The Product Loss Incident Report SOP

Purpose

When a business loses product while equipment is down, somebody is going to add up the loss, and sooner or later somebody asks whose fault it was. This procedure makes sure the shop has one factual record written at the time: when the fault was reported, what the tech found with times and temperatures, what was done, who decided what happened to the product, and photos. Written that way, the record protects the business's own insurance claim and protects the shop if its earlier work is questioned. Written loosely, or not at all, a tech's offhand "yeah, that part we put in probably went" becomes the only account anyone has. Why the loss is usually larger than the invoice is covered elsewhere (see related: Product and Revenue Loss as the Real Cost of a Commercial Call).

Scope

Covers any call where product with a temperature or time limit was at risk or discarded: food in coolers, freezers and hot holding, medications and vaccines, flowers, chemicals, anything the business says it may throw out.

Does not cover moving product to other storage with the manager, which has its own method (see related: How to Move Product Out of a Failing Cooler With the Manager), or injury and vehicle incidents, which go through the shop's general incident procedure. This is not legal advice, and the decision to notify the shop's insurer belongs to the owner and the shop's agent.

Roles and responsibilities

Procedure

1. Log the first report exactly. The office records the time the call came in, who called, and the caller's words about what they noticed and when they noticed it, separately. Acceptance: a call time from the phone system and the caller's stated "first noticed" time, both on the job. Wrong looks like one time written as "afternoon"; the stop rule is the office pulls the time from the phone log before closing the call record. Risk: the gap between when a business noticed and when it called is part of the loss story, and only the first conversation captures it.

2. Check the thermometer, then read before touching anything. On arrival the tech does an ice-point check on the probe thermometer (probe in a cup packed with ice and a little water, stirred, read after 30 seconds) and then records the cabinet air temperature and at least three product temperatures from different shelves, with the time. Probe between packages rather than piercing product the business may still sell. Acceptance: the thermometer reads 32 F plus or minus 2 F at ice point, and three product readings plus air with times are recorded. Wrong looks like an ice-point reading outside that band; the stop rule is use a second thermometer that passes, or record that readings are unverified. Hazard: before entering a walk-in, confirm the inside door release works and prop nothing that could swing shut; in a freezer, limit time inside and wear gloves.

3. Photograph before and during the work. Photos: the unit's display or thermometer, each product reading with the thermometer in frame, the shelves overall, the failed component once the unit is isolated, and the condition of anything the shop installed earlier. Acceptance: at least six photos, each with the time stamp intact. Wrong looks like photos of the part only; the stop rule is take the shelf and reading shots before product moves, because once it moves they cannot be retaken. Hazard: isolate and lock the unit's disconnect, and verify it dead, before photographing inside an electrical compartment.

4. Record every action with its time. What was tested, what was found, what was replaced or adjusted, when the unit restarted, and readings after restart at a stated interval (a common starting point is at restart, 30 minutes and 60 minutes). Acceptance: a timed action list ending with a post-restart reading. Wrong looks like "repaired unit"; redo it. Risk: the pull-down after the repair shows the equipment recovered, which matters when anyone later argues it was never fixed.

5. The product decision belongs to the business, and the record says who made it. The tech gives the readings and times to the manager, says where the authority is (the business's food safety plan and the health department under the Food Code as their state adopted it, or the drug or vaccine maker's storage guidance), and does not say the product is fine or must be discarded. Acceptance: the name and role of the person who decided, what they decided, and the time, on the report. Wrong looks like a manager asking "is it safe to sell?"; the stop rule is the tech repeats the readings and says the call is theirs or their owner's. Risk: a tech who says "it's fine" owns the illness if it was not.

6. Write facts, not fault. The report states what was observed: "compressor not running, overload open, start capacitor reads 0 microfarads against 88 rated". It does not say "our part failed", "we should have caught this", or "they should have called sooner", and the tech does not sign the business's own loss claim or estimate its value. Acceptance: the shop owner, reading it, finds no sentence assigning cause to a person. Wrong looks like an apology in writing; the stop rule is rewrite before submitting. Saying "I'm sorry this happened" aloud is ordinary courtesy and is not the problem.

