Health and safety

Workplace Health and Safety (WHS)

Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) isn’t just about compliance or ticking boxes; it’s about protecting your people, reputation, business performance and ability to keep producing great wine year after year. These outcomes come down to being practical, paying attention and getting ahead of potential issues before they become problems. 

Every winery is going to have different requirements arising from the size of their operations to types of equipment and staffing, which means there is no one solution that fits all. Smaller producers that do not have dedicated internal WHS departments or resources are also often at higher risk.

It’s important to remember that there are two key aspects to effectively managing health and safety in your winery:

• Regulatory compliance 
• Internal policies and procedures 

Regulated at the state and territory level, there are often changes to workplace laws and regulations, but the fundamentals are the same no matter the operation or location. These core principles will help you prepare and actively manage a safe work environment for your team and business.

How to identify hazards

The first step is to know what risks and hazards there are in your winery and work through the options to eliminate or minimise them. 

Some common risks and injuries in wineries to be aware of and plan for are:

• Manual handling – particularly heavy lifting and lower back injuries 
• Falls, slips and trips
• Working at heights
• Machinery-related injuries and incidents, including forklifts, moving objects and crush-related injuries 
• Chemical exposure and burns
• Confined space incidents 
• Fatigue 

These can be further exacerbated during busy times like vintage when there are more people working in the winery, a higher volume of machinery and equipment operating and longer hours being worked.

Ways to identify risks:

• Consult your team. Ask for input. What’s working and what isn’t? Ideas to improve things, accessibility and training opportunities
• Conduct a site walk with someone who is not familiar with it. They will see potential hazards that regular workers don’t see any more
• Read instruction manuals and safety warnings on equipment, machinery, materials and substances
• Review your records, policies and procedures. Is there anything missing, anything that needs to be updated or included?
• Check information and updates from regulators, industry bodies and safety experts 

To get you started there are templates available that can be adapted to suit your business and operations, like Worksafe WA’s Hazard Identification Form and Worksafe QLD’s Risk Management Plan. Worksafe Victoria’s 12 ways to make small businesses safer is another resource that helps you look objectively at your site and target areas that you and your team can work on.

Post-vintage or during the quieter winter months are good opportunities to do this, when you have the time and capacity to assess, involve your team and implement changes before things get busy again. 

Assessing and controlling risks

Having identified the risks in your winery, it’s important to use the right controls to eliminate or minimise them so that you can protect workers, contractors and visitors. 

The hierarchy of control measures (see below) is a practical guide that can be applied to any risk to control and reduce hazards.

Changes in staffing, particularly roles that have responsibility for WHS, can expose risks but it’s also an opportunity to check and update both internal procedures and documentation, as well as induction processes and training.

Having up-to-date internal policies and procedures is not only important for safety, they are also a useful tool to ensure wine quality and consistency and protection for your brand and business. 

Inductions and staff training

Having a detailed induction process and providing training for new or returning employees that are specific to their role are crucial to ensure the safety of not only them, but the entire team. 

Key topics and areas to cover in your winery induction include:

• Key risks and hazards
• Policies & procedures – including where to find them 
• Equipment and machinery training
• Emergency procedures 
• First aid facilities and introduction to first aid officers
• Use and availability of personal protective equipment (PPE)
• Anything else specific to your site and operations

This is especially important for casual, seasonal and vintage staff who may have limited experience or be unfamiliar with your operations or Australian health and safety regulations. 

There are a number of training courses available that can be used for industry-based safety inductions prior to employees starting which are especially useful for vintage crews – from quick online courses like the South Australian Wine Industry Association About WineSafety, to full-day, face-to-face courses like GOTAFE’s Winery Safety Training. 

Specialist WHS training and accreditation services are also available that cover confined space, working at heights, fire warden, and first aid and rescue training, with many offering onsite sessions for your whole team. Training and accreditation are mandatory for high-risk operations such as forklifts, hot work and confined space access. 

Records and reporting – not just for compliance

Records are required for regulatory compliance and as evidence of due diligence, and ultimately improve incident prevention and safety in the winery. There are a range of WHS software systems available that can provide a streamlined and consolidated platform to help you manage a safe and compliant winery.