Baking & Snack - July 2017 - 89

safely, but Mr. Anderson believes there is room for improvement.
"One of the things the committee is going to be working on is to provide relevant and improved guidance to the baker, the end user of the
equipment," he said. "We need to make certain that as a committee, we
are clear about the direction we want to take the standard; are we going
to focus more on the safe design of the equipment, or are we going to
focus on the safe operating practices, or both? I think the current Z50.1
standard has some opportunities to improve that end-user guidance."
A main priority involves making the standard easier to use. While
equipment manufacturers use the document as a design guide, the
standard serves more as a reference to bakers, not something they
check every day. Mr. Brixey, who as recently as June was the director
of engineering & maintenance optimization for Bimbo Bakeries USA,
Horsham, PA, explained that Z50 has made safety and sanitation more
standard with equipment design.
"The fact is you don't necessarily have to refer to the standard on a
daily basis because the manufacturers of our equipment, the way we've
installed our equipment and the way we maintain and sanitize the equipment have all benefitted from the standard as it's matured over the many
years it's existed. It's almost something you take for granted because of
the way our industry has evolved."
Mr. Hipenbecker believes the revised standard could be easier to
navigate. "People need to understand that not every section applies to
every piece of equipment," he said. "It needs to be organized in a way
so that people can find what they need to know about a certain piece of
equipment easily and quickly."
Mr. Domenicucci suggested that many of the revisions will be smaller this time around but can help streamline the standard and make it
more useful to bakers. For example, ensuring that equipment suppliers
supply operating instructions to operators, maintenance and sanitation
personnel. This could also be updated to include the industry's move
toward online manuals and training documents
Both worker and food safety have been at the forefront of the industry's mindset for a while with the debate and rollout of Food Safety
Modernization Act. There are many standards floating around from
different organizations. While the Z50 Safety & Sanitation Standards
are the only ones that address bakery equipment and production specifically, there are others that apply to the industry, such as building
codes, explosion-proof guidelines, electrical code standards and others. While the Z50 document should reference those standards, it
doesn't need to replace them. "We need to make sure that this standard
isn't contradicting others," Mr. Hipenbecker said. "We shouldn't try to
rewrite them."
Whatever revisions the committee makes to the Z50.1 standard will
continue to protect the safety of those operating bakery equipment.
"The standard is a guiding principle," Mr. Brixey said. "It continues to
evolve, and our equipment and our industry at large has benefitted. It
is the backbone that has kept our processing lines and equipment food
safe and people safe."

Find resources for worker safety by visiting www.esourcebaking.com.
Browse by category under Services, and click on Training Services for listings.

Should vs. Shall
Two words are more prevalent in the ANSI Z50 Safety
& Sanitation than others:
should and shall. Knowing
the difference between what
these words mean in the
standard's context can help
equipment manufacturers
and bakers not get lost in the
document.
When the document
uses the word "shall," that
indicates something that
is required. As Rowdy
Brixey, president, Brixey
Engineering, Safety &
Sanitation, and member,
Z50 Safety & Sanitation
Committee, explained there
should be no debate when
this word shows up. On the
other hand, when the standard uses the word "should,"
it implies more of a suggestion. "It can be seen as an
optional recommendation or
if you're struggling to find
a way to approach an issue,
this might be a preferred
way," Mr. Brixey said.
He suggested that bakers
and equipment manufacturers prioritize meeting the
"shall" statements first on
their list of specifications.
Then let company policy or
personal preference dictate
how to handle the "should,"
but they need to be as good
or better than the suggestions found in the standard.
This will help make meeting
the standard more manageable. "If you read the entire
document and try to comply
with every step of it, you're
going to be intertwining
those two distinct aspects,"
he said.

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Baking & Snack - July 2017

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