State of Mind

During my career as a Food Safety Auditor, I have experienced at least a dozen audit schemes that focus on the evaluation of the effectiveness of the food protection programs that have been implemented at a food processing facility. One of the common criteria in each of these schemes is training of plant personnel, including managers. Companies that are involved in the food supply chain, from ingredients and packaging suppliers to finished food producers and distributors, are expected to provide training to all staff members. This training could include subjects such as Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), Allergens, Hazardous Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), Sanitation, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Food Defense, Foreign Material Control, Personal Hygiene, and so forth.

Training is defined as “developing or forming the habits, thoughts or behavior of a person by discipline and instruction; to make proficient by instruction and practice.”1 However, my experiences do not show that our industry’s training programs are always producing the desired results. I frequently review food protection training programs and am shown elaborate computer or video presentations that are used to relay this information. Attendees sign a sheet to show they have participated in the training and may even complete a quiz to show they absorbed at least some of the information that was presented. I then do a physical inspection in the plant and find numerous examples of violations of the plant’s policies and procedures. Here are a few real-life experiences to support my point.

1. During one inspection, I walked up to a conveyor on which exposed food product was being transported. An operator was standing near the belt, right next to a drive motor and gear box assembly that was mounted above the product stream and had a shallow (~½” deep) catch pan installed below it. As I approached, I noticed a slow but steady drip coming from the catch pan and falling onto the food product below. Upon closer inspection, I discovered the gear box was leaking lubricant and the catch pan was overflowing. A little additional investigation revealed that the operator had attended all the facility’s food protection training sessions for the past several years, had signed the training log, and had successfully completed the related quizzes. So why did this operator not notice, and react appropriately, to the food product contamination event that was occurring about three feet from where he was standing?

2. During an inspection of the outside grounds at another plant, we came to the area where bulk liquids were received (i.e. edible oils, liquid sweeteners, etc). I asked to view the in-line receiving strainers and my escort went to find one of the receiving workers. The receiver soon appeared with the tools needed to open the receiving ports so I could inspect the strainers. As he removed the strainer basket from the first port, I noticed something odd at the bottom of the basket. Upon closer examination, I found that two 3⁄8” holes had been drilled into the bottom of this basket. I questioned the receiver and learned: “The truck drivers were complaining there was too much back-pressure in this line for them to be able to run their discharge pumps at full speed. So I took the strainer basket to the shop and fixed it.” Once again, food protection training records were available to show this worker had experienced all the plant’s training sessions for some years.

3. While inspecting a line in the finished product packaging area at a plant, I asked my escort to find the person who was responsible for monitoring the metal detector (CCP) on that line. This operator proceeded to show me the procedure she used to challenge the metal detector. The test pieces did trigger the detector and activated the alarm and reject mechanism. However, the timing of the reject device was not set correctly and all three test pieces continued down the packaging line unaffected. I questioned the operator only to learn that, “This thing does that a lot. I’ll try to remember to get one of the maintenance guys to adjust it later. We have to finish this run by the end of the shift.” Guess what? Current training records were also available for this person and her supervisor.

Do you notice a pattern from these examples? The workers in these scenarios had all experienced their plant’s training programs, in some cases, multiple times. Yet, this training had failed to form the habits, thoughts or behaviors of the person in the most effective manner.

Based on my experience with more successful training programs, I can offer some ideas that may or may not apply to the situation at your plant. Evaluate your own training process with these suggestions in mind and determine how you can improve the effectiveness of the investment you’re making.

VALUED TRAINING
Sometimes, training becomes a repetitive event. You have to do it to comply with company requirements and so you have acceptable records available for your next third-party audit. However, many companies have used the same training material for years and offer the same routine presentation each time. Most staff members have seen this training several times and tend to nap through the event.

When the session is finished, you might have everyone sign a record to show they have attended the training. Then you collect the record, place it into a properly labeled folder, and breathe a sigh of relief that the event is over until next year.

Or maybe you give each department shift supervisor a training guide and tell them to review it with their staff during the next shift meeting. Again, you make sure they obtain a record of the people who have been exposed to this training. Have you really offered anything that employees consider valuable? Have you helped your personnel “develop or form the habits, thoughts or behaviors” that will enhance your food protection programs? It is your responsibility to make training interesting and effective. Find some way to offer your personnel adequate training so they can help maintain your food protection programs successfully.

