Why Now is the Time to Update Your Incident Management System - and How IFC Can Help

Recent events have been challenging for food companies globally. Companies are trying to maintain or increase production while facing sometimes limited resources and delays on equipment maintenance. Some companies have been forced to come to complete standstill, such as those serving tourism-related business. But food safety remains critical – even more so amidst the global health crisis -- regardless of whether a company is operating at full capacity or not, and that is why now is the time for companies to review their incident management systems. While it may be difficult right now to think about the future, a sound food safety management system is an investment in the future. 

An incident management and crisis resolution team – working in accordance with local policies, laws, government regulations – should provide guidance on business continuity planning and lessen uncertainty. To ensure that business operations can be continued, food companies should minimize the health risk to their employees and have contingency strategies in place in case there is a disruption to supplies, equipment maintenance, outsourced services, or in case there are few or fluctuating orders from customers. 

Here are the three things you and your team can do, with additional suggestions available:

Update your emergency response plan. Your company has just undergone a real live stress test – what have you learned? What has worked well and what do you need to improve? What will you do differently going forward? Your team should develop “what if” scenarios that include potential risks, likelihood of occurrence, potential impact, and mitigation actions. For example, you might want to develop a staff travel policy, which many companies did not have until very recently. Companies likely now need to revise health policies in line with new local guidance, including for deliveries and temporary workers. We have seen many examples where unclear guidance has recently led to confusion – double-check with all stakeholders to make sure that communications are crystal clear. This is good advice anytime, but especially now.

Update your TACCP, VACCP and HACCP protocols, as well as your Health & Safety policy

Normally when developing a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system, we don’t often think about the risk of non-food-borne disease. However, we now have begun to think about risks in a different way. For example, it is a good time to re-evaluate your risk assessments for packaging, since packaging has been shown in some cases to bring contamination into a facility. This also applies to threats and your Threat Analysis and Critical Control Point (TACCP) plan. As for your Vulnerability Assessment and Critical Control Point (VACCP) plan, vulnerabilities include a new range of heightened risks to your business, such as an employee coming to work sick. If you need help, IFC has developed templates on TACCP, VACCP and HACCP, which you can find here: www.ifc.org/foodsafety/handbook/templates

Increase awareness

It is essential to do refresher trainings for workers on hygiene, cleaning, and disinfection in order to prevent contamination and ensure safe food. It’s also a good time to re-evaluate how you communicate with staff. Are your leaders modelling the right behavior, are there regular conversations about food safety? Formal communications via updated policies especially on health checks, working in zones and adding acrylic dividers between close working employees are all important, but it is even more critical to make sure that informal conversations and practices are supporting newly updated policies. Crucially, ensure that staff have the right personal protective equipment (PPE) and tools to fulfill the policy.

For more ideas, you can check out IFC’s new online course on Foodborne Illnesses and Personnel Hygiene here: www.ifc.org/foodsafety. It is available in English, French, Vietnamese, and Burmese. Spanish and Portuguese will be available soon!

Incident management is only one of many requirements for a good food safety system. While this can be overwhelming even in normal times, IFC has resources can help you take a step-by-step approach and get results. In addition to the worksheets and online training referenced above, our newly updated IFC Food Safety Handbook: A Practical Guide for Building a Robust Food Safety Management System will be released later in April. The handbook contains detailed explanations and worksheets on HACCP, VACCP, and TACCP, as well as helpful tips and strategies on setting up your hygiene policy, developing documentation and food safety training, and ensuring management commitment. Watch this space!

Learn more about IFC’s work in Food Safety www.ifc.org/foodsafety