Keeping Afloat A Haccp Program

Hi SaferPakers ,

I am a bit naughty today cos I am probably asked to give a talk on this subject some time soon and I thought why not put the questions to those intelligent fellas at SaferPak forum and see if I can nick some ideas from you guys.

So ever wonder how you have managed to keep your HACCP Program afloat all this while.

Well, I really like to know some of your secrets behind your successes.

Regards
Charles Chew

Let's face it food hygiene, food safety, HACCP or whatever you want to call it is pretty darn dull. I know what I've said is sacrilege to you and me, but it's our life you see and most operators in whose hands we entrust the safety of our products couldn't really give a shit! What do you expect for £5 an hour?

Hmm…so how can we maintain the focus on HACCP without resorting to public floggings? Very good question Charles.

If we agree the subject is quite dull then we must try to de-dull it. We can do this by making refresher training as creative and colourful as possible. Make sense?

The idea being if you can stimulate operators, they'll pay more attention and hopefully the important messages will stick. You might even have a bit of fun!

A few years ago I was faced with the challenge of creating a refresher hygiene training programme for a food packaging company. I went to the supermarket and purchased a load of products that used their packaging. Then I took digital photos of the products in compromising positions with various contaminants (see attached example). Such as glass, pests (a fly), blood, dust, tape, off-cuts, lubricants, hairs, wood splinters etc.

I put them in a PowerPoint presentation and for each contaminant I had some text explaining:

1. What the contamination was
2. What the impact would be on the customer / consumer
3. What control measures we have in place to prevent it from happening

I must say it went down really well, the training sessions were very interactive, and fun and the important messages were driven home, without having to resort to the cat and nine tails.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Simon

I must say it went down really well, the training sessions were very interactive, and fun and the important messages were driven home, without having to resort to the cat and nine tails.

Great job Simon Thanks for that.

Did the Big Boss of the Company support the training, I mean did he open and close the training sessions ? It goes without saying that his committment is of outstanding importance.

Simon,

Thats one idea in the bag:clap: . Another method is to seek some volunteers and have prepared culture media in Petri Dishes and ask these volunteers to have their fingers smeared onto the culture for "incubation" (Have the petri dishes marked by them with their name and sign off sealed.

Let the culture come back from the lab. and display during training the ugly sight of bacteria growth to the audience.

More ideas please

Charles Chew

We used a couple of customers to do presentations to hit home the message

i.e.

We buy product of you because you have good controls

If you contaminate the product we buy off you, you wont be a supplier for much longer.

Quite a simple message but actually coming from the customer does make a difference. Most people can make the link that losing customers (particularly big ones) means losing jobs.

Obviously this method depends on your working relationship with customers & your confidence in your shop floor employees feedback to them!

Other simple tools I have used with reasonable success are - involving employees in customer & external audits, job shadowing, customer site visits, simulated product recall checks (involving employees), regular press clippings put up on notice boards (where things have gone wrong).

Regards

Richard

Richard,

Its an interesting mix of ideas. I particualrly like the one where you get the workers involved in the audits........for example, I would like to consider doing rotational selection of warehouse staff to be involved at random for/on suppliers assurance program (New Supplier / New Ingredient). I think this would be an exceleent idea.

Where I come from, the idea of getting the customer involved may have a reverse impact..........can't risk pissing them off.

Great! Many in the bag now.

TQ
Charles Chew

Did the Big Boss of the Company support the training, I mean did he open and close the training sessions ? It goes without saying that his committment is of outstanding importance.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good point Franco - no he didn't.

Other simple tools I have used with reasonable success are - involving employees in customer & external audits, job shadowing, customer site visits, simulated product recall checks (involving employees), regular press clippings put up on notice boards (where things have gone wrong).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Excellent ideas. I was coming at it from a refresher training viewpoint as a one off hit. It works but however good it eventually burns out. I think the ideas you present on getting operators involved in the day to day activities is perhaps the key to maintaining ongoing focus and commitment.

Regards,
Simon

Hi Guys,

I need more input particularly from the angle of a third party. Assuming you guys are doing a Suppliers Assurance Program Audit right up at the door steps of your supplier.

You find a weak program in place. What would be your GENERAL recommended ideas / suggestions for "improvements" in sustaining a HACCP Program that to your viewpoint is somewhat on a soft footing.

Charles Chew