With the development of the craft beer industry, OSHA violations also have increased. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2010 and 2015, how many OSHA violations by craft breweries more than doubled. Now, the craft beer industry is paying more and more awareness of employees and will strictly abide by OSHA requirements.

 

Craft breweries usually employ professional brewers, who need to handle hazardous chemicals and hazardous equipment in confined spaces. Many beer brewers will available to the general public to visit and taste, helping to make the brewers face further responsibilities. Craft breweries must follow OSHA requirements for breweries to ensure the safety of employees and customers. Micet Craft will provide you with some ideas on best safety practices by giving an overview of OSHA regulations, violations, and compliance, and help you make the brewery safer and more reliable.

 

Use of confined spaces requiring permission

 

Brewing beer requires employees to completely clean and repair fermentation tanks, silos, kettles, and other equipment, as well as processing wort. According to OSHA regulations, if these spaces are relatively small, they can be regarded as confined spaces. Craft breweries have to assess whether the area meets the PRCS standards. If PRCS is recognized, the brewery must post a warning to employees.

 

If employees must enter a Permitted Confined Space (PRCS) for work, the brewery is obliged to keep up a space plan that requires written permission. This plan of action needs to incorporate more staff training, monitoring the atmospheric conditions of the area, and formulating emergency rescue plans.

 

OSHA defines a "confined space" as a place that meets the following three conditions:

 

It is big enough and well configured so the employee's body can enter and perform the assigned work;

 

It has limited or restricted way of entering or exiting space;

 

 

It is not made for employees to work continuously;

 

How to prevent this violation?

 

OSHA requires many safeguards to make certain safety in confined spaces that may cause injury to workers, including:

 

OSHA requires a written plan to recognize and test possible hazards. It also needs to test the atmospheric conditions of the confined space and develop emergency rescue plan instructions;

 

The brewery must correctly identify the PRCS as a possible hazard by posting a warning.

 

Employees must get an entry permit signed by the entry supervisor before they are able to enter the confined space to work;

 

The individual responsible for the brewery must provide necessary training and guidance for employees who may work in confined spaces;

 

General Liability Clause

According to the general liability clause, OSHA requires breweries to supply employees with a workplace that "does not have any recognized hazard that creates or might cause death or serious bodily injury." Including ergonomic hazards. Working in a craft brewery usually requires moving heavy kegs or lifting bags of malt grain. So, breweries that fail to mitigate or move heavy objects or improper handling in many cases are cited under the general liability clause.

 

How to prevent this violation?

Employees must receive relevant job training before beginning work, and they need to be reminded of the right work skills frequently;

 

Provide employees with appropriate tools and equipment (for example, forklifts) to lift heavy objects, and make sure that employees receive appropriate training and can utilize them correctly;

 

When possible, consider creating a work schedule to allow many employees to share the responsibilities of handling. For example, many workers may be used to hold grain;

 

Safety Management of Hazardous Chemicals

 

To greatly help ensure a secure and healthy workplace, OSHA has issued the High-Hazard Chemical Process Safety Management (PSM) standard, which contains requirements for managing the hazards associated with processes that use high-risk chemicals. Companies not just need to follow PSM standards, in addition they need to keep proper paperwork about the employment and handling of any hazardous chemicals.

 

Brewers also use hazardous chemicals (especially concentrated ones) for cleaning, sanitation and other purposes in the brewery. Common chemicals include acids (low pH), alkalis (high pH), and flammable chemicals. Alkaline or alkaline chemicals are commonly used to completely clean brewery equipment, storage tanks and packaging materials, such as for instance sodium hydroxide, sodium hypochlorite, and potassium hydroxide. Brewers also use acids with similar effects, such as for instance phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, and iodine-based chemicals. Alkaline chemicals and acids are corrosive to human tissues and are specifically dangerous to the eyes. Appropriate personal protective equipment is very important to make certain a secure working environment, such as for instance entering tanks for maintenance work.

 

In the beer brewing process, some complex chemical reactions are involved. And to the chemicals mentioned above, co2, oxygen and ammonia may also be used in the brewing process, from oxygenating the wort to cooling equipment. The brewery needs to test some key gases, and ammonia is certainly one of them. Ammonia is an efficient coolant, especially suitable for use as an ice box in food and beverage processing, so breweries also rely on these chemicals to keep up low temperatures. Ammonia can be a hazardous chemical, so it's subject to OSHA's PSM rules.

