Are you ready for the unexpected change?

Audits of some type are a key part of most food related businesses.  They have traditionally required that the auditor comes onsite and looks through paperwork, talks with staff  / clients and has a look around. In our new COVID-19 world, there are changes happening and now many audits are being done as what are know as Desktop Audits.

You have to get all your paperwork together and send through to the Auditor and they then review it against the required standards. Clients and staff are still questioned  but now by phone or using some meeting program through the internet. The auditors may also request that photos / videos of parts of the business or process be taken and sent through, or even require that someone walks through the site  whilst they are on the phone so they can see the process and business for themselves. In some very technically advanced audits, drones are used to provide the eyes and sound for the auditors.

Whether desktop audits become the preferred method for doing audits or only in some cases, this is just one example of how things have changed in our new world.

The thing is that infectious diseases are not new and we have, as a food industry, always had contamination and cross-contamination as key parts of our food safety controls. It’s just that now we all have to move to a higher level of control and management and ensure that cleaning and other cross contamination / cross infection controls are spot on continuously.

Workplace health and safety  is now not only about ensuring safety from loud noises, electrical issues, mechanical issues, hot / cold, manual handling, heights, enclosed spaces, chemicals and all the other hazards, but now has to include a strong focus on infectious disease management. Workplace Health and Safety Officers across the country are now having to become experts in all the controls we need as businesses to ensure that we are all COVID-19 safe.

There is never really been a time like now when WHSOs and Food Safety Supervisors must work together to ensure that safety and food safety  processes ensure that not only is our food safe but the staff and clients are also protected.

Having stickers on the floor, posters / signs, separate areas, training, more training, even more training,  action plans, regular COVID-19 meetings, Board reporting etc etc are now our new reality. Things that even in January this year were not even thought of as part of our food safety and WH&S programs are now common place.

We simply do not know what else we are going to need to do as part of our action plans to address this outbreak and to emerge into our new world, because we really have no idea what impacts it has had on all the aspects of our businesses.

There is one major lesson for each food business from this outbreak, it doesn’t matter how good you think your plans are, something is going to happen which means that everything will have to change and you have to be prepared for that. That change can happen very quickly too.