Recall incident response – Is your team prepared?
Jun/10
You (Quality Manager) have just received a complaint from a consumer saying they found glass in your food product, or if you work for a non-food company, perhaps your electrical toy is reported to be giving users electric shocks. At this stage, the reliability and possible causes of these complaints is unknown but you have to take them seriously. This does not mean jumping "feet first" into recall action. It does however require that an investigation is promptly launched into possible cause and confirming the details of the product fault (Technical); with results made available as soon as possible. This process will require sourcing the contaminated or faulty product (Sales), checking manufacturing records (Production), carrying out laboratory testing (Lab), discussions with suppliers (Procurement), traceability (Quality) and developing the risk assessment and action plan (Quality & Technical). Discussions may need to involve the authorities (Technical) and retail customers (Account Managers and communications).
The findings of these initial investigations will be developed into a recommendation to the senior management team e.g. the Board of Directors (including the Finance Director, Legal advisor). The board will then challenge the investigation and recommendations and then approve appropriate action. It is then up to those involved to implement this recommendation and ensure it is reviewed when new information becomes available.
RQA provides support to companies in this situation once or twice each week. Lets talk in advance to discuss how we could help. Don't forget that RQA Europe is the crisis consultant for Chartis Insurance. If you have a contaminated products or defective products (recall) insurance policy with Chartis, RQA's response support comes as part of the policy.
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