Is Your Facility Ready for a Food Safety Audit? Here’s How Once-Off Cleaning Can Ensure Compliance, Cut Costs, and Boost Hygiene
Maintaining a spotless, compliant facility in high-risk environments like food processing isn’t just a good practice—it’s essential for passing audits and protecting your reputation. Routine cleaning alone may not be enough when meeting audit standards or tackling unexpected pathogen issues. That’s where once-off cleaning services from Ecowize make a difference. Designed for high-impact, targeted sanitation, our services complement your regular routines to help ensure audit readiness and a spotless facility. Here’s everything you need to know.
What Are Once-Off Cleaning Services, and Why Do You Need Them?
Once-off cleaning services are designed to address the heavy-duty, often specialised cleaning needs that go beyond your daily protocols. Whether preparing for a regulatory audit, handling an outbreak, or ensuring deep sanitation for hard-to-reach areas, once-off services are powerful for maintaining the highest levels of hygiene.
When Should Once-Off Cleaning Services Be Used?
- Preparing for an Audit: If your facility is heading into an audit, our experts help ensure compliance with rigorous health and safety standards, including industry regulations for food production.
- Pathogen Control: Once-off cleaning helps address specific pathogen concerns with thorough cleaning protocols protecting products and people.
- Supplementing Daily Cleaning: Routine cleaning is effective but may not reach every corner. Once-off services target these missed areas, ensuring your facility is as safe and clean as possible.
Benefits of Once-Off Cleaning Services
Engaging once-off cleaning services means your facility benefits from the following:
- Expertise on Demand: Ecowize’s trained specialists can handle the most challenging cleaning tasks without disrupting daily operations.
- Cost Savings: Avoid hiring additional staff or investing in expensive equipment that’s only used occasionally.
- Compliance Confidence: Stay ahead of regulatory requirements with services designed to keep you audit-ready.
- Enhanced Hygiene: Prevent contamination risks by ensuring deep, targeted cleaning throughout your facility.
Understanding the Distinction Between Regular and Once-Off Cleaning
In environments like food processing facilities, cleaning routines are crucial for preventing contamination and ensuring product safety. Regular cleaning is typically performed daily, focusing on both food-contact and non-food-contact surfaces. It maintains general cleanliness and sanitation necessary for daily operations.
Once-off cleaning, however, is a more intensive, specialised service. It addresses areas that require deep cleaning and are not part of the daily routine, such as:
- High-Level Cleaning: Involves cleaning areas that are difficult to access, often requiring specialised equipment like scaffolding or cherry-pickers.
- Silo Cleaning: Targets the removal of build-up and waste material from silos and other large storage units.
- Confined Space Cleaning: Involves cleaning areas that are enclosed and difficult to reach, such as tanks and ducts.
Pre-Cleaning Requirements for Once-Off Services
Before commencing with once-off cleaning, several preparatory steps are necessary:
- Health and Safety Assessment: Conduct a thorough risk assessment to ensure compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHS Act) and to identify potential hazards.
- Coordination with Regular Cleaning: Ensure daily cleaning tasks are completed, allowing the specialised team to focus on areas requiring more attention.
- Site-Specific Planning: Develop a plan tailored to the facility’s specific needs and layout to ensure adequate coverage in all areas.
How Often Should Once-Off Cleaning Be Conducted?
The frequency of once-off cleaning depends on several factors:
- Type of Contaminants: The nature of soiling, such as protein, fat, or dust, can influence how often deep cleaning is needed.
- Facility Requirements: The type of facility and its specific cleaning needs, including compliance with industry standards and audit requirements.
- Legislation: Adherence to relevant legislation and industry guidelines, which may dictate the necessary frequency of once-off cleaning.
Services Provided by Ecowize
Ecowize offers a range of once-off cleaning services tailored to meet the needs of various industries, including the food and beverage sectors. These services help facilities maintain high standards of hygiene and comply with regulatory requirements:
- Extraction Hood Cleaning: This procedure ensures that hoods and ventilation systems are free from grease and other build-ups, performed according to SANS 10400 regulations.
- Silo Cleaning: Removes build-up and waste material from silos, ensuring they remain clean and safe for storage.
- Rope Access and High-Level Cleaning: Utilises equipment like cherry-pickers and scaffolding to clean hard-to-reach areas.
- Confined Space Cleaning: This service focuses on cleaning enclosed areas such as tanks and ducts, which are essential for removing accumulated residues.
- Fogging: Uses disinfectants to eliminate bacteria and viruses from the environment, which is crucial for maintaining a sterile atmosphere.
Conclusion
Once-off cleaning services are essential for maintaining hygiene and compliance in high-risk environments such as food processing plants. They provide a deep clean that complements regular cleaning routines, ensuring all areas meet the required standards for health and safety. By partnering with experts like Ecowize, you can ensure that your facility is audit-ready and maintains the highest levels of cleanliness and hygiene.
Ready to pass your next audit with ease? Contact Ecowize to learn how our once-off cleaning services can boost compliance, cut costs, and ensure a spotless facility.
