Join this BA Collab Hour to learn about the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Safe + Sound program, including its history, the three core elements, and free resources available for breweries to use. Understand what OSHA consultation services are and how Brewers Association (BA) members can access them to help make their breweries safer. Representatives from Highland Brewing and Fox Run Vineyards will share their experiences developing their health and safety program through the lens of the Safe + Sound core elements—management leadership, employee involvement, and finding and fixing hazards.
The Safe + Sound Campaign encourages employers to implement a health and safety program. The signature event is Safe + Sound Week, held each year during the first week of August. During this time employers can show their safety commitment through activities related to the three core elements. This year’s Safe + Sound Week is August 7-13. Employers can sign up to take the Safe + Sound Challenge to pledge to conduct a safety activity during that week by visiting www.osha.gov/safeandsound.
About the Speakers
Brock Ashburn, Vice President
Highland Brewing Company
Brock Ashburn, PE works at Highland Brewing Company in Asheville, North Carolina. His role has morphed from staff engineer and contractor around 2011, to Vice President today. At the same time, he serves as husband of the President, and son in law of the founder. He has been self-employed as a licensed engineer since 1998 and as a general contractor since 2000, with a breadth of design and build experience in residential, commercial, and site development and construction. Inheriting a building that was originally built in the 1950's and added to over the next 20 years has presented Highland with many challenges. These challenges have provided the opportunity to recycle, reuse, and improve many systems and processes in the brewery during the seemingly unending construction cycle of hospitality related facilities, packaging hall upgrades, brewhouse enhancements, solar array additions, etc. over the last 10 years. Brock seeks to continue the trend of sustainability and reduction of energy use while implementing new and improved machines, systems, safety, and processes throughout the facility.
Pamela Barclay, Health Scientist
OSHA
Pamela Barclay is a Health Scientist with the Directorate of Standards and Guidance at OSHA where she focuses on safety and health programs and coordinates Education Campaigns, including Safe + Sound and Heat Illness Prevention. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Environmental Health and Risk Analysis and a Master of Science (MS) in Behavior, Education, and Communication.
Nick Donofrio, Compliance Assistance Specialist
OSHA
Nick Donofrio began his safety career in the private sector. Working more than two decades in chemical industry, he was responsible for overseeing hazard identification and process safety activities with Fortune 500 chemical manufacturing companies, including developing a Process Safety Management program at one of the world's largest organic peroxide manufacturers. He joined the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 2005.
He started his career with OSHA as a Safety and Health Compliance Officer in the Buffalo area office. During this time, he conducted more than 800 safety and health inspections. His duties included complaint inquiries, accident investigations, and enforcement activities related to Machine Guarding, Process Safety Management, and Combustible Dust hazards. Mr. Donofrio is a three-time recipient of the Secretary of Labor's Exceptional Achievement Award, presented the Regional Administrator's Strong Enforcement award three times and received the Secretary's Honor Award for Worker Protection four times.
Selected to fill the position of Compliance Assistance Specialist for OSHA Region 2 in 2019, he conducts outreach, education, training, and relationship building to business groups, associations, unions, and community and religious groups to assist OSHA fulfilling one of its primary missions: compliance assistance.
Andrew Kolinski, Brewery Operations Director
Highland Brewing Co.
After graduating college with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Andrew Kolinski treated himself to a simple homebrewing kit and was immediately hooked on the process and science of brewing. For the next 11 years he worked for Emerson Process Management – Rosemount Division as an instrumentation geek and engineer, supporting manufacturing, design, marketing, and field troubleshooting. During this time, he earned his Six Sigma Black Belt and, at some point, wrote a Jerry McGuire-style mission statement, detailing precisely how to formally transition into a brewing career. A scant two years later, he was a project engineer for Sierra Nevada Brewing in California.
Sierra became the foundation for what has been an unbelievable experience in brewing. Only a few years after joining Sierra Nevada, Andrew was asked to help design, manage, and build the new greenfield Sierra facility in North Carolina. This was an amazing opportunity that taught him so much in such a condensed timeframe. Andrew's technical brewing and project management skills were well sharpened after the brewery commissioning was complete. At that point, it was time to explore and expand his brewing knowledge beyond process piping, instrumentation, construction, and design. Enter MillerCoors and the world of "Big Barley."
Looking back on his time at Miller, Andrew says it is funny to think that working for a seven-million-barrel brewery brought him closer to beer than at any other point working in his craft career. As the Brewing Optimization Engineer, he supported process changes, swam in reams of production data, and, best of all, was able to obtain his Diploma Brewer status through the Institute of Brewing & Distilling (IBD).
After his time at Miller, having returned to his beloved North Carolina, Andrew began as Brewing Operations Manager for Highland Brewing Co., the 60th largest brewery in the U.S. He is currently the Director of Brewery Operations, overseeing brewing, packaging, distribution, quality, capital expenditure (CapEx) projects, maintenance, utilities, and data management. It has been fantastic to rejoin the craft brewing industry and support a brewery packed with passion and talent, and one with continuous improvement at its core.
In his free time, Andrew enjoys hiking and exploring the Western North Carolina mountains, espresso drinking, equipment hacking, travel, and randomly motoring throughout the Southeastern U.S.
Joseph Luckert, Program Manager
NYDSOL On-Site Consultation Program
Joseph Luckert is a Certified Industrial Hygienist and Program Manager for the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) On-Site Consultation Program. He has 24 years of industrial hygiene experience.
Scott Osborn, President and Co-Owner
Fox Run Vineyards
Scott Osborn is a Rochester native who traveled the country and world before returning to the Finger Lakes to become the proprietor of Fox Run Vineyards. Scott went into real estate development in 1974, later opening an office in Lake County California, a well-known viticulture area. Living so close to the vines, Scott became interested in wine. In 1980, he took his first job at Konocti Winery labeling bottles. He went on to work at Firestone Vineyards, Zaca Mesa, and Byron Winery in Santa Barbara. In 1984, while working at Byron, he returned to visit family in Rochester. During a wine tasting trip around Seneca Lake, Scott tasted a Wagner Vineyards 1982 barrel aged Chardonnay, his first experience with a brilliant cool climate wine. He realized that this was where he wanted to make wines and ultimately own his own vineyard and winery. In 1993, Fox Run became available and, in partnership with Andy Hale, he purchased it. Fox Run Vineyards has since transitioned to a family-owned business that Scott co-owns with his wife, Ruth.
Scott has served as President of the Seneca Lake Wine Trail twice and is a founding member and past president of Finger Lakes Wine Alliance. He is a founding member of the New York Wine Industry Association, created in 2009 to represent the wine industry and to educate legislators in Albany on issues that impact New York State wineries and vineyards. Elected by his statewide peers, Scott currently serves as the New York representative and Vice Chair on the board of Wine America, the national advocacy organization for the U.S. wine industry in Washington, D.C. He regularly participates in wine judging, panel discussions, and symposiums addressing the many challenges of an increasingly sophisticated appellation.
Fox Run Vineyards has been a participant in the New York State Department of Labor Safety Health Achievement Program, sponsored by OSHA, since 2005.