Preventing a Three Mile Island Episode

How does Three Mile Island relate to food safety?

As you may recall, the incident in 1979 at Three Mile Island Nuclear power plant involved a near meltdown. It put nuclear energy use for delivering clean energy way behind. People were rightfully scared of the possibility of a nuclear release that would cause sickness and death for their communities.

The cause of the event is what is significant.

Every plant has checks and balances and back up plans for failures. There are contingency plans for all imaginable circumstances.

On the particular day of the failure, a water filter blockage caused moisture to leak into the plant's air and shut down two valves that supplied cold water to the steam generator.

The backup system should have taken over, however the valves had been closed for some reason.

The indicator showing that the valves were closed was blocked by a repair tag on a switch above it.

No problem, another backup or relief valve was in line.

But, the relief valve was stuck open instead of closed. The gauge to let the operators know of the problem was broken and waiting for repair.

The stars were in alignment and a meltdown nearly happened.

Do you have a HACCP program? Do you have the pre-requisite programs in working order? Do you have checks and balances to prevent contamination?

Could you really track your products through the market place and back?

I would recommend that you look deeper into this. Do not underestimate the people quotient.

The reason that we have withdrawals of products and recalls of products is that reality is different on the plant floor, than expected in the board room.

The interaction of quality assurance departments, production departments and maintenance departments is essential to the operation. Expecting to avoid negative situations by operating only with bottom line thinking will give you many sleepless nights.

Food safety cannot be a vertically driven from the top down. The playing field must be horizontal to have concern and authority from the top manager to the janitor.

Think about the process in your business. It is not about if a "three mile island" will happen in your plant. It is about when it will happen.

The extent of the liability is in your hands.

Ask the right questions, look with your eyes not your ears.

Be safe out there,
Rudy
Rudy@powerinlearning.com