Personal Safety considerations for a new building
Hi,
We make candy and chocolate in facility. Currently we have two buildings and getting ready for third building. Third building will be 120000 sq feet. We will have 150 employees working in busy season. I am looking for some information.
Can we have carpet on floor in production office. Production office is will be used only by managers.
I am looking information for personal safety. Do we require designated area or room for emergency in facility.
Thank you,
Greetings,
Fast question, haven't you forseen these topics in the existing two buildings?
The managers will propably walk from the office to the production area on occasion and carpets due to their material tend to amass microbiological/ chemical/ physical/ allergen hazards that can be carried over from footware. If you really want to put one then you must have a very very strict procedure for moving from the office to the production area.
Also I believe you are required by law to have an emergency plan in place, complete with designated gathering areas, points of exit, designated personnel that will carry out the procedure, equipment, training etc.
Regards!
Hi,
Thank you.
Existing buildings are laid out differently while in new building production offices are on production floor. Carpet is difficult to clean as well. I am looking for option What type of floor recommended in production offices If it is not carpet?
We will have emergency plan, I was not sure do we need office area designated for personal safety like emergency room? I searched OSHA website there is no specific to food manufacturing.
Hi,
Thank you.
Existing buildings are laid out differently while in new building production offices are on production floor. Carpet is difficult to clean as well. I am looking for option What type of floor recommended in production offices If it is not carpet?
We will have emergency plan, I was not sure do we need office area designated for personal safety like emergency room? I searched OSHA website there is no specific to food manufacturing.
You don't need a specific office for personal safety like an emergency room.
If tornadoes are possible - you'll need to make sure employees know where they are to go to.
I've worked for multiple companies where you could exit a carpeted production office directly into the GMP controlled production area, and was never called out specifically for the office carpet by SQF or customer auditors. Employees and managers alike accessed the production floor via this pathway. A few auditors went so far to note we were not using booties or shoe wash, but we were able to present years of EMP data showing production floor was not being contaminated by our practices.
You can go with a laminate or tile floor in the office if your company is concerned with it. If you go carpet, just make sure your EMP is robust, and if you find elevated results in the area of your production office, you can implement a program to control the risk.
Hi,
We make candy and chocolate in facility. Currently we have two buildings and getting ready for third building. Third building will be 120000 sq feet. We will have 150 employees working in busy season. I am looking for some information.
Can we have carpet on floor in production office. Production office is will be used only by managers.
I am looking information for personal safety. Do we require designated area or room for emergency in facility.
Thank you,
Yes, you could install carpeting, however I would not suggest it, unless you plan on having you managers take their shoes off prior to entering. Your carpeting will get soiled and any chemicals that are in the makeup of your carpeting will get on the shoes and get carried back to the food areas.
I see mostly rubber or vinyl type floor coverings and many times the same flooring material that is in the food areas is also in the offices.
As to emergency rooms, I don't know of any requirement for this - however I would check with your local town or country building code department as I have seen a couple of evacuation rooms for tornado's.