With safety being paramount in breweries of all sizes, the task of creating a robust safety program can feel formidable. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Safe + Sound campaign, however, breaks it down into three focus areas. This playlist will help a brewery commit to safety and health in the workplace by building a strong foundation in Management Leadership, encouraging Worker Participation, and establishing a systematic approach to Finding and Fixing hazards. Implementing these three cornerstones will help create a safe, healthy, and more productive environment for all employees at the brewery.

Management Leadership

Management leadership is the first cornerstone of a safe and sound program and entails commitment from leaders within a brewery to implement a safety program and then use that as the foundation for continuous improvement in health and safety.

• Lead: Check out OSHA’s Be Safe + Sound at Work: Management Leadership document, which covers how to make safety and health core organizational values, the importance of providing sufficient resources, the key elements to running a safety program, and how to visibly demonstrate and communicate safety commitments to workers.
• Know: Learn about the Safe + Sound program and listen to brewers’ experiences developing their own safety programs in the Keeping Brewery Employees Safe + Sound: An OSHA Program Overview and Brewers’ Perspectives BA Collab Hour webinar.
• Foster: Foster and maintain a successful safety culture with advice from this past Craft Brewers Conference® seminar on The Craft of Balancing Safety and Culture.
• Develop: Identify and prepare employees who can take on a safety leadership role within the brewery using the tools described in the Developing Leaders BA Collab Hour webinar.
• Utilize: Use these handy safety program templates from the Master Brewers Association of the Americas for lockout/tagout, respiratory protection, and safety committee programs.
• Survey: Gain insights into employee motivation, engagement, and retention to allow employees to make their voices heard and allow leaders to make positive organizational changes with the BA’s downloadable guide on Workplace Surveys.

Worker Participation

A safety program will only work if everyone participates by using their experience, knowledge, and insights to find safety solutions. Learn how breweries can encourage their employees to engage in and embrace a safety culture with these resources.

• Encourage: Check out OSHA’s Be Safe and Sound at Work: Worker Participation document, which covers how to engage workers at all levels in being active participants in the safety and health of the workplace.
• Learn: Lead in safety by encouraging staff to take the Brewers Association’s (BA) Brewery Safety Training online course. Each video course addresses safety and health training in different procedures at a brewery and ends with a certificate of completion.
• Protect: Ensure workers wear proper personal protective equipment (PPE) with this guide to Protective Clothing for Brewery Workers.
• Boost: Create a safer workplace by Reinforcing Its Immune System. Listen to this BA Collab Hour with brewery safety expert Matt Stinchfield on the principal drivers of safety culture in the workplace.
• Standardize: Use this Standard Operating Procedures Guidance to allow brewers and other employees to take ownership and responsibility of procedures, which foster uniformity, safety, quality, and accountability of duties.

Find and Fix Hazards

Breweries must find a systematic approach to finding and fixing hazards to stay ahead of emerging hazards in their breweries. These resources will help breweries develop systems and stay mindful of changing circumstances and environments that present new safety obstacles.

• Be proactive: Check out OSHA’s Be Safe and Sound at Work: Find and Fix Hazards guide. Finding and fixing hazards is an ongoing process, and this guide will help a brewery establish procedures to collect and review information about known or potential hazards, investigate root causes, and prioritize hazard controls.
• Know: Use the BA’s Hazard Assessment Principles guide to know what the best management practices are when developing and improving brewery safety programs, standard operating procedures, and work safety compliance.
• Categorize: Determine actions that will best control exposure to hazards in the workplace by using the five levels of actions to reduce or remove hazards in the Hierarchy of Controls.

These resources should help any brewery on its way towards implementing and maintaining a strong safety culture and program. For more inspiration and guidance on making a brewery the safest brewery possible, enjoy the following treasure troves of safety guidance:

• Research: Use the BA’s Safety Resource Hub to find even more safety tools and tips for your brewery.
• Read: Check out the latest book by Brewers Publications, Brewery Safety: Principles, Processes, and People by Matt Stinchfield.