7 Important Worker Safety Considerations in the Bar and Brewery Industry
Workers can be exposed to multiple hazards in this industry. Learn how to mitigate the risks and keep them safe.
- By Rupert Jones
- Oct 14, 2022
Brewing wouldn’t top the list of any “most dangerous hobbies” list, but there are still plenty of risks associated with the
beer brewing and bar industry
. Health and safety are important and should be taken seriously if you want to protect your employees from harm.
How to Keep Your New Bar and/or Brewery Safe
Workplace incidents can have an enormous impact on injured workers, co-workers and their families. Incidents can also be financially devastating, but you can avoid them with these tips.
1. Delegate Roles and Responsibilities
Everyone has a role to play when it comes to health and safety. Before opening your brewery or bar, create a policy that discusses safety roles and responsibilities for employers, supervisors and workers. A health and safety program is necessary if you want to manage safety risks.
2. Manage Health and Safety Risks
There are three steps to managing health and safety risks: identify the hazard, assess the risk and control the risk. Here’s how you’ll know if you’re taking enough steps to prevent a hazard:
- Identifying the Risk: You can prevent workplace incidents by observing how your workers perform a task, what equipment they’re using and if the task or equipment used requires a safer layout or condition. For example, is the area well-lit? Is it too humid?
- Assessing Risks: Once you’ve identified the hazard, you need to assess the risks associated with them. Examine how likely an incident could occur and what could happen if said incident occurs. Assign a risk rating for each task from low to high.
- Controlling Risks: Once you’ve assessed each risk, you need to come up with ways to control them. In a best-case scenario, you’ll be able to remove hazards, but if you can’t, consider changing the work environment, retraining staff or wearing safety equipment.
After coming up with a plan, be sure to monitor your risk controls, so you can improve them if they’re inefficient or require change. Record your findings via a risk assessment by noting the hazard, the number of people harmed and what risk controls were previously in place.