Murray Goulburn Cooperative (MGC), the largest dairy cooperative in Australia, has implemented Icon Global Link’s ISES tool to manage its food safety plans across all its sites.

ISES is a set of methods for systematically identifying, monitoring and managing risks from the ground up. The flowchart module maps all processes, each risk type to be assessed is described in detail and then each risk type is assessed against each process to identify each critical risk to be managed.

The framework allows for the description of risk monitoring, record keeping, prevention and corrective actions. ISES enables timely responses to day-to-day quality and risk problems, allows pro-active and evidence-based identification of opportunities for process improvement and facilitates a consistent approach to risk assessment and documentation.

MGC was looking for a robust tool that incorporated all risk management functionality into one system across multiple sites; flowcharts, decision trees, Critical Control Point and Hazard Tables, reports and document control and had to have the flexibility to manage different product lines and various risk systems. The business required consistency in approach for practitioners as well as for operators and provide plan visibility throughout the organisation.

The tool needed to reside on a secure SQL server operating over a wide area network with varying speeds, allowing site autonomy and the ability to share data and plans.

MGC has rolled out ISES’ Operational Risk Management tool across its’ seven manufacturing sites and two distribution centres to manage all of the organisation’s food safety plans. IGL initially worked with the MGC sites to migrate all plans from a 3x3 to a 5x5 customisable risk assessment matrix (Based on Australian and New Zealand Standard AS/NZ:4360 /ISO22000 /ISO31000). IGL then converted existing plan data from Microsoft Word, Excel and HEAT into ISES via the ISES MConverter module, thus not losing any of the work that had been developed over the years.

The MGC team had a refresher HACCP training course and then a workshop on the latest ISES ORM release. "I wish we could have used this software during our HACCP training course. It would have made it so much clearer to show how things fit together." Rick Edwards (Corporate Quality Manager).

The MGC team is working through loading their site food safety information and can now benchmark and share plans amongst sites while Head Office now has visibility of all flowcharts, plans and risk registers from anywhere.

"Once we have all of our Food Safety & Quality Plans in ISES we will be in a position to explore other options such as placing our OH&S and Environmental Plans in the system." John O’Regan (General Manager Quality Assurance) The system could be MGC’s one-stop risk management tool.