Brewery Shutdown Safety Guidance

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Written By Safety Subcommittee , Brewers Association

Brewers Association

The Safety Subcommittee increases safety awareness of Brewers Association members with the goals of minimizing risk and preventing harm to people, products, and facilities.

February 1, 2026

Breweries shut down for all kinds of reasons: planned seasonal closures, emergency evacuations, natural disasters. Whatever the cause, a solid shutdown plan protects your staff first and sets up a clean restart second. Planning and training are the foundation.

When a shutdown is underway, only essential staff should be on site. Their job is to safely power down equipment and secure the facility — nothing else. Keep it to a two-person team of experienced supervisors or managers who know the systems.

Safety Guidelines for Shutting Down Operations

Create a detailed record of who can access facilities during a shutdown including names, tasks, and phone numbers.
Avoid having a lone worker in the brewery. If one must work alone, ensure they have a communication device, and an established procedure to notify another member of your team when they arrive and when they leave.
Entry during shutdown should include the following PPE: safety glasses, safety shoes, pants, long sleeve shirt, nitrile gloves at all times, and N95 respirator at all times.
Use a 4-gas monitor at all times to ensure no high levels of CO2 in the building. Immediately evacuate if CO2 is >3.0%.
Consider changing locks for added security of facility. During times of economic insecurity, some people will take advantage. Make sure your business is secure, be it with locks, alarms, cameras, etc.
Make sure to alert others to your whereabouts when checking in on your business,

Reasonable work to be performed during a shutdown:

Ensure building and equipment integrity during shutdown. Check that all doors are closed and locked, and look for leaks, damage, or any other adverse conditions.
Ensure all beer/wort is held in tanks until after the shutdown.
Adjust tank temperatures.
Consider steps to sustain yeast health (dropping/harvesting yeast).

The following emergency preparedness resources will help you prepare and plan for navigating specific natural disasters:

Resuming Business

After any shutdown period is over there will be an urgent need to get back up and operating as fast as possible. If you do not have one already, refer to Safely Reopening Brewery Operations to create a plan detailing how to safely start up all equipment and processes.

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