5 replies to this topic

[Rassmutten]

We are an SQF packaging facility and have multiple locations in our city. The primary production facility which is SQF Certified and three warehouses that are not certified. Currently we are having a debate that we cannot come to a conclusion on. What is the best practice for our pest control insurance document? Are we ok to have only one or is there and argument for having one printed up with the address of each of our sites addresses on it? What say you?

[G M]

If it contains information identifying the certified site as part of the coverage, extra information will not be prohibitive.  If the service provider can give you a cleaner looking document for the certified site it might save you some unnecessary confusion/questions when an auditor looks at it though.

 

We have our wastewater treatment facility and an R&D facility covered by the same pest control provider as a manufacturing facility.  Each of them has separate site maps, reports, etc. in one program binder.  Occasionally when an auditor lackadaisically flips through it we have to point out that the thing they're asking about isn't the certified location.

[SQFconsultant]

What is the best practice for our pest control insurance document? 

 

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I have no clue what a pest control insurance document is - are you talking about the LIABILITY document that your PCO issues that shows their coverage or talking about a pest bond ?

[Tony-C]

Hi Rassmutten,

 

Not really sure what your question is, your pest control/prevention contractor should have liability insurance that covers all customers/sites that are contracted to them.

 

SQF Food Safety requirements for pest contractors are included in section 13.2.4 Pest Prevention:

13.2.4.2 Pest contractors and/or internal pest controllers shall:

i. Be licensed and approved by the local relevant authority;

ii. Use only trained and qualified operators who comply with regulatory requirements;

iii. Use only approved chemicals;

iv. Provide a pest prevention plan (refer to 2.3.2.7) that includes a site map indicating the location of bait stations, traps, and other applicable pest control monitoring devices;

v. Report to a responsible authorized person on entering the premises and after the completion of inspections or treatments;

vi. Provide regular inspections for pest activity with appropriate action taken if pests are present; and

vii. Provide a written report of their findings and the inspections and treatments applied.

 

If you store product that is within the scope of your SQF certification in those 3 warehouses then they should be included in the pest control contract and have a documented pest prevention program, just like your main site.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

[Rassmutten]

Thank you. To be clear I was referring to the insurance documents the pest control company provides. Some people say that I need a copy of the same document with each of our locations addresses. I think that seems odd and like overkill. Just thought I would check and see if anyone else had heard of such a thing. 

[jfrey123]

Not knowing how your company is legally setup for each of the sites, whether all identified as owned/leased by your main office or each operating as individual LLC sites, I would think the COI listing your main company and address would be sufficient.  When we get COI's from regular suppliers, we have them list our corporate main office and the legal name with our DBA.  I don't know whether there are legal ramifications subject to this, but it flies for the purposes of SQF audits.  We do have to have separate PCO contracts/COI's for each site as we're operating 12 sites in 5 states: each site has an independent PCO specific to their site and each site is a separate LLC owned and operated by the home office parent corp.

 

Now me personally in OP's shoes, I don't think I'd want to highlight on one document that there are three non-certified sites being utilized by listing all three extra addresses.  There are some unasked/unanswered questions regarding whether OP's company has informed SQF about them vs listed them as exempt, and there can be headaches if the company is stating "Our manufacturing and storage is SQF certified" as a whole when using buildings not on the scope of the cert.