencies properly.  Just food for thought, but as the bosses argue, the one thing you can't allow is to just skip it.

[kingstudruler1]

SQFI will require that you clean at a documented frequency.   If you "say" you are cleaning something daily, then only clean it monthly, etc it will be an issue.  Ie not maintaining the requirements of the Master Cleaning Schedule would almost certainly be a deficiency.   

[Lynx42]

We have a handful of things we have listed as monthly, but our team tends to do it weekly, and a few things listed as weekly that they end up doing almost daily.  I have it this way because missing a day or a week is not usually an issue and so they don't HAVE to do it if they are doing an annual or semi-annual task that takes up a little more time or get moved to a special project.  

 

I agree with Setanta, leave the bathrooms, breakrooms, and trash cans as they are, but maybe think about adjusting anything else that isn't critical if missed once or twice.

 

Our team walks the white line daily with a broom, but mopping it is on the weekly list. Cleaning and sanitizing cleaning tools and trash cans are monthly, but with weekly checks although they tell me they inspect them every morning before they use them and occasionally clean individual items a little more often.  Outside cleaning is inspected weekly, but recorded as cleaned monthly.  Some weeks they focus on the truck yard, some weeks the employee parking area, during the fall they do both weekly until leaves are done blocking the drains, but monthly is still all that's required in case they miss a week or two getting out there.

[Tony-C]

I am the Sanitation Manager of a 400k sqft. food warehouse. Recently, my boss has decided to take more than half of my 5 person staff daily for sometimes weeks at a time to help the understaffed picking department. We are in the process of trying to get SQF certified. The man in charge of getting everything together for that makes it out to be like everything needs to be cleaned all of the time with documentation to prove it, but when I make that as my argument for why I can't keep giving up most of my employees everyday, my boss says that not everything is an SQF requirement, so it's okay if certain things like dusting get skipped for a while. Is she correct, or do I need to show her proof that she is wrong, so maybe I can get my work done for a change?

 

Hi millephiscent,

 

Get your boss to sign-off a reduced master cleaning schedule based on your reduced staffing levels.

 

Any major issues with cleaning should be picked up on daily checks and the 'regular inspections' required by clause 2.5.4.3.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony