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11/08/08 Life after FSA funded SFBB projects
The key word after local authorities have successfully carried out a FSA funded SFBB project is ‘sustainability’ – this means how do we keep the positive momentum going not only in the catering business community, but just as importantly, amongst the food safety team in the authority itself? The danger is that without a sustainability plan local authorities will find themselves in a year or two back right where they started. Many businesses will have changed ownership, new food businesses will have registered and of course quite a lot will have stopped using their SFBB packs for a plethora of wonderful reasons. Once the momentum is lost the road to getting businesses to adopt and use their documented food safety management systems is a very long and steep one indeed. As one coastal local authority senior EHO said…”it’s like painting the forth bridge, as soon as we think we are making headway we know that next season it will be time to start all over again”.
Many authorities thought they had addressed this dilemma when they submitted their final project reports to the FSA, but the written aspirations have rarely materialised on the ground. The only driving force has been by food safety officers issuing SFBB packs to businesses through routine inspections and the inevitability here, in may cases although not all, is that businesses fail to adopt the pack successfully because despite best intentions the officer has a limited amount of time to coach the pack.
SFBB Systems Ltd does not have all the answers to local authorities’ sustainability issues but we do have a vast amount of experience in working with teams across the country who are proactively addressing these issues. Most of our partners have started talking to us seriously about a year after their funded projects came to an end – when the ‘forth bridge’ factor was realised!
The sustainability approach varies enormously from authority to authority, some involve LA funding and provide free seminars to businesses, and others are financed through local grants and in some cases seminars are provided free by SFBB Systems Ltd. Other LA’s are getting businesses to contribute some of the cost of coaching themselves and some are delighted to announce that local businesses sometimes sign up to coaching at their own cost using a list of specialist providers. (See new item called: WOW! Businesses pay for coaching themselves).
These are the Local Authorities we are working with at the moment with sustainability projects, please call for a chat about how we could work with you in revitalising your SFBB initiatives on the ground.
• Huntingdonshire District Council
• Cambridge City Council
• East Cambridgeshire District Council
• North Cornwall District Council
• Brighton & Hove City Council
• Hastings Borough Council
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