- Print Friendly - Help

9. Plant Maintenance

Plant maintenance will normally be carried out by either company engineers or contracted tradesmen. It is important to ensure that the activities of maintenance personnel do not contaminate the processing areas.

Access Restrictions

• The normal access restriction that apply to all other personnel on site must also apply to site engineers, electricians, and other contracted service personnel.
• Maintenance personnel must be provided with clean protective clothing to be worn in critical hygiene areas. Footwear should also be changed if there are no footbaths.

Timing of Maintenance

• All normal maintenance should be timed to occur after normal processing has finished for the day. This will allow for a full clean-up and sanitising before work resumes.
• If maintenance cannot be programmed at the end of the day, it should occur at a normal work break so that:

Breakdowns

• Breakdowns that require immediate attention must also be followed up with cleaning and sanitising of those parts of the plant that have been worked upon.
• Product which is in-process at the time of the breakdown may be at risk from;

• Product which is in-process will need to be assessed to determine the potential risk and each site should document guidelines for the disposition of product identified as at risk.