57 Policy and Procedure
Policies are statements that guide operations and decision making of the company. They answer the questions what and why. Policies reflect the values of the company (what the company finds important) and dictate how laws and regulations apply to the company.
Some things a policy might address are:
- Rules about working from home
- Employee benefits
- Code of conduct
- Workplace environment
- Technology use
A great example of a policy can be found in your student handbook. On page 19 of the handbook, you will find Student Guidelines and Policies.
Some of the things addressed are:
- Attendance
- Student Accommodation
- Academic Progress
- Course/ Program Withdrawal
- Exams (deferrals, rewrites, appeals)
This policy is useful to you as a student because it dictates how you need to operate, and how you can expect the school to operate with respect to you.
When you gain employment, you can expect to sign an employee code of conduct. This is similar to the SIIT Student Guidelines and Policies.
Code of Conduct
This document defines rules, principles, values, and expectations of behavior.
The code of conduct will be based on the guiding principles:
- Integrity,
- Objectivity,
- Competence, and
- Professionalism
A code of conduct will address such things as:
- Attendance,
- Conflict in the workplace,
- Punctuality, absence, and leave,
- Harassment, bullying, and abuse,
- Discrimination, and
- Dress code.
One over-arching policy document in the food industry is the GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice). This document contains policies and procedures. An example of policies dictated by the GMP might include:
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Proper Hygiene
It is important for food processors to understand and practice proper hygiene. Proper hygiene not only protects the operator from illness but it reduces the potential for contamination of the product, which if consumed by the public, could transmit foodborne illness.
Effective Training Program
Personal hygiene practices should be communicated prior to employment. All employees: supervisors, full time, part time and seasonal personnel require instructions on basic sanitation and hygiene principles. Timeframes for follow-up training sessions are based on personnel’s job specific requirements. Signs with pictures of good hygienic practices are an excellent method to reinforce training.
Personnel Cleanliness
A high degree of personnel cleanliness is required. Wear suitable protective clothing, head covering, and footwear. No jewelry is allowed. Food handlers can carry pathogens internally and on their hands, skin and hair. Hair in food can be a source of both microbial and physical contamination. Hairnets and beard covers should be worn to maintain the integrity of food products. Long-sleeved smocks should be worn to cover arm hair. Change into clean uniforms, aprons, and other outer garments before entering the work area to reduce the possibility of contamination.
Personnel Behavior
Food handling activities require that personnel refrain from activities like smoking, spitting, chewing or eating, sneezing or coughing over unprotected food or raw materials. Around 30 to 50 per cent of adults carry Staphylococcus aureus in their nose and 20 to 35 per cent carry it on their skin. S. aureus can be transferred from hands to food or by sneezing or coughing on food. Consumption of food, drinking or smoking in food handling areas could contaminate the food. These actions need to be conducted in designated areas.
Personnel Health
Personnel suffering from a communicable disease, such as flu, or with open cuts or wounds need to report to their supervisor before beginning work. Pathogens like Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Shigella species, and hepatitis A virus have a high level of infection. Supervisors should be familiar with the symptoms in order to take appropriate measures. No food handler who is affected or exposed to a communicable disease shall work in any area where food or food contact surfaces can be contaminated.
Hygienic Practices
Good hygienic practices need to be understood by the personnel. These practices need to be promoted since many diseases that are transmissible through food may be carried by the employee. Thorough hand washing before starting food handling activities, after using the toilet and after handling raw materials or any contaminated food is very important. Contaminated hands are responsible for transmitting infectious diseases. Hands and nails must be kept clean. Fingernails should be short and fingernail polish or false fingernails are not allowed.
The following guide and fact sheet has more information on GMPs
Procedures
Procedures are step by step instructions on how to accomplish a task required by your employment. Procedures are important because they ensure a consistency in behaviour which can lead to consistency in the quality of product, and safety.
To compare policies and procedures, a GMP might have policy dictating Hygienic Practices (as listed above.) A procedure to correspond to that policy might be as follows:
An appropriate hand washing technique is as follows:
- Thoroughly wet hands with warm water (warm water is more effective than cold water).
- Lather with soap and thoroughly scrub between fingers, on the backs of hands, and around nails.
- Scrub for at least 20 seconds.
- Rinse
- Dry hands (dry palms and backs of hands using paper towels or electric hand dryers; avoid the use of common or shared towels).
The SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) document dictates procedures used every day on the job.
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are an important component of your food safety system because they ensure consistency in daily operations. They contain detailed, written instructions of routine operations. Some examples of SOPs include: labelling chemicals, storing utensils, receiving raw materials. Cleaning and sanitation procedures are known as Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOPs). SOPs can be very useful for training employees because they provide step-by-step instructions on how to perform tasks.
Elements
The elements considered in SOPs depend on the tasks performed. SOPs for sanitation (SSOPs) include recording the results of the procedure and taking action if a deviation occurs. Other SOPs, such as hand washing, just describe the steps to successfully complete the task. SOPs should include:
- name of the person who wrote it
- approval name or initials of the person approving the document (optional)
- date it was written
- purpose (optional)
- version number if the document was modified (optional)
- name of the person(s) responsible for performing the task (e.g., all personnel, sanitation crew)
- frequency of the described activity (e.g., daily, monthly)
- detailed instructions/procedures to be performed
- record where the activities performed are documented
- deviation/correction if applicable (e.g., equipment that’s soiled should have an SSOP saying to re-clean it)
The following fact sheet has an example of an SOP record.
References
Contains information from the Government of Manitoba, licensed under the OpenMB Information and Data Use License (Manitoba.ca/OpenMB)
