Remote Video Auditing

You conduct regular walk-throughs of your plant, checking on the processes and practices; you have internal and external audits for assessment; and your employees are trained in all aspects of their individual roles and responsibilities.

From all this you ascertain that your plant is operating well and workers are doing what they are supposed to do. At least, that is, when they are being watched or assessed.

Do you ever wonder if they are really doing what they say they are doing when no one is watching? Or—on the positive side—if there may be some great efficiencies a team or individual has implemented that no one else knows about?

There are tools to help. One in particular has been described by plant management as the “next evolution” in tools and the “big wrench” in the tool box.

Remote Video Auditing.
Used by Cargill and JBS Swift for animal welfare and food safety, remote video auditing is a quality and safety management tool that began in meat packing and is trending across the industry.

“There are many, many tools we use in the packing plant to manage food safety, but this tool is the big wrench,” said Chandler Keys, vice president of government affairs and industry relations for JBS Swift.

When the company was working with Animal Scientist Temple Grandin on its animal welfare initiatives, video cameras were put in the pens to ensure that workers were complying with standards, Keys said. “It got us thinking, once we did that, of other vulnerable spots,” one of which was the hide removal and evisceration process area. “That is the critical part of making sure there is no contamination of meat,” Keys said, “so we put a camera there to make sure the workers were doing it right.

“We know this is where the CCPs are as relates to E. coli,” he said. “If we show 99 percent compliance on our standards that is confirmed and documented by a third party, we can show regulators and the public that we are doing everything we possibly can to make it safe.”

Although there are always supervisors in the area, he added, “when someone is looking over your shoulder, you are more careful than when they are not there. It’s just human nature.”

“Human behavior is fascinating,” said Mike Siemens, Cargill leader, animal welfare and husbandry, adding in very similar words, “If someone is looking over your shoulder, you probably act differently.

“It does bring out a lot of things you may not have even anticipated,” Siemens said, both positive and negative.
 
Cargill had been working with Grandin for many years when it piloted video auditing at its Fresno, Calif., plant in 2008. Although the company had a strong animal welfare program, it saw this as a means of continuous improvement. “We saw how it could be implemented into an already strong program,” Siemens said. “It was the next evolution of tools in the toolbox to show that we are doing what we think we are … to ensure compliance all the time.”

“I am a big proponent, a big supporter of video,” Grandin said. “I have seen it result in a lot of improvements.” Because the video can pick up minute discrepancies that would not necessarily have caused point deductions in audits, these improvements can go beyond standards of welfare or safety. “Now we’re getting into the really fine tuning of it,” she said.

How It Works.
Remote video auditing involves capturing random video clips of specified areas and workers. The video samples are viewed in near real-time by trained auditors who analyze and assess them through a web-based software system, explained Adam Aronson, CEO of Arrowsight, a remote video auditing provider. The analysis is then reported back to designated plant managers through real-time email alerts of plant-designated critical limits and scheduled compliance scorecard reports and trend analysis, both of which include video links.

The cameras are running at all times the plant is in operation, but only random samples are recorded and transmitted for auditing and analysis. “You never know when an audit sequence will come on,” Siemens said.

Rollout of a remote video program generally results in extensive improvement in worker accuracy, Aronson said. When first put in place, it is common to record worker compliance to standards of about 85 percent for processes that the plant had believed to be nearly perfect in compliance. But typically, within a month, when the workers are consistently receiving feedback, the program has shown compliance to increase to close to 100 percent.

Positive Feedback.
Employee feedback, both positive and improvement-focused, is a critical component in the success of the program. “If you don’t have good information going back to your employees, it doesn’t matter what you do. Things will fall through the cracks,” Siemens said.

While it is important to discuss issues and retrain when employees are not working up to standards, it is even more important to commend those who are seen doing things right or going beyond standards. “We have used it to help improve practices and to make people proud of what they are doing,” Siemens said. “It is used as a carrot rather than as a stick.”

The company can also learn from those who are doing things well, Keys said. “We go to those who are doing a really good job and say, ‘You’re hitting it out of the park! You’re 100 percent. What are your keys to success?’”

Cargill also uses the video clips as a learning tool and to relay best practices among its plants. When analysis shows a location excelling in an area, clips can be viewed by managers at other plants to see what is being done differently there. “You think you are all doing the same thing, but there are variations in how people interpret information,” Siemens said.

Allowing general managers to view the video and analysis of any plant in the system enables an information exchange without requiring travel, he said. They can see how another location is doing something differently, using tools or implementing design for more efficiency, quality or safety. If determined to be of enough value, the manager could then visit the other plant to see the practice and interaction first hand.

Keys agreed that video auditing enables better employee training and recognition, as well as providing benefits in improved allocation of employee resources. “When workers are really good at what they do, a lot of times they will get moved up,” he said. On the other hand, he added, “If a worker is not capable, he can be moved to a less critical position. So it helps in the training and the placing of the right people.

“It’s so critical for the company and the public at large to have the most qualified person at the most critical point.”

A Promising Technology.
JBS Swift first used the program in slaughter for food safety, but is considering its use elsewhere. “We think this technology has promise in other places,” Keys said. One such use he cited was that of the tenderloin cut area, which would have more of a profitability focus. “We would put it on the workers to make sure they are making the right cuts,” Keys said. “[Tenderloin] is the most expensive cut, so if they are trimming too much, that’s a huge expense.”

Cargill has piloted its use for food safety and is also considering other uses of the video auditing, including quality monitoring and food defense. Siemens recommends implementation to any plant that wishes to improve its processes. However, he cautioned, “You have to have a good program with all processes in place, or remote video auditing will not be very successful”

But if you do have strong programs in place and want to continuously improve, he said, “Remote video auditing will enhance it.”

Click Here for more information on the FSIS Draft Guidelines on In-Plant Video Monitoring

The author is Managing Editor of QA magazine. She can be reached at llupo@giemedia.com.