David (not his real name) was a maintenance engineer at a large UK food manufacturer. The company was in the process of transferring its production to a new building which involved using welding equipment and potentially hazardous cleaning materials. David was concerned that this could contaminate food on the production line. He worried that management and maintenance supervisors had ignored the contamination and hygiene hazards, despite other employees having similar concerns.
We advised David to raise the concern internally either to his supervisor or a responsible senior manager. They were not fully aware of the situation so David could explain his concerns and recommend closing the food line during the transfer. If no action was taken, he could consider contacting the Food Standards Agency.
David spoke to senior management who agreed with his concerns. They provided training to the relevant parties and stopped the transfer during production hours.