 

How to prevent this violation?

Conduct process hazard analysis: According to OSHA, process hazard analysis is a thorough, orderly, and systematic method that may be used to recognize, test, and control the hazards of highly hazardous chemicals in the style;

 

Develop written procedures; develop written procedures for the safe operation and maintenance of the refrigeration system. Especially in case of ammonia leakage, do not use the unique smell of chemical substances as enough early warning signal;

 

The fixed gas detection device can accurately measure the ammonia concentration in a particular location and quickly remind workers of changes in air quality. The fixed gas detection device can also be used along with an automatic controller to program the fixed gas detection system to automatically turn off the operation when the quality of air reaches a dangerous level;

 

Control of hazardous energy (lockout/Tagout)

A sizable quantity of large machines are required to come together in a brewery. When employees are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of brewery equipment, accidental start-up of machinery or accidental release of storage capacity may pose serious risks. Employees should be trained on how to prevent accidental activation and accidental release of storage capabilities, which are element of OSHA's LOTO guidelines.

 

Staff training is an essential the main comprehensive energy control policy for all breweries. The LOTO plan must also include the usage of authorized energy control equipment to lock or tag equipment in order that employees can simply verify whether energy has been effectively isolated.

 

How to prevent this violation?

 

Develop and implement LOTO or energy control plans. Within the program, before performing service or maintenance, choose a worker to turn off the machine or equipment and disconnect it from its energy source;

 

Authorized LOTO equipment should be properly used to lock or mark the apparatus to verify that the energy has been effectively isolated and stop the release of hazardous energy;

 

Dangerous communication

Hazard communication guidelines make sure that employees understand any hazardous substances or the environment. And to the ammonia used for refrigeration in the brewery, several other chemicals, such as for instance detergents and disinfectants, need to be used. To guarantee the safety of chemicals, informative data on the characteristics and hazards of chemicals must certanly be accessible and understandable. Including marking chemicals and identifying storage spaces for hazardous chemicals to create chemical safety information an easy task to get. Breweries should incorporate these practices to their hazard notification plans and train workers on how to properly check the current presence of chemicals.

 

How to prevent this violation?

The brewery should create a hazard communication plan;

 

Chemicals needs to have complete labels and attached safety data sheets;

 

Train employees how to properly handle and check the current presence of chemicals;

 

Eye and face protection

 

Useful craft breweries are often small businesses, so it's an easy task to overlook appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), especially face and eye protection. According to OSHA regulations, companies must provide the right PPE to guard their workers, especially when coping with hazardous work such as for instance boiling water or toxic chemicals. In craft breweries, appropriate personal protective equipment may include work clothes, gloves, goggles, or full-face masks.

 

How to prevent this violation?

 

To follow along with OSHA standards, breweries should provide workers with appropriate eye and face protection;

 

Powered Industrial Truck Danger

Craft breweries often rely on powered industrial trucks and forklifts to transport and lift heavy objects and raw materials. Regardless of this, many breweries continue to be cited for failing to teach employees to use such equipment safely.

 

How to prevent this violation?

 

OSHA requires brewery managers to teach their workers to drive and operate forklifts and power trucks. The training content is as follows:

 

Trainees can just only operate forklifts and electric trucks under the supervision of colleagues or managers who have training knowledge and professional knowledge;

 

Training should be conducted in ways that doesn't endanger the private safety of employees;

 

Training must include formal teaching, practical training, and assessment of the abilities of the trainees;

 

Training should cover many topics linked to the safe operation of electric trucks and forklifts, such as for instance steering, how to utilize controls and instruments, etc;

 

Even though the craft beer business is noted for its fashion and fun, skilled operation of any size brewery takes a high degree of process knowledge, training reserves, and skill. Since the craft brewing industry develops and becomes more and more mainstream, it can be very important for brewers to educate themselves and their workers on proper safety practices. This way, the brewery can not only avoid OSHA violations but additionally protect the brewery employees from harm.

 

Get the price tag on brewery equipment

The craft brewing industry is developing rapidly, and more and more folks wish to open a craft brewery. If you intend to get yourself a competitive price for brewery equipment, you can contact Micet Craft directly. Our engineers will provide you with the list and prices of the apparatus needed to begin the brewery. Also, Micet Craft will also provide customers with customized turnkey solutions. If you're going to open the brewery, please contact us, Micet Craft quite definitely hopes to cooperate with you! Please visit: https://www.micetcraft.com/brewery-equipment/