Is Your HACCP Team Really Multidisciplinary?

A robust HACCP plan doesn’t start with a hazard analysis table – it starts with the people responsible for developing, implementing and maintaining it.

Product safety risks can arise from almost every area of a business. Materials, equipment, people, processing activities, cleaning, storage, transport and business changes can all introduce or alter risk.

That creates an obvious problem: no single person can have detailed knowledge of all of them.

Yet in many businesses, HACCP is still seen predominantly as a Technical responsibility. The HACCP team may exist on paper, but in practice much of the work is completed by the Technical Manager or HACCP Team Leader, with other functions providing information when requested.

A genuinely multidisciplinary approach is very different.

Why does a HACCP team need to be multidisciplinary?

The purpose of bringing together people from different functions is not simply to satisfy a requirement to have a HACCP team. It is to give the product safety plan access to the knowledge, practical experience and operational understanding that exists throughout the business:

• Production understands how the manufacturing process actually operates.
• Engineering understands the equipment, its condition, how it can fail and what happens when it is maintained or modified.
• Hygiene understands cleaning methods, chemicals, waste management and pest control.
• Warehouse and dispatch understand storage, segregation and stock control.
• Transport understands distribution activities and temperature control.
• Procurement understands materials, suppliers and supply-chain risks.
• Product development understands formulation, processing requirements, intended use and changes to products.
• Technical brings expertise in legislation, certification standards and customer requirements.

Each function therefore sees product safety from a different perspective.

When those perspectives are brought together, the team has a much greater opportunity to identify risks that might otherwise be overlooked.

The HACCP Team Leader shouldn’t be expected to know everything

The team needs somebody to manage and coordinate it.

The Product Safety or HACCP Team Leader provides structure and direction, manages communication and helps ensure that the different parts of the product safety plan work together. But, being the Team Leader doesn’t mean being the expert in every part of the business.

An effective Team Leader uses the expertise of the people around them.

During hazard identification, each team member should contribute from their own area of expertise. Production understands how the process operates in practice, Engineering understands the equipment and how it can fail, Procurement understands materials and suppliers, while Technical understands legislation, standards and customer requirements. Bringing that knowledge together gives the team a much more complete picture of the hazards that need to be considered.

The Team Leader’s role isn’t to have greater expertise than every member of the team. It is to coordinate the process, ask the right questions and make sure that the relevant expertise is used at the right time.

What should a HACCP team look like in a smaller business?

A multidisciplinary team doesn’t necessarily mean a large team. In a smaller business, one person may be responsible for several functions. A Production Manager, for example, may also be responsible for hygiene, or technical may cover product development.

What matters is that all the relevant areas of expertise are represented and that the people carrying those responsibilities are competent to do so.

The structure of the team should reflect the size and complexity of the business, its products and its processes.

HACCP team roles and responsibilities

Putting somebody’s name against a role isn’t enough. Members of the team need the appropriate combination of knowledge, training, qualifications and experience for the responsibilities they hold.

They also need to understand their authority, what information they are expected to contribute and when something needs escalating to the rest of the team.

HACCP team competence

Competence should therefore be considered when the team is established, with gaps identified and training provided where required.

Continuity matters too – businesses change, people take holiday and employees move on. Deputies need enough knowledge and competence to fulfil the responsibilities of the role when the primary person isn’t available.

Using consultants and specialists

There will also be occasions when the business doesn’t hold all the specialist expertise it needs internally.

A microbiologist, thermal processing specialist, chemist or other subject matter expert may be required for a particular issue. A consultant may also provide specialist guidance or temporary support where there is a competency gap.

External support can add considerable value, but it shouldn’t replace the core team.

Ownership, accountability and day-to-day management of the product safety plan need to remain with the people who understand and manage the operation.

A consultant can advise a business, but they can’t see every operational change, equipment problem, production pressure or emerging issue occurring every day – so they can’t hold a key role on the team.

Product safety is a team responsibility

A multidisciplinary HACCP team isn’t simply a group of names included in the product safety plan. Its value comes from bringing together the different knowledge, experience and operational understanding that exists across the business.

The HACCP Team Leader coordinates the process, but the effectiveness of the product safety plan depends on the contribution of the whole team.

When each function understands its role and contributes its own expertise, the business is far better placed to identify, control and respond to product safety risks.

Build a stronger HACCP team

Creating a genuinely multidisciplinary HACCP team requires more than appointing representatives from different departments. Team members need to understand why they are part of the team, what expertise they are expected to contribute and how their role supports the product safety plan.

Our Level 3 HACCP for manufacturing course has been designed to build that understanding. It explains the role of the multidisciplinary team, the responsibilities of the HACCP Team Leader and individual team members, the competence required and how different functions contribute throughout the development, implementation and maintenance of the product safety plan.

By giving team members a clearer understanding of both HACCP principles and their own role within the process, businesses can move away from HACCP being seen as a Technical responsibility and develop a product safety plan that is genuinely owned across the operation.

Find out more about our Level 3 HACCP for manufacturing course and how it can support the development of your HACCP team.