Building Fabric in High-Risk and High-Care Zones Procedure

Control drainage as a high-risk and high-care contamination issue

For drainage in high-risk and high-care areas, the procedure requires the drainage layout to be understood and the flow of waste water to be controlled so that it does not create a contamination risk within the production area.

Engineering Management maintains a map of the drains serving these areas, including the direction of flow and the location of equipment fitted to prevent the backup of waste water. Where the drain map forms part of the controlled site map, the procedure connects its control with the Layout, Product Flow & Segregation Procedure and document control requirements.

The procedure also preserves the technical decision point for abnormal drainage conditions: where a drainage condition may present a contamination risk, Technical / Quality Management assesses the condition and determines the action needed to ensure drain flow does not present a contamination risk to the high-risk or high-care area.

Base high-risk filtered-air requirements on risk assessment

Filtered air in high-risk areas is controlled through a defined food-safety assessment rather than a generic ventilation statement. Technical / Quality Management completes the risk assessment used to determine the food-safety requirements for filtered air in each high-risk area, including the source of air and the requirement to maintain positive air pressure relative to surrounding areas.

Engineering Management uses the requirements identified by that assessment to establish and maintain purchasing specifications for ventilation equipment serving each high-risk area. Those specifications include the filter specification and the required frequency of air changes, with the ventilation system expected to supply sufficient changes of filtered air to meet the assessed requirement.

The procedure keeps ventilation performance connected with the wider building-fabric framework. Engineering Management is responsible for ensuring ventilation and extraction continue to control condensation and excessive dust, and where the required filtered-air supply is not maintained, Engineering Management notifies Technical / Quality Management for assessment and ensures the required supply is restored.

Authorise and control removable-wall movement

Where removable walls form part of the design of a high-risk or high-care area, the procedure controls their use, movement, cleaning and reconditioning so that movement takes place only under authorised conditions and does not compromise the required area condition.

Quality Management authorises each movement before the wall is moved. Movement is completed only by authorised personnel who have received the training required for the activity, with Engineering Personnel supervising the movement. Where wall movement is associated with maintenance activity, the procedure links the work to the zone-specific maintenance controls for high-risk and high-care areas.

This allocation matters because wall movement can affect the physical barrier, hygiene status and operating condition of the area. The procedure therefore separates authorisation, supervision, training and maintenance interfaces instead of treating removable walls as ordinary building components.

Restore the wall and affected area before production resumes

After movement, removable walls and the affected area must be restored to the condition required for high-risk or high-care production. Engineering Management ensures the walls are tight fitting when in position and defines the reconditioning requirements needed to restore the wall and affected area following movement.

Cleaning is completed using the established hygiene controls, with zone-specific high-risk and high-care hygiene requirements applied where relevant. Hygiene Personnel then complete documented hygiene clearance following cleaning and reconditioning.

Production does not resume until Operations Management has inspected the affected area following hygiene clearance and formally accepted it back into production use. Where a drainage, ventilation or removable-wall failure may have affected product, the affected product is controlled through the Non-Conforming Product Control Procedure.

Define responsibility across the functions that maintain zone condition

The procedure assigns responsibility across the functions that influence the condition of high-risk and high-care building fabric. Senior Management provides the resources needed to implement and maintain the drainage, filtered-air and removable-wall controls.

Technical / Quality Management owns the food-safety assessment of drainage contamination risk and filtered-air requirements, including assessment of failures in the required filtered-air supply. Engineering Management maintains the drain map and drainage system, converts filtered-air requirements into ventilation purchasing specifications, maintains ventilation capability and confirms removable-wall tight fitting and reconditioning requirements.

Operations Management controls the final return-to-production decision for affected areas after hygiene clearance. Hygiene Personnel provide the documented hygiene clearance, Engineering Personnel supervise wall movement and all employees comply with the requirements applicable to their work.

Connect specialist fabric controls with FSQMS evidence

Records generated by the procedure may include drain maps, filtered-air risk assessments, purchasing specifications for ventilation equipment, removable-wall movement authorisations and hygiene-clearance records. Those records provide the evidence trail for the specialist controls used to maintain high-risk and high-care area conditions.

The procedure also connects directly with the supporting FSQMS arrangements that govern document control, record completion, building fabric and structural integrity, equipment management, maintenance, housekeeping and hygiene, high-risk and high-care segregation, training and non-conforming product control. Those interfaces keep specialist building-fabric requirements aligned with the wider system used to manage production-risk zones.