Introducing guest feature – Holly is part of the content team at Effective Software. Holly has worked in the health and safety industry since graduating from university. When not writing about health and safety practices, Holly can be found researching new travel locations.

The drinks industry usually adheres to a strict health and safety management system to guarantee the safety of its consumers. With these safety measures in place, these companies can prevent the outbreak of drink-related diseases, which might negatively impact the industry’s profit and reputation in the future. Typically, the health and safety management system covers several aspects and these include;

• Line management duties
• The company’s health and safety policy and organisation
• The process of planning for ill-health prevention and/or accident
• The procedures, practices as well as resources for the development, implementation, review and the maintenance of health policy and occupational safety.

In this article, you will be taken through the five most common safety measures that are followed by drinks industry companies in a bid to prevent any avoidable accident, disease or outbreak.

High cleaning standards

Companies must put in place strict cleaning and disinfection routines to guarantee high standards of hygiene, thereby lowering the chances of food-related disease outbreaks. This process usually entails the disinfection as well as cleaning of equipment and utensils used in manufacturing the drinks as well as the production environment. Doing this is crucial as it helps eradicate all the microorganisms, which might cause food poisoning. Moreover, sticking to proper cleaning programs also minimises the prevalence of pests, including cockroaches, flies, and rodents during the drinks manufacturing process. This is because all possible areas that foster the growth of insects, as well as potential sources of food, have been eliminated.

Giving the workers a voice

Company employees get to know a lot of things as they go on with their daily routines. Because of this, companies put in place measures to allow the confidential collection of employee feedback on ways of improving overall safety. Doing this is vital as it frees employees from having to worry about their job safety and hence allowing them to give an honest opinion even on sensitive information.

Furthermore, there is also a regulation that requires there to be at least one employee for every 50 employees who performs the duties of a safety representative. It is the responsibility of the safety representative to collect information from other employees on ways of further enhancing the safety measures.

Responsibility expected from the employees

Drinks companies require their staff to take proactive measures to safeguard their safety and health while in the workplace by strictly adhering to the set safety precautions and rules. Therefore, in case of any accident or incident at the workplace, the safety representative needs to be informed through the company’s incident reporting system. Any breach of these set standards might lead to the employer suing the employee.

Monitoring the sickness absence of its employees

Drinks-making companies pay particular interest in the attendance of its employees as this information offers valuable insight into possible health-related issues. Thus, in case absenteeism in a specific position is higher, then there is a higher likelihood that there is a problem that needs to be addressed quickly.

Assessment of the occupational health needs

Risk assessment plays a crucial role in helping the business identify situations as well as activities that might be detrimental to somebody’s health. For this process to be successful, there needs to be open and honest communication between the workers and managers.

The design and location of the facility

The location of a business is vital in guaranteeing that the set health and safety standards have been met. Thus, these companies typically avoid areas that are susceptible to pollution and pests to lower the chances of contamination. Also, companies need to ensure that the location of the business is not in an area where it is susceptible to natural disasters like hurricanes or floods. But then again, emergencies are unavoidable. In which case the company needs to have a business continuity plan that involves communication with the employees. Additionally, items used in the building’s internal structure need to be durable, easy to clean, and maintain, prevent dirt accumulation as well as safe for the company employees.

Training of staff

Companies must also carry out rigorous training of its staff to teach them on proper food safety measures that need to be adhered to, thereby minimising the likelihood of contamination. Moreover, there are also regulations in place which require every food handler to have undergone through supervised training on food hygiene procedures while at work.

Some of the areas that the employees are trained on are;

• Pest control
• Safe food storage routines
• Hand hygiene
• Safe food handling procedures
• Cleaning for food safety

The machinery used and production line design

The production line should have a design that enables easy cleaning and maintenance of the machinery. This is vital to prevent the contamination not only of the drinks but also of the ingredients used in the production process. Additionally, the design of machinery used in drinks manufacturing should also be observed. A poor design might lead to the accumulation of waste materials in areas that are hard to clean.

Having read through this article, you now have an idea of the safety measures that are required and upheld by drinks companies. The next time you enjoy your drink, you can appreciate the effort that has been put in place to safeguard your health.