The DISCUS Barrel Handling Safety Best Practices Guide represents the first major best practice guidance document on barrel handling for the distilled spirits industry. The DISCUS Safety & Risk Management Committee, comprised of member company health and safety experts, prepared the guide with the purpose of sharing best practices and strategies for safely handling the standard 53-gallon barrel around distillery premises.

Handling, moving, and transporting distilled spirits barrels remains one of the most dangerous tasks for staff at a distilled spirits plant and this guide was developed as a resource for distilleries large and small to help reduce accidents and protect the health and safety of their employees.

This guide contains plenty of valuable information and visual aids around critical issues, such as:

• loading and unloading full and empty barrels;
• how to handle barrels in racked and palletized barrel warehouse systems;
• barrel handling during filling and emptying;
• how to identify and safely fix common barrel cooperage issues; and
• the importance of employee safety training.

This publication provides some suggested safety protocols and does not constitute a comprehensive guide addressing all barrel safety issues. It is not intended in anyway to be an industry standard or code for regulatory purposes. While this document is based upon field experience and industry best practices, neither DISCUS or its member companies, accepts any responsibility or liability resulting from compliance or non-compliance with any of its provisions, for any restrictions imposed upon materials or processes, or for the completeness of the text. All distillers should evaluate their own facilities and create a safety program that is appropriate for their facility.

Purchase includes print copy of the guide.

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