4 replies to this topic

[kconradi]

This might be wishful thinking, but I'm trying to simplify my glass and brittle plastic audit. Instead of listing every single piece of plastic or glass in the facility, I'm wondering if anyone has had their audits segregated into sections and just done an overall audit of that section. So for example, instead of having a specific areas and listing plastic and glass items like "Exit sign, light fixtures, temperature gauge, machinery control panel, etc. etc.", you have something with a section say "Enrobing room", with a checkbox that asks if there are plastics and glass present, and if they're intact... something as simple as that. Is this a possibility?

[GMO]

Personally I wouldn't encourage it.  I know that glass and hard plastic audits are a pain in the butt.  I hate them and used to have a managing director who said "all your team does is walk around looking at lights!"

 

The thing is I also hated the fact they spent so much time doing that.  But the reality was it was a compliance thing and honestly I can think of zero times I've ever had a food safety issue from glass or hard plastic in my plant, even when we have found something that was broken.  The only time we got one in product was when it was from the supplier.

 

What you could do though is list the items but not require each to be ticked.  Or possibly better still, take a photo, highlight the locations and the question is "all intact?"  Otherwise you risk someone doing the inspection missing one which is then picked up by an external auditor and how can you prove that point wasn't just missed?  You kinda can't.

[jfrey123]

I had to create the glass and bp inventory at my first QA job, ended up cataloging 947 items that got checked on a monthly frequency.  Agree it's a pain but pretty expected by regulators and GFSI auditors to have the general items checked at least monthly.  Even then it was stressful to document something that only got spotted at the next monthly check, so I can't imagine going multiple months without checking an area.

 

That said, employee training for FM hazards is a huge key to support the G&BP program.  They should be reporting broken items to you immediately when found, and the monthly checks should come back clear so long as your maintenance teams are on top of the issues.

[AZuzack]

I break mine down by room and type of plastic.  I ignore all plastic that is covered by pre-op inspections.  I risk assess out all the non-production areas.  I make a map showing approximate locations of the plastic.  I take photos of the types of plastic.  Then I use a simplified form to document the audit. (attached)

 

I initial and date at the bottom of each area.  The bottom of the form has spaces to document broken plastic that is found during the walk-thru and a comment about the corrective action or person responsible for fixing it.  

Attached Files

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Edited by AZuzack, 28 March 2025 - 08:56 PM.

[GMO]

I break mine down by room and type of plastic.  I ignore all plastic that is covered by pre-op inspections. 

 

Super good tip.  I do think again though that preop inspections need to be proven to be sufficiently detailed but again that's where photos can be helpful.

 

I am suspicious now I'm getting old and long in the tooth how much food safety risk we are genuinely preventing with a lot of work on this. I wonder if an awful lot of it could be designed out as well.  Back to my MD, I'd rather my team were spending time talking with team members than wondering around looking in the air.