BRC FOOD 8: Make your employees the strongest link in your company.
BRC 8 focuses on the human aspect
A new year, a new version of BRC. This version draws attention to culture, awareness and engagement. At Food Security, we have been responding to these factors for many years now by creating a positive crisis management culture within your company.
The new BRC FOOD 8 emphasises the importance of a Food Safety Culture. Food safety used to be primarily the responsibility of the quality services. From now on they will check whether a food safety culture is present throughout the whole company: from the management to the employees. The human aspect is therefore a central component within BRC 8.
As our approach shows, we have been convinced of the importance of food safety culture for years:
- During our membership meeting on Food Safety Culture we introduced you to Elien De Boeck's self-assessment tool.
- Moreover, several of our training courses focus on your company’s awareness: from the management to the employees.
- Furthermore, according to BRC FOOD 8, there is a pressing need for a contact point* where your employees can report irregularities within your company anonymously. We offer this new service to our members from 2019 onwards.
*NEW: Food Security launches an external contact point for its members. Learn more? Please do not hesitate to contact us!
3 tips!
Engagement: from employee to CEO
The human aspect is the most important link in your chain. The role of management is to positively inspire the employees and to stimulate open communication. In order to reduce the risk of incidents, clear procedures should be laid down. Employees should know and respect the regulations and should be encouraged to notice and report irregularities.
Hear, see and speak
To this day, employees are still no robots. They “reside” in your company for a long time and see and hear all kinds of things. They should be able to report irregularities in complete confidence. This can be done through a confidential contact person, mailbox or contact point, anonymously or not.
Food Security helps its members by:
Launching a BRC contact point for its members where employees can leave their message anonymously.
Offering a kick-off “positive crisis management culture” where we determine how far your company is on both Food Safety and Food Defense.
Organising an awareness session to raise awareness among your employees concerning their roles in multiple areas (incident awareness, cyber security)
Learning points
How is your company’s Food Defense?
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When receiving a sensitive consumer complaint, a swift response is key. Proper complaint management directly affects consumer confidence in your brand and products.
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