TRAINING EVALUATION
How do you determine if the attendees have clearly understood and retained the important information the training has provided? This can represent a significant challenge. You may have a sign-off form that states something like, “By signing below, I confirm that I have received the training noted and that I understand the material that was presented.” But, what does this record provide in the way of real feedback? Probably only that each attendee can sign their own name!

Others may use an oral quiz with questions that the group can answer. This method is a great way to determine which members of your staff are happy to speak for the rest of the group while everyone else nods their head in agreement with the spokesperson. If you intentionally direct questions to individuals, you risk embarrassing and alienating some members of the staff.

You could consider a written quiz that participants must complete individually. But first determine if everyone has the skills needed to take a real quiz or would you have to create simple true/false questions that don’t provide much verification of the training’s effectiveness? Can you confirm that all attendees heard what you were saying and understood the message you were trying to convey? Have you effectively “made your staff proficient by instruction and practice”?

A real quiz may be a good place to start. Determine the most critical training points for the session and write clear, concise questions that address these points. A mix of true/false and multiple choice questions might be best. Eight to 10 questions may be enough to let you know who needs additional help. To ensure that all participants can understand the questions and the possible answers, read each one out loud and give them a few minutes to mark the answer on their quiz. Follow up by asking supervisors to observe and orally quiz personnel on a one-on-one basis during the next week or two. Make sure each supervisor records his experiences and gives you a written report. This provides additional verification of the effectiveness of the training, and helps you identify individuals that may need some extra coaching.

TRAIN YOUR TRAINERS
Have any of your trainers experienced “train-the-trainer” events in the past few years? If not, how current is their knowledge of the material that is being presented? It could make a significant difference in the effectiveness of the training if trainers refresh their knowledge and presentation skills on a regular basis. There are many opportunities for them to attend live seminars or to participate in online courses. Having well equipped and confident trainers may help to establish a more effective food protection paradigm throughout the plant. These trainers could even hold spontaneous “mini-sessions” on the production floor when they notice a need for some subject-specific coaching. This could result in plant workers feeling that the company is seriously committed to food protection training and making a greater effort to support it.

OUTSIDE RESOURCES
Is all of your food protection training done using in-house trainers? Perhaps you should hire an outside resource for some training sessions. This would expose everyone in the company to different training techniques, styles and experiences. A good professional trainer can make a mundane subject interesting and even exciting. People learn better when you capture their attention with entertaining presentation techniques and reinforce the message with experience-based examples. Professional trainers work hard to develop this level of effectiveness.

OFFER INCENTIVES
Have you developed a program to recognize and reward the champions that work on your production lines? Peer training and reinforcement can have a very positive impact if properly directed. You could create an incentive system that would benefit individuals who are “caught doing something right.”

When you notice someone who is particularly involved in some aspect of food protection, invite that person to participate in the next training session. Maybe they could speak for just a few minutes about some experience they have had that relates to food protection. You could also ask this person to do some individual coaching with new employees as part of their initial orientation program. Search for additional resources that exist within your personnel pool and use those resources to enhance your training/coaching programs.

TARGET TOPICS
Internal promotions that are designed to strengthen targeted areas of your food protection programs may be a great way to enhance your efforts. Pick a subject, like hand washing, and do a campaign for a few weeks to raise awareness of the importance of this personal hygiene practice. Use posters, blurbs in the company newsletter, short examples at shift meetings, etc., to promote proper hand-washing techniques. After a few weeks, move on to another subject. This would be a great project for your sales/marketing departments to be involved with. These folks are professional “promoters” and spend much of their time trying to get buyers and consumers to think in a certain way.

EMPHASIZE CLIENT EXPECTATIONS
Also, continuously emphasize that customers expect extremely effective food protection programs. Remind personnel that these customers will ultimately determine the future of the plant and all its members. Effective food protection is not something that is being mandated by the management team. It is simply part of what is expected of the food processing industry.

Effective training amounts to developing a targeted state of mind among the food plant’s population. If you have been successful, you should notice that staff members police each other, regularly bring improvement suggestions to you, voluntarily help with training new workers, are concerned about the results of product protection audits/inspections, ask many questions of you and their supervisors, routinely tell you about potential food protection issues they notice, and generally manage the programs from the plant floor.

At this point, you may be thinking that I am proposing a fantasy world, but I have experienced some plant cultures that closely mirrored this picture. I believe these plants have worked very hard and for a very long time to develop the food protection culture that permeates their operations. Get started by honestly evaluating the current state of your training process and implementing procedures to improve the results of this process.

The author, a 25-year veteran of the food processing industry, is an auditor for AIB International.