Employee Facilities according to the BRC

The BRC Global Standard for Food Safety - often simply referred to as BRC Food - is a standard for food safety that has been developed by the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The BRC Food standard is recognized by many retailers and producers around the world, and is used to determine the capacities of their suppliers. One part of the BRC certificate concerns personal hygiene.

In order to meet the BRC's personal hygiene requirements, a company must provide certain employee facilities, sufficient for the number of employees working at the company. These facilities are designed to minimise the risk of product contamination and must of course be kept clean and in good condition.

Requirements for personnel facilities BRC

According to the IFS, hand hygiene facilities must consist of at least:

• running drinking water, at a suitable temperature for washing hands.
• liquid soap, available via an automatic non-contact dosing unit or a hand-held soap dispenser.
• hand drying equipment, such as an electric dryer or a paper towel dispenser.

And naturally toilets must also have adequate facilities for washing hands.

Added IFS requirements regarding high-care rooms

• The changing rooms for employees, managers and visitors must give direct access to the production, packaging or storage areas, without having to go through other areas. If this is not possible, procedures must be set up to minimise the risks.
• It must be possible to store personal property in lockers.
• In the dressing rooms outdoor clothing is kept separate from production clothing.
• There are suitable and sufficient places for washing your hands at the entrance to the production area. The following must be present:
  o Advice boards that encourage hand washing.
  o Enough water at the correct temperature.
  o Water taps that can be turned on and off without using hands.
  o Frothy or liquid soap.
  o Single use towels (made of paper) or electric hand dryers.
• The toilets are not directly connected to the production area and have washbasins for washing hands with soap and water, possibilities for drying hands and advice boards that encourage hand washing.

BRC requirements for high-risk areas

According to the BRC, facilities for personnel working in a high-risk area - where highly perishable food is processed - must meet additional requirements:

• Clear instructions should be given on how to put on and take off protective clothing.
• Protective clothing is visibly different from other clothing and may not be worn outside the high-risk area.
• Hands should also be washed during the dressing process to prevent contamination of clean clothing.
• Before entering the high-risk areas hands must be washed and disinfected.
• Special footwear must be worn in the high-risk areas.
  
  

Controlled access

To guarantee that employees adhere to the protocols for personal hygiene, Elpress recommends the use of turnstiles, especially in high-risk areas. These turnstiles that give access to the production area, only open when the employee has completed the entire hygiene process. The turnstiles guarantee a supervisory procedure and guarantee the effectiveness of the hygiene measures.

Checklist for personal hygiene

Would you like to know more about what measures you need to take in the field of personal hygiene to be able to qualify for a hygiene certificate? Then download our white paper 'Check-list Personal Hygiene'.