Onsite Safety & Health Compliance Assessment

 

What is an OSHA compliance assessment?

 

No news flash needed to state the obvious. Nevertheless, a safety and health compliance audit is a systematic and, whenever possible, independent evaluation of your brewery to help identify OSHA compliance deficiencies and opportunities for easy and cost effective improvements. The desired result is to reduce injuries as well as minimize the likelihood and severity of expensive OSHA citations. Furthermore, as safety performance improves over time, your brewery should also experience lower workers' compensation premiums, higher employee morale and retention, and lower business risks.

 

A thorough audit should include a detailed review of your existing programs and training methods for issues such as Confined Spaces, Lockout-Tagout, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Hazard Communication, Grain Handling, and others. It is critically important to ensure that work activities adhere to OSHA requirements and effective practices to reduce risk -- and leverage safety as a competitive advantage.

 

We are proud of our record in that no client has ever received an OSHA citation after engaging our services --- not to mention the core benefit of enjoying a significant reduction in their injury rates. 

 

By the way, a "compliance assessment" is often also referred to as a "mock OSHA inspection", "OSHA audit", "safety audit", and other similar phrases.  We use terms interchangeably.

 

A comprehensive brewery safety audit should include:

• Review of OSHA logs

• Review and assessment of existing safety programs and training materials

• Thorough walk-throug of the brewery

• Interviews and discussions of safety issues with management, supervisors, and hourly employees

• Consideration of all OSHA standards and applicable codes

• A practical and risk based approach to identifying, prioritizing, and addressing brewery hazards and training deficiencies

• Most importantly, 3rd party safety audits should be performed with attorney-client privilege in place (we offer this added protection at no cost to the brewer). In fact, any brewer hiring an outside expert should insist on attorney-client privilege.

 

Many view OSHA as that four letter word that stands for the Occupational Safety & Health Administration. That reputation is well deserved because the Agency takes its role in setting and enforcing its requirements very seriously. It's understandably advisable to do the simple proactive things like implementing safety programs, training, and audits to minimize the likelihood and severity of any possible OSHA inspection. It's best to get your 'safety ducks' in a row so that you can focus on making great beer!

Why should I request a compliance audit?

 

Let's face it... compliance with OSHA's safety and health regulatory requirements is not exactly the glamorous or sexy side of craft brewing. You know - that we know - that you know -- that ! But you know what else isn't fun about craft brewing? You or one of your brewmates getting seriously hurt or OSHA sticking your brewery with a major $$$ penalty that might even put the business in jeopardy.

 

Wouldn't you want to do what you can to avoid injuries, penalties, and even negative media coverage? Training your brewmates is a key component, but so is getting an expert assessment of the hazards and remedies that can help your brewery reduce its risks and obtain some related cost savings.

 

Aside from the personal pain, there is a serious financial headwind for craft brewers that you may not even realize. The injury rate in the brewing industry is 3.5 cases per 100 full-time equivalent employees, which is about 20% higher than the national average of all private industries.

 

Would you be surprised to learn that the OSHA recordable injury rate in the brewing industry is 500% (5x) higher than the petroleum refining industry? Well, it's true according to the U.S. Department of Labor. They accomplish this by focusing on training, programs & procedures, and comprehensive audits!

 

According to insurance and industry data, the average cost of an OSHA recordable injury is $8,000 per case. So, for a typical brewery with 100 employees, that means that there is an avoidable cost of $30,000 per year! And if the injury is disabling, that increases the average cost by 700% and a fatality by 1700%. Aside from the personal impacts ... that's real, bottom line money that will never be recouped. Poof. Gone.

 

To put the financial cost in business terms, that example brewery would have to increase sales by $600,000 (presuming a lofty 5% profit margin) in order to make up the difference. Imagine that... eliminating injuries would be the same as getting an instaneous sales increase of $600,000 --- EVERY YEAR.

 

By the way, the average OSHA penalty for a brewery is almost $12,000 per inspection. That doesn't include the negative public relations, added regulatory scrutiny, and other risks should the citation be deemed "significant" by OSHA.

 

Lastly, data is data. Do you know what the number one reason, by an extraordinarily wide margin, why OSHA would trigger an inspection at your brewery? It is an employee filing a complaint with the agency because they don't feel comforable raising safefy concerns internally. How could a brewery reduce that risk?  By implementing safety programs, formalizing training, and conducting 3rd party expert audits, the risk of an OSHA inspection is dramatically reduced.

Why Prometrix Safety Consultants?

 

Prometrix safety consultants possess decades of OSHA and industry experience as well as indepth expertise with craft brewing safety issues. Prometrix Consulting is proud of its record in helping clients avoid expensive OSHA citations, lower operational risks, and reduce employee injuries. These all ultimately lead to lower insurance and workers' compensation premiums, higher morale, lower employee turnover. Our clients, including all of our brewery clients, have never been cited by OSHA after implementing our practical and cost-effective recommendations.

 

If you want to minimize your OSHA compliance risks and leverage safety performance into a competitive advantage, who is better suited to provide that capability than safety experts who are former OSHA officials and brewery safety specialists?

 

As former OSHA officials and safety experts, Prometrix Consulting uniquely offers the services, expertise, and a cost-effective approach to demystifying compliance and ensuring that you are well-positioned to minimize the likelihood and severity of employee injuries as well as avoid expensive OSHA penalties. Ultimately, breweries with effective safety programs, training and auditing processes will be able to their reduce workers' comp premiums, improve employee morale and employee retention.

 

All of this is true. But Prometrix safety consultants won't deny that helping craft brewers succeed has a significant element of self-interest as well. For safety professionals who enjoy great tasting craft beer, what can be better than helping craft brewers succeed while also working with highly talented brewing artisans? It's a win-win relationship. We wouldn't have it any other way.

 

Prometrix Consulting serves clients -- including nano, micro, and regional craft brewers -- throughout the United States and Canada.

 

About Prometrix Safety Consulting:

 

Mission Statement

Our mission is to support our clients’ passion for enhancing their craft brewing business by simplifying and demystifying compliance in order to leverage their safety performance into an enduring advantage.

 

Vision Statement

To develop an enduring valued relationship with each brewery client by fully embracing their vision and passion for measurable safety related results. Our reputation is determined by our clients' success with safety performance.

 

Core Values

» Dedicated to Total Client Satisfaction

» Committed to unquestionable integrity
» Measurable results validate our clients' success