An integrated Food Safety Management System (FSMS) can give you the tools you need to create a robust risk management process. Let’s look at how the FSMS comes into play at each step.
Hazard identification: All hazards or potential sources of risk are compiled into a centralized Risk Register, making it easy to get a complete view of risk across the organization at any time.
Risk assessment: This is where tools like your risk matrix come in, providing a quantitative method for assessing whether a hazard requires a control. Assigning a risk level to items like hazards, non conformances and corrective action requests also makes it easy to filter out high-risk problems.
Control implementation: Corrective Action tools help you identify the root cause of the risk so you can pinpoint the right control needed. Linking individual hazards to controls in the Risk Register also lets you see where gaps exist.
Making adjustments: After you’ve corrected the problem, you need to see whether it actually worked. Before closing a corrective action, you can determine whether to take further action by calculating residual risk. Proactive monitoring tools like dashboard alerts can also help you monitor the results in real-time and make course corrections as necessary.
Ultimately, a risk assessment just tells you one part of the picture. Risk management ensures what you do with that risk assessment actually has an impact on reducing risk exposure to your organization and consumers.
