Why this matters
A breakage response must support two decisions: what product or area may be affected, and what evidence allows work to restart. A photograph of the cleaned location cannot answer either question alone.
- Search intent
- Food production managers looking for a practical evidence trail after glass or brittle-plastic breakage.
- Read time
- 3 min read
- Hub
- BRCGS / BRC Support
Short answer
Record the exact item and location, stop and contain affected activity, define the product and time window at risk, reconcile fragments where practicable, clean and inspect to an agreed method, disposition affected product, replace or protect the source, and obtain authorised restart approval.
What this means in practice
A light cover cracks above a packing conveyor near the end of a shift. Product has moved through the area since the last confirmed inspection and dispatch collection is approaching. The manager must set a defensible affected window, hold the right stock and resist using dispatch pressure as evidence that the area is clear.
The response starts by preserving facts. Record where the item failed, its condition, nearby exposed product, line movement and the last known satisfactory state. Moving fragments or cleaning immediately without capturing context can weaken the later product-risk assessment.
Containment should match credible spread. Consider conveyor movement, footwear, cleaning tools, air movement and open containers, then define the hold boundary and time window. If uncertainty remains, state it and choose a proportionate conservative response rather than presenting an invented level of precision.
Fragment reconciliation can strengthen the decision but is not always complete or conclusive. The record should distinguish what was recovered, what could not be accounted for and what additional inspection or product disposition followed. Restart depends on the whole assessment, not a tick beside 'fragments found'.
WorkSafe can link the registered item, breakage report, held-product decision, clean-up evidence, corrective action and restart approval for WRMH customers. That connected timeline supports review and trend analysis without claiming that the platform determines product safety or audit acceptance.
Key checks
- Can the damaged item be matched to the current site register and last satisfactory inspection?
- Is the affected product window based on location, exposure and timing rather than convenience?
- Does the record show fragment reconciliation, cleaning boundaries and inspection method?
- Are product disposition and restart authorised by the appropriate roles?
Common mistakes
- Cleaning before documenting the breakage position and exposure route.
- Choosing the product hold window around dispatch convenience.
- Treating fragment recovery as the only evidence needed for restart.
What good looks like
The record allows an independent manager to reconstruct the event, understand the affected-product decision and see why the area was released. The item register and inspection programme are updated, and repeat breakages influence replacement or protection decisions.
When to use WorkSafe
Use WorkSafe when a breakage creates simultaneous containment, product, cleaning, engineering and release actions. One live record helps prevent those decisions separating across paper forms and verbal updates.
Walk through the last breakage record and check whether another manager could reproduce the hold, clean-up and restart decisions from the evidence alone.