Breakage Procedure

A process to follow in the event that a material breaks e.g. glass. Controls need to be in place to assess the risk posed from the breakage, deal with the clean up operation and minimise the risk of contamination to product. Critical in glass and bottling operations. A requirement of GFSI.

A glass breakage procedure typically consists of the following:

• Production is stopped, affected stock is quarantined and most likely disposed of.
• Nearby production areas are stopped and product assessed.
• All people in the area sent away from production area
• The area affected is cordoned off as is a a safe distance from the breakage in the event of shards.
• A clean up crew must come in using vacuums or brush and shovels
• All people affected must completely remove and change PPE and inspect soles of footwear
• The clean up crew must remove PPE after finishing.
• Production can only commence once management has inspected and verified it is safe to do so. Includes inspection of people and PPE for glass fragments.
• All of this must be documented on a glass breakage record, signed by person responsible and verified by Management or the QA team.