Whether a company manages to ensure the quality and safety of its products in the long term depends to a large extent on the operational culture and value system within the organization. The new BRCGS Food Safety Culture Excellence Module provides you with significant insights into your company's food safety culture and enables you to identify and sustainably eliminate potential problem areas.

The Food Safety Culture Excellence Module is an optional assessment that any organization can take - whether BRCGS certified or not. The anonymous employee survey provides in-depth insights into the culture of any organization.

The following aspects are made measurable by the module: company values and how they are lived by management and employees, the communication and behavior patterns within the company, the unspoken rules in the workplace, the leadership climate, and all other psychosocial aspects that can influence food safety in the long term.

The Food Safety Culture Excellence Module: People, Process, Purpose & Proactivity.

Released in September 2016, this module addresses four dimensions of food safety culture:

  • People: this category focuses on employee empowerment, incentives for appropriate food safety behaviors, teamwork, and continuing education practices within the facility
  • Process: The focus here is on the effectiveness of employee management, coordination between different departments, consistency of work practices, and employee attitudes regarding the food safety management system.
  • Objective: The evaluation focuses on the company's vision, values, strategy and objectives, and the role that food safety plays in these.
  • Proactivity: this is about the extent to which the company proactively deals with safety risks and limits them through continuous learning and innovation.

Here's how the BRCGS Food Safety Culture Excellence Module can help you: The benefits.

The new BRCGS Food Safety Culture Excellence Module provides you with important insights into your company's food safety culture. The survey is followed by a report that presents the data collected in the employee survey. This makes it easy to identify strengths and opportunities related to food safety culture. Furthermore, the report contains general recommendations for action to improve specific problems. The report not only provides the basis for behavior-based optimizations, but also enables a quantitative comparison between individual sites.

Furthermore, the external impact of the module should not be underestimated: Participation in the module not only protects your company's reputation in the long term by reducing risks, but is also appreciated by potential customers. After the audit, you will have the opportunity to share the report with your customers and other stakeholders, thus convincing them of your achievements.

The BRCGS Food Safety Culture Module: How it works

  1. Preparation: register for the module without obligation on the BRCGS homepage. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information on how to take the exam. Furthermore, you will receive communication materials, the implementation guideline and the targets regarding the feedback.
  2. Audit: The survey is to be answered away by the organization. The anonymous survey will take 15-20 minutes to complete. The site will include weekly updates on how many surveys have been completed. The survey is closed once the site is satisfied with the number of responses. The data is then processed and compiled into a report.
  3. Report: The report is uploaded in PDF format to the BRCGS Directory and includes an overall score, the scores in each area, and other general information that identifies areas for improvement.
  4. Improvements: Based on the recommendations, sites can improve their culture. On the Culture Excellence LinkedIn page, you can participate in webinars and ask questions of the Culture Excellence team. It is recommended that the assessment be repeated annually.

The findings do not affect any existing or future certification.

Author
Dr. Thijs Willaert

Dr. Thijs Willaert is Head of Marketing & Communications for the Sustainability and Food Safety segments. He is also an auditor for the external audit of sustainability reports. His areas of interest include sustainability management, sustainable procurement, and the digitalization of the audit landscape.

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