Non Factory Shoes

Hi all,

We are a bakery and make fully cooked middle eastern sweets e.g Baklawa.

We are preparing for our first BRC audit.

Wanted to know does any one is aware of any factory or have worked where factory issued shoes are not changed before entry into production area e.g staff use their own use shoes while working in the factory.

If factory issued shoes are used is that ok to take keep these shoes on while in the non production areas e.g toiles, offices and canteen and oven outside while on break.

If any one could share risk assessment it would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Martin

Hi Martin,

I used to work in bakeries more than 10 years ago, just a HACCP certificate, but our employees were having their own working shoes which was only used for work. The main issue for them was that in the bakery there is always dirty, you have flour even in your underwear after you finish with working 8 hours. So nobody was even thinking to go home with the working shoes.

It probably depends if you are a low risk company or not and if you have facilities for cleaning shoes before entering production.

I assume that the smokers go outside on break. Does this mean that they completely remove all their working clothes for that purpose? They should also change shoes, as it can rain, be muddy outside.

Hi Martin,

Your products are RTE?

Afaik BRC requires high care zone footware to be dedicated to the facility and not worn outside, and control of footwear to prevent pathogen contamination into the area.

Could potentially fall into low risk, despite RTE status?

In which case, IIRC under Issue 8 the only explicit requirement for captive footwear is for high-risk/high-care so this wouldn't apply.

We have low risk RTE/RTD liquids without captive footwear - only requirement is safety boots in order to satisfy H&S controls. We provide the boots but they're perfectly ok to go anywhere on site with them - break areas, outdoor smoking shelter, warehousing etc. - but they do go over footmats when entering process areas.

The nature of the products/site makes it very easy to defend in terms of risk assessment, although for what it's worth I don't recall any auditor, BRC or otherwise, ever challenging us or asking to see a risk assessment.

Whether the same could apply to you is going to very much depend on the status/nature of your site.