1. Senior management commitment
Managing your certification standard
Find out about BRCGS Part III audit protocol and how to comply with the requirements of certification.
This article is written to meet the following sections of the Standards:
| BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9 | 1.1.9 Copy of the Standard 1.1.10 Audit scheduling 1.1.11 Attendance at audit 1.1.12 Non-conformances 1.1.13 Using the logo 1.1.14 Registration of food production sites Part III Audit protocol |
| BRCGS Packaging Issue 7 | 1.1.7 Copy of the Standard 1.1.8 Audit scheduling 1.1.9 Attendance at audit 1.1.10 Non-conformances 1.1.11 Using the logo Part III Audit protocol |
| BRCGS Agents & Brokers Issue 3 | 1.1.8 Business registration 1.1.9 Copy of the Standard 1.1.10 Audit scheduling 1.1.11 Attendance at audit 1.1.12 Non-conformances 1.1.13 Using the logo Part III Audit protocol |
| BRCGS Storage & Distribution Issue 4 | 1.1.7 Copy of the Standard 1.1.8 Attendance at audit 1.1.9 X Business registration 1.1.10 Audit scheduling 1.1.11 Non-conformances 1.1.12 Using the logo Part III Audit protocol |
| FSSC 22000 Version 5.1 | 2.5.5 Logo use 6.2 Nonconformities 7 Certification decision process Annex 1 Scope |
| IFS Food Version 7 | 1.2.6 Notifying the Certification Body 1 The IFS Food Certification process 2 IFS Food Assessment realisation 4 Post IFS Food Assessment actions |
| SQF Edition 9 | 2.1.1.8 Unannounced audits PART A Implementing and Maintaining the SQF Food Safety Code: Food Manufacturing |
Your solutions for managing your certification standard
Everything you need to gain and then retain your certification to BRCGS is here:
- Senior management commitment eDocs (which includes managing your certification standard).
- Managing your certification standard mini training.
- Senior management commitment super course (which includes managing your certification standard).
To make it super simple for you, we would recommend the eDocs and the super course – then you’ve got everything you need to comply with all of section 1 (including managing your certification standard).
The requirements
Information sources
The business must hold, understand, keep up-to-date with and action any changes to certification information sources, including:
- The Standard.
- Audit protocol.
- Position statements.
Registration
Where required by law, the business and associated addresses must be registered with the appropriate local authority. Evidence of registration must be retained.
Audit scheduling
The business must ensure that certification is retained, in compliance with the requirement for audit frequency and certificate expiry laid out in the audit protocol (BRCGS Part III).
Management commitment
The business must comply with the audit protocol for the completion of the audit (BRCGS Part III), including:
- The most senior manager must take part in the opening and closing meetings.
- If the most senior manager is absent on the day of audit, a nominated deputy must attend.
- A member of the management team must be available to present and discuss the culture plan during the audit.
- Relevant departmental managers or their deputies must be available, as and when required.
- Where compliance activities are managed by group, a responsible person must be available.
- Where compliance activities occur off-site, a responsible person for that site must be available.
Non-conformances
Management must ensure that non-conformances raised during the audit are managed in compliance with the audit protocol (BRCGS Part III). This must include using root cause analysis to prevent recurrences.
Certification logos
The site must only use the certification logo and reference the certification status, following the rules detailed in the audit protocol section (BRCGS Part III).
Updates to the requirements for BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9 are shown in bold italics.
BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9
The management team must understand the requirements for culture sufficiently so that they can present the plan to the auditor during the BRCGS audit. Throughout the standard Issue 9 now expects a team approach to the development, implementation, and management of culture.
BRCGS Packaging Issue 7
You must instruct your certification body to carry out your next audit, as soon as your last audit has been completed. This gives them enough time to plan your audit in, if it’s unannounced. As a minimum, you must instruct your certification body before you near your four month unannounced audit window. If you don’t know if your audit needs to be unannounced next time, you must check with your certification body as soon as possible.
Given that product safety and quality culture is now a site-wide requirement, the site management team including department leads, must now be able to present the culture plan at audit. Each person must understand the plan sufficiently, so that they can present what their department is doing to improve culture on site.
Your next steps
To make the process as simple as possible, we would recommend you complete the senior management commitment super course and use the senior management commitment eDocs. The eLearning and eDocs contain everything you need to comply with BRCGS section 1 for senior management commitment, which includes managing your certification standards.
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