Week 1 Training - We've Got SALSA Sussed!

We’ve got SALSA sussed..!

Week 1 Training

Hi everyone, I’ve decided to write this helpful hints and tips blog on SALSA, and is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but never had the time to do! So now is the time to take to opportunity to start writing and help businesses get SALSA sussed…..

The blog is going to run through SALSA section by section and explain exactly what you need to do to smash it in audit. Being a SALSA auditor and mentor myself I know what auditors are looking for!

We will start with Section 1 Training, then run through the rest of the prerequisites one by one. Then section 2 HACCP, Section 3 Management System & Documentation, then 4 Premises. However, if you feel you really want to tackle another burning topic, then feel free to ask and I can swap things about to suit you.

Please see the attached file for getting training for SALSA sussed…

Training – what do you need to show your SALSA auditor?

What you need: Training Procedure, Training Record & Training Matrix

Training needs to be carried out with every staff member you have on site if you have a food business, everyone needs to know at least the basics. Over and above that, training on staff members specific roles needs to be carried out and recorded too.

Training Procedure

Your procedure needs to state what you are going to train and when.

This means, what are you going to train people prior to them starting work in the factory, such as the induction topics. The basic food safety topics which you I suggest are important to cover for all staff to aid awareness and include in your induction training are:

•             Personal Hygiene – Including Health Questionnaire

•             Cleaning & Chemical Control

•             Allergens

•             Glass Breakage

•             Pest Control

•             Basic HACCP

•             Traceability

•             Managing Incidents Recalls & Withdrawals

 

The training you complete on the role specific tasks, should be carried out before staff are expected to carry the task out. These would include things like cleaning tasks, production and processing tasks, recipes, machinery settings etc. A good way to define roles and the tasks the staff will perform is to write job descriptions and list the task they will be expected to carry out. Think about machinery or equipment being used, recipes for all the products produced, cleaning of specific equipment and areas, and who will be expected to take deliveries, temperature of fridges and freezers, CCP monitoring and recording, stock control, picking and packing, dispatching, and completing all associated records.

You will also have to state what frequency you will refresh training. It is suggested every 2 to 3 years. Please also note – if you change ANY procedure, you need to retrain the changes as soon as they happen. Document this too on the staff training records.

It is also key to document training of CCP’s prior to being asked to carry out checking and recording of them, and that the frequency for refreshing CCP training should be every year.

Lastly, you need to state you will check the competency of staff before they can work unsupervised.  Competency checking is where you check to ensure that a staff member has understood the training. I would advise to do this 2 weeks to a month after the initial training, or whatever timescale you deem suitable.

Checking competency can be done in a number of ways, however some examples are:

•                Observe a person carrying out a task against the procedure and sign them off as complete.

•                Set a quiz or a set of questions on the training and depending on the score or quality of the answers given, deem them as competent or not.

 

Training Records

For each staff member you employ, no matter what the department they work in you need to record the training they are given, this applies to SALSA and food safety, but also to other things such as health and safety, fork lift training etc too. It might be easier to record all training in the same place however auditors are only looking for the SALSA and food safety related training.

Set out your training record template

Have a training record template, best practice is to ensure you have all of the following things on the record:

•                Staff name

•                Start date

•                Training received – name of the document they were trained from, name of external training

•                Date of training

•                Signature of trainee

•                Signature of trainer

•                Date of competency check and sign off

You can put the version number of the document you have trained as well, so you are keeping track.

It’s a good idea to pre populate the training records with the training that all staff members are expected to go through, so you don’t have to write it out every time, saving time!

Once training is complete, you need to sign that you have trained the staff member, and they need to sign to say they have understood the training. This is important, so that if you find something has not been completed correctly, they can be challenged as to why they have not followed procedure?

Retraining should be carried out, and they would have to sign again to show their understanding.

Repeat offenders who do not follow procedure will highlight if the training procedure should be reviewed and determined if it is not clear enough in the first place, or will show staff who don’t follow procedure and need to be dealt with through disciplinary.

Training Matrix

Having a training matrix is best practice, nice to have (and very useful too), but as long as you have the records and procedure it is not 100% necessary. A matrix is a place to keep an overview of all of the staff training completed to date. This is definitely something to use as your business grows and is a great idea to get it into place from the start. It will make training easier to manage as you go along. So, if you are a medium / larger business, get this matrix done!

One way to set up a training matrix:

I usually use an excel spreadsheet, I have a list of all training - by work instruction or procedure name in one column, and a list of all staff members across the top, highlight the training needed for each staff member (according to their job role), by adding colour coding, or a Y / N or tick in the relevant cells if they require the training. When training is completed by that staff member – put a date instead, so you know when it was carried out.

One Man Band / Women Band Businesses!

But, what if your business is a one women / man band business I hear you ask, well it’s a tricky one, but you need to know that you also need to document that you have procedures that you have written and follow, so document it all in exactly the same way – you will just have to sign and say you have read and understood your own procedure, which also in turn confirms that you will follow the procedure at all times to carry out the task correctly. Another way around it, is to get your compliance or technical support to help you with that, they could train and sign you off.

Get Organised

Have a training file set up, with dividers per staff member. Also, you could have all of your induction training documents set up in the front, so they are easily accessible for initial training for new staff members joining. Keep any external certificates in the training file too, such as HACCP, or basic food hygiene.