3 replies to this topic

[mm.stf]

Hi guys,

 

I'd like to bring this one for discussion.

 

One of our staff members (a supervisor, by the way) started wearing pimple patches on his face. 

The discussion started inside the quality team of whether we should allow it or not inside the production room.

 

Obviously there is a high risk of the patches falling off the skin (I've worn them myself - out of work - and had it happening to me); so I'm on the side of not allowing it. On the other hand, someone brought up the fact of the pimple being an opened wound that would pose microbiological risk to the product.

 

The staff member in question said he wears super strong patches that won't come off for 3 days; but my concern lays on allowing it and other members starting to wear patches not as strong/good quality.

 

Has anyone else gone through a situation like this? What would you do?

 

We don't have any policy that specifically mentions pimples or pimple patches; our GMP policy vaguely says "wounds must be covered with appropriate dressings".

 

Thank you!

[SQFconsultant]

Not allowed here and if the person has an open wound they are not working in production until healed.

[Tony-C]

Hi mm.stf,

 

This is a fair question as many standards refer to covering cuts/sores/grazes and then for gloves to be worn if appropriate as I guess that in most cases apply to hands and most other areas will be covered by protective clothing.

 

 Glove Covering Head.png   867.65KB   0 downloads

 

As Glenn has indicated any dressing which could fall off and contaminate the product should not be permitted and people with open wounds should be excluded from production areas. 

 

One possible solution would be wearing a face mask but this is only effective if the patch is within the mask coverage.

 

A policy of exclusion and working in an area where there is no risk of product contamination is the belt and braces solution.

 

Kind regards,

 

Tony

[GMO]

Agree with the above from a food safety risk.  If you'd permit a cut on the face to be covered by a detectable plaster (if it wasn't a pimple) then that is an option.  I do not know of a standard that asks for additional face coverings in this situation although I agree the risk is almost as high as hands which are normally required to be covered with gloves.

 

I would agree on a purely food safety standpoint that non open product areas only AND the dressing is substituted for a detectable dressing (which they may not want to do if their normal patch has some specific anti break out properties). However, I'm also a manager with a lot of experience and I realise this is going to be a can of bloody worms.

 

I'd get HR involved early doors and get them onboard before you do anything. Food safety should and does trump other concerns, however, no sense walking into a minefield without at least body armour on. There is a chance the person being asked to move will take extreme offence to it and their managers won't want it to happen.  So you need some allies before you pull out the pin in the grenade and chuck it over the wall.  And that might be food safety considerations and beyond.  For example, if the person has big problems with their skin they may have issues with staph. but also they may be able to be helped by referral to a dermatologist which the company might facilitate if it gets them back to their normal role quicker. But while this is a pain for you, it's likely the person will be super sensitive about it so a combination of preventing a food safety issue but also protecting the person and the business will be needed.

Edited by GMO, 8 minutes ago.