Is employee assessment required when giving Food Safety Training?
Hi all,
Just wondering when giving food safety training to staff on site do they have to complete an assessment or is suffice to sign them off as trained? We work to BRC and TFMS standards, I am relatively new to the company but I see in the past they have just been signed off as been trained rather than assessed like other training. This was also the case with on-site HACCP training although we have since a few employees on the certified HACCP course.
Thanks in advance!
We add a Supervisor review part to the training, so supervisors can actually assess their employees.
I'm not familiar with TFMS standards, and not a trained on BRC standards, but with SQF (and I suspect all GFSI schemes) a facility is required to validate that training is effective. For classroom type training tests/quizzes are a good way of acheiving this. On the job training is typically done by observation from production management, so validation could be signed off by a floor supervisor for example (as mentioned by maara91).
Verification is generally done by having the trainees sign and date that they were trained, and a spreadsheet showing frequency of testing (defined in your FSMS) and training status of each employee has been valuable in my experience.
Hi
The easiest way to meet the requirements is accredited training, the CIEH RSPH or HABC training with the examination meets all the requirements.
Candidates are assessed through the examination process and either pass (get a certificate) or fail.
You keep a copy of the certificate as proof of the training, the cert is dated with a recommended review date.
There are current discussions to try and extend the accredited training in the food industry so that staff can take the training with them when they move. At the moment 'in house' training is not transferable from one company to another. The discussions are at an early stage but this may become a government initiative in the near future.
rgds
It is not necessary to have an assessment although this is one of the methods available to you. TFMS calls for:
"The competency of employees must be reviewed at defined intervals or following significant changes in procedures and re-training undertaken where necessary."
So you must 'review' the 'competency' of the employee following training and changes. It also mentions 'defined' intervals so this would suggest that simply getting a signature from the trainee following training is not sufficient. It only proves they attended at best. A review is required; therefore this requires somebody other than the trainee to undertake a review process to confirm competency. This can be done through assessment, examination, on the job assessment by a supervisor or report by a competent training buddy or a combination of these. You will have to define the period of time after training that this is conducted and schedule it in your system. Records of the review will need to be maintained and records of retraining following this review will also be required. It appears to be a simple requirement but on closer examination it requires a complete management process to address fully.
George
Good replies to your question.
From the BRC perspective: If you are conducting classroom type training, the standard requires that you "review the effectiveness of training". To me, that means some sort of test to show comprehension.
If you are doing on the job training, the same standard applies.Sign offs by trainers or supervisors that show the trainee is competently performing their job should suffice.
Marshall
I give written tests. They are scored and at the bottom they sign there name with a statement along the lines of "By signing here I take full responsibility for my training and understand what is expected of me"