March 19, 2024 | 4 min read Why CMMS Is the Right Tool to Help With HACCP Compliance By: Tanya GoncalvesReviewed by: Elizabeth VossFact-checked by: Jason Afara Back to blog In the food industry, ensuring food safety is a top priority to meet safety compliance standards. Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (opens in new tab) (HACCP) is a systematic approach employed by food manufacturers to prevent, eliminate, or reduce potential hazards during the production process. To support HACCP compliance, preventive maintenance plays a crucial role in mitigating risks associated with equipment failure, contamination, and other hazards. This blog will explore how a Computerized Maintenance Management System (opens in new tab) (CMMS) can ensure compliance with HACCP principles and help food manufacturers maintain a safe production environment. Preventive maintenance and risk mitigation with the help of CMMS Preventive maintenance (opens in new tab) ensures the reliability of equipment and reduces the risk of failures that could lead to contamination or other hazards. In the food industry for example, regular cleaning and sanitization of processing equipment, including surfaces, conveyors, tanks, and utensils, is done to prevent cross-contamination and the buildup of harmful bacteria are standard practice. Another example of preventive maintenance is the monitoring of temperatures, freezers, and processing areas to ensure that food is stored and processed at safe temperatures to prevent bacterial growth. Tracking all of these points to ensure HACCP compliance is very difficult to do manually, that’s where a CMMS can come in. “There are lot of ways a CMMS can simplify tasks and compliance for food manufacturers,” says Jason Afara, our Solutions Engineer Manager. Jason has many years of experience in the food and beverage manufacturing industry, and ensured safety standards while working in the industry, he adds that: “Some of the most common ways a CMMS helps is through tracking the contamination of equipment, temperature monitoring, traceability and supporting in any recall management. There’s really no end point for how a CMMS can help not just with HACCP compliance but food safety in general.” As Jason highlights, with a CMMS, food manufacturers can easily schedule and track maintenance activities, ensuring that equipment is regularly inspected and serviced. By preventing unexpected breakdowns and addressing potential issues proactively, CMMS reduces the risk of equipment failure and subsequent safety hazards. Let’s explore a few more examples that Jason spoke to that we can clarify further: Contamination prevention Through effective preventive maintenance, CMMS helps identify and eliminate potential sources of contamination since it can provide documentation if there is direct food contact with the asset. Regular cleaning, lubrication, and calibration of equipment ensure that food production processes remain sanitary and aligned with HACCP standards. Temperature monitoring A CMMS can integrate with temperature monitoring systems, providing real-time alerts and notifications if temperatures deviate from acceptable ranges. This helps prevent the growth of harmful bacteria and ensures compliance with HACCP guidelines. Traceability and recall management With CMMS, food manufacturers can maintain detailed records of equipment maintenance. Asset logs show all scheduled maintenance, work orders, and parts used. In case of a recall, the CMMS would communicate effectively to teams leading the recall or audit. The information stored on the CMMS ensures effective traceability, allowing manufacturers to identify affected assets quickly. These are just a few examples of the way CMMS can help with HACCP compliance. But let’s explore in more detail what the seven principles of HACCP compliance are, and how a CMMS can fit into each. The seven principles of HACCP and how a CMMS addresses them The seven principles of HACCP are a systematic approach to identifying, evaluating, and controlling safety hazards. Below is a table illustrating the seven principles along with how a CMMS can help address them: The HACCP principle The role of CMMS 1. Conduct hazard analysis: Identify and assess potential hazards associated with food production processes, including biological, chemical, and physical hazards. CMMS helps in documenting equipment and processing information, facilitating the identification of potential hazards associated with specific equipment or processes. It allows for the creation of asset profiles detailing critical control points where hazards may arise. 2. Determine critical control points (CCPs): Identify points in the production process where control measures can be applied to prevent, eliminate, or reduce hazards to acceptable levels. CMMS can track critical equipment and processes, highlighting points where interventions are necessary to control hazards. It assists in setting up maintenance schedules for critical equipment to ensure their reliability and effectiveness in controlling hazards. This can also be possible with a custom field, or with the asset name. You could send reports about those CCPs monthly. 3. Establish critical limits: Establish measurable criteria to ensure that each critical control point is under control. CMMS can help in setting up and monitoring critical parameters such as temperature, pressure, and time to ensure they are within acceptable limits. It provides alerts and notifications when critical limits are exceeded or maintenance tasks are due, enabling timely corrective actions. Scheduled maintenance could be set up to do any work orders based on the critical limits. 4. Implement monitoring procedures: Develop procedures and protocols for monitoring CCPs to ensure that control measures are effectively implemented. CMMS enables the scheduling and tracking of monitoring activities, including equipment inspections and testing procedures. It provides a centralized platform for recording monitoring data and observations, facilitating compliance documentation. 5. Establish corrective actions: Define actions to be taken when monitoring indicates that a critical control point is not under control. CMMS can trigger work orders automatically when deviations from critical limits are detected during monitoring. It tracks the completion of corrective actions, ensuring timely resolution of identified issues and preventing further hazards. 6. Establish verification procedures: Establish procedures to verify that the HACCP system is working effectively. CMMS assists in scheduling and documenting verification activities such as equipment performance testing and process audits. It provides historical data and reports for analysis, supporting continuous improvement and validation of the HACCP system. 7. Maintain records: Maintain documentation and records of all aspects of the HACCP system, including hazard analysis, monitoring results, corrective actions, and verification activities. CMMS serves as a centralized repository for all maintenance and compliance-related records, ensuring easy access and retrieval for audits and regulatory purposes. It provides robust reporting capabilities, generating compliance reports and trend analysis to demonstrate adherence to HACCP principles over time. Cloud-based is safe and secure. Users can go back into the system at any time not limited by paper or space. Discover more about HACCP and how to obtain a HACCP certificate (opens in new tab) HACCP compliance for food manufacturers ensures safety and quality of products By implementing a CMMS, manufacturers can optimize preventive maintenance, track critical control points, document compliance activities, reduce risks, and support continuous improvement efforts. “A lot of manufacturers don’t even realize how useful a CMMS is for HAACP,” says Jason. “In fact, the more education around this kind of solution, the better. CMMS directly helps with food safety and compliance—regardless of if HACCP is mandatory in the given country that the food production is happening.” With the right CMMS in place, food manufacturers can confidently meet HACCP guidelines and maintain a safe production environment. Discover how Fiix’s CMMS solutions can help you meet your own safety requirements. (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)