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Hey everyone I hope you’re having a great week, Marty here with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. It’s been busy around here, I just finished up a 4 part series on Leadership with quite possibly the strongest, brightest and most motivated group of young Leads and Supervisors I’ve had the privilege to speak with to date. They’ve got their plans put together and I’m betting each of them are going to reach their Career goals, I’m betting a lot sooner than they realize! So now I’ll be packing for a quick trip to Philadelphia but I wanted to take a few minutes and talk a little Op’s to wind down a bit! So what are we going to talk about today? Looking through my notes and emails I see a couple of questions about 3rd party audits. One gentleman asks “how can these people come in and change up everything we’re doing” and we had a new Lead asking “is this audit as important as it seems”?
Both of those questions are really good ones and I think we can answer them both by maybe looking at what a 3rd party Warehouse Audit is and what it’s really for. Both of these gentlemen are in the distribution field, foodservice as it turns out, and yes, these audits are a big deal and if their suggesting any changes with our procedures or processes it’s a good thing and I highly recommend listening to them and implementing any changes they may suggest! Our Company may hire a 3rd party auditor to walk through our policies to ensure that all City, State and federal regulations are being followed, especially its supporting documentation. You know, on the outside it looks like all we’re doing is moving freight in and out, but in reality there can be a lot of documentation that goes along with us unloading that trailer that’s just pulled into door 18 there at the dock. Someone has probably already checked and documented the set point on the refer unit if it’s a chilled or frozen load and either the Lumper or Receiver will take an inside temperature of the air & product when he or she opens the door to start working the load. Those are pretty important steps, as you can imagine, since their dealing with fresh and frozen products. The regulations regarding Food Safety are there for our protections as consumers! In this case the receiver may have to catch or record the products weight, maybe the country of origin even for HACCP reasons. It’ll be their job to protect against any cross contamination like chicken on top of beef or chemicals anywhere near the food products. HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points and it is a big deal.
The FDA, or Food & Drug Administration at fda.gov tells us HACCP is a management system in which food safety is addressed through the analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards from raw material production, procurement and handling, to manufacturing, distribution and consumption of the finished product. The program is quite detailed and through, it’s a very defined regulation. I’m veering off subject again but I’ll put something together and we’ll talk about the how, why and when of HACCP another time, so where were we. Oh yeah, so now that the products on the docks we may have to document that it does not set there over a specified amount of time, again that’s whatever is written in our procedure sheets. Those procedure sheets will state where in the warehouse and at what temperature we’ll be storing it and maybe even how long it will set there until it ships out to the end users. Wither you know it or not everything’s documented, that’s why our company utilizes Job Descriptions and why our SOP’s or standard operational procedures are written for every task and how items move through the warehouse and on to transportation, ending up with the end user! Our sanitation department’s work off of printed Master Cleaning Schedules too, it’ll be broken down into thinks that are attended to Daily, and what we clean weekly, those more involved Monthly projects and the quarterly and yearly tasks. It has to be documented with who performed the task and the date it was done or complete is generally signed off on by a member of management. Even our building maintenance dept is documenting when nuts and bolts, even tools are used outside of its department like out in the aisles around products. Those Audit firms are checking that we have those procedures written and that we’re following them to the letter. We all play a part, the sanitation guys, Unloaders, receivers, pallet runners, Putaway forks, Selectors, Replenishment teams, and loaders, all of our tasks are built on following these procedures and processes. If a procedure is written, that’s what the City, Fire Marshals, teams from the State and the Federal departments like USDA and FDA, even home land security will be following up on, making sure what we say we’re doing is actually what we’re doing! So our companies will hire a 3rd party that’s really versed in the rules and regulations to come in and observe or audit that it’s good and performing everything correctly. I’ve always found them great to work with, they’re here to help teach us and help us get everything in order if it’s not. I strongly advise listening to them, they can offer up a wealth of information and a lot of times may even point out some missed efficiencies every now and then! So I’d say yes, their important and should be taken seriously.
While we’re on the subject of audits, and I know things are going to get hectic when the receptionist comes back to the warehouse announcing the fire marshal or city inspector is out front or maybe even a federal agency, our anxiety levels are going to go through the roof but you’re going to be ok. An interesting little side note. If you’re the first one to greet them ask to see their badge and credentials, that’s actually the first thing they’ll be checking on to see if you’ll just let anyone into your building and around your food products. I’d be courteous but I’d make sure and ask for them. I’ve seen Managers try and shoot the breeze with them, kind of buddy up to them and I can assure you that’s not what their wanting and sometimes we could end up saying something that will just lead to more questions and a longer audit. Their visiting to do their job, be cordial and answer their questions, you don’t have to be short or stick to yes or no answers but try not to offer up any additional information, stick to the facts and above all just be honest with them. I’ve never met an auditor that tried to trip anyone up. There really good at what they do and I’ve found them to be very open and informational, they just want the rules followed. After all that’s our objective too, and we’ll be fine as long as we’re not taking any short cuts and all our employees know their jobs! I think audits are important and necessary and I’m a firm believer in using a 3rd party to check up on us every now and then!
We’ve been discussing the food service distribution side of things but everything’s the same for production warehouses too. All our tasks are laid out on paper and we should be performing them just like it’s written.
Another type of audit we may experience could be a visit from OSHA. Again, they’re not there to rough us up. Just like all the other agencies we just discussed, they want us doing things right. As we’ve discussed our Safety is paramount and should be our first priority period. I’ve been involved in a couple of dealings with OSHA and I’ve found them to be very professional, straight forward and by the book but very instructive as well. Again, do our job right and to the best of our ability and we’ll be fine, Safe and we’ll probably learn something from them too! I’ll reach out to our WAOC Safety man Joe and see if he can educate us a little on an OSHA audit and the process.
I hope I answered your questions today and don’t stress over 3rd parties auditing your procedures, it’s great to have another set of eyes looking at how we’re performing our duties. Auditors have a job to do and everyone I’m met want’s to help. Until next week, let’s take a moment and review our policies, maybe do a little self-auditing, especially our Safety procedures, never hurts to review our Safety practices!
One thought on “Audits, the Why and How”
Hey Marty,
Corey here finally got to here this weeks and last weeks podcast. I wanna just say perfect timing. I’ve pointed out to some of the fellow men and women I work with “Stay safe!” And”Keep doing what you’ve been doing.” I feel that the guys ive been working with can get through this audit unscathed keep your area clean, keep your feet on the jack or lift, and be cautious of your surroundings. Thats all. Don’t go into panic mode. Lol. As for last week thanks for mentioning me. Things are great meeting goals and moving on to new goals. Well best of wishes to all and have a Blessed day!
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