7. Route it to the shop owner the same day. The tech submits the report before end of day, and the shop owner reviews it within one business day and decides whether to call the shop's insurance agent, at minimum when the shop worked on that equipment before, when the business asks the shop to pay for product, or when anyone mentions a claim or an attorney. Acceptance: report submitted with a time stamp, owner's review noted. Wrong looks like the report sitting on a phone for a week; the stop rule is the office chases it the next morning. Risk: many liability policies require prompt notice of an occurrence, and the agent is the one who knows what this policy says.

8. Give the business its facts, keep the report with the job. On request, the business gets the readings, times and photos for its own insurer. The narrative report stays in the job record and is never edited after submission; a correction is a dated addendum. Acceptance: report attached to the job, any addendum dated. Wrong looks like a tech changing the report after a phone call with the customer; the stop rule is addendum only. Risk: a report changed later reads as a report written for the dispute.

The record this produces

One report per incident, attached to the job: first-report time and caller, the caller's noticed time, the ice-point result, timed air and product readings, photos, the timed action list with post-restart readings, the product decision with who made it, and the owner's review. The business's insurer may see the readings and photos; the shop's agent may see the whole report; the shop owner reads it first.

A worked pass

A convenience store calls about its reach-in dairy cooler. The shop replaced that cooler's condenser fan motor three weeks earlier.

PRODUCT LOSS INCIDENT REPORT   Job 5213
First report  14:05 by clerk (phone log)
  clerk: "noticed milk warm about 13:30"
Arrived 14:48
Thermometer A ice point 35 F   FAIL, set aside
Thermometer B ice point 32 F   pass
14:55 air 52 F (setpoint 36 F)
  top shelf milk     48 F
  middle yogurt      50 F
  bottom juice       47 F
Photos 1-8  display, 3 readings, shelves,
  compressor compartment, fan from prior job
Actions
  15:02 disconnect locked, verified dead
  15:10 compressor overload open
  15:18 start capacitor 0 uF, rated 88 uF
  15:20 condenser fan from prior job turns
        freely, runs on restart
  15:35 capacitor replaced, unit restarted
  15:35 air 52 F  16:05 air 44 F  16:35 39 F
Product decision 15:00 store owner by phone
  dairy pulled and held for the owner
  juice kept in cooler
Report submitted 17:10   Owner review next day

Step 2's stop rule triggered. Thermometer A read 35 F at ice point, 3 F high and outside the 2 F band. The tech set it aside and took every reading with thermometer B, which passed. Had A been used, every product reading would have been 3 F high, enough to move a borderline product across the business's own line.

Step 5. The manager asked whether the milk could stay. The tech read back 48 F and 50 F, the clerk's 13:30, and said the call was the owner's. The owner, by phone at 15:00, chose to pull the dairy; the report names the owner and the time.

Step 6. The draft said "capacitor failed, not related to our fan." The shop owner struck the second half: the fan running freely is the fact, and whether it is related is not for the report to say.

Step 7. Because the shop had worked on this unit three weeks earlier, the owner called the agent the next morning with the report in hand. The post-restart readings, 52 F to 44 F at 30 minutes and 39 F at 60 minutes, show the unit recovered once the capacitor was replaced.

References

• U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Food Code, in the edition your state has adopted, Chapter 3 (cold holding of time/temperature control for safety food) and Chapter 4 (accuracy of food temperature measuring devices)
• Your shop's general liability policy and its notice-of-occurrence conditions, through your agent
• See related: Product and Revenue Loss as the Real Cost of a Commercial Call
• See related: How to Move Product Out of a Failing Cooler With the Manager
• See related: Grocery and Convenience Store Cases and the Cold Chain