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Erica Colson
British Standards Institution, UK
ScientificTracks Abstracts: Appl Food Sci J
Food safety management systems (FSMS) have developed to become more advanced over the last 20+ years, however food incidents and recalls are still prevalent, and we still see lapses in basic food safety and HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control points) failures. Modern thinking in the food and beverage production industry is that although we may have more advanced FSMS and monitoring equipment, human error and behaviour is having a negative impact on the safety of our consumables. Standards such as the BRCGS Global Standard for Food Safety have attempted to address this through ‘add on audit modules’ focused on food safety culture, but there is no agreed framework across industry that has a clear methodology proven to improve food safety culture. Presenting key behavioural science learnings combined with business leadership techniques, we will present an approach to food safety culture that focuses on positive reinforcement and top down leadership. We will explore how organizations can tailor their approach after identifying what type of organizational culture they currently work in, and how to best approach positive change in industry, playing into instinctual motivations and identifying ‘mob leaders’ to insight a snowball effect on improving food safety culture and reducing lapses in basic food safety management. Attendees of the session will also be given the opportunity to complete a short food safety culture assessment to benchmark their current status with recommendations for improvement.
Erica Colson has featured on the agenda of many industry events including the International Food and Drink Exhibition (IFE), The Food and Drink Quality and Safety Summit and The Food and Drink IT Summit, The Farm Shop and Deli Show. After graduating the University of Birmingham with a BSc, (Hons) in psychology Erica led the implementation GMP (good manufacturing practice) program at a medical devices company, before moving into the food manufacturing assessment sector. Applying psychological principles to business problems and providing insight on and the psychology of food safety and quality culture, she will share a new assessment tool that food and beverage leaders and compliance teams can use to gain insight into their own business culture.
E-mail: erica.colson@bsigroup.com
