Fumes in the Production Facility
Hello IFSQN,
Today in our facility we had a little incident where one of our vents began smoking which quickly has filled the production areas with fumes. I believe this would constitute as not only a safety hazard but also potential product contamination. It is no longer smoking, but the facility is still filled with fumes. I want to halt production and wait for the fumes to be fully ventilated, however senior management will not take this situation seriously because, "It will eventually sort itself out". Does anyone have any guidance on how to begin handling a situation such as this? We are a confectionary company located in the United States and uphold BRC certification.
Thank you
Do you have any idea what exactly started smoking? If you do, it should be easy to look up what toxicity the fumes might have.
It also matters what it is you are producing.
Pretty sure there are OSHA rules governing this as well
Was the fire department called? Was the facility properly vented?
Call the local fire department and hazmat - you'll need to determine what the fumes are from - toxic or otherwise.
This is when management could be setting themselves up for criminal charges without knowing it from a stupid decision to continue.
This is much like the cv19 jab thing where companies forced employees to take the jab or be fired - now the same senior management and owners are facing criminal level charges of felonies and for Crimes Against Humanity.
Situations like fumes that are not addressed quickly cause employees to file lawsuits against their employers and readily win.
Your management is is practicing ignorance bigly.
I would halt production in that area and have your maintenance team get to the bottom of it. If nothing is done to correct the issue the smoke will likely be back again. Maybe there's faulty fan motor somewhere in that vent? You could have a full-blown fire on your hands the next time that vent acts up. At the very least, you have a known smoke hazard as a worker/food safety hazard on your hands and that itself needs to be addressed.
The action to take is pretty straightforward, stop production > remove ops staff > have mtc crews investigate and determine the root cause of the smoke. I'm sure that if management doesn't see the value in providing a safe environment for their workers, they certainly don't want the building burning down!
Adulteration with smoke from burning non food safe materials is a problem.
Any fume or particulate that can gather on or be absorbed into the food is a safety concern. We've sent people home for wearing too much perfume, and rejected truck loads of packaging because the adhesive wasn't cured properly.