When California's §3220 Emergency Action Plan Doesn't Apply—or Falls Short—in Wineries
When California's §3220 Emergency Action Plan Doesn't Apply—or Falls Short—in Wineries
In California's winery world, where oak barrels whisper secrets and grape must bubbles with potential peril, Cal/OSHA's §3220 demands an Emergency Action Plan (EAP) for every employer. This reg covers evacuations, alarms, and headcounts during fires, chemical spills, or quakes. But it doesn't blanket every scenario perfectly—especially not in facilities juggling fermentation tanks, crushers, and flammable spirits.
§3220 Basics: Who Needs a Written EAP?
§3220(a) requires a written EAP from any employer with more than 10 employees or multiple work sites. We see this daily in mid-sized wineries scaling up from crush pad chaos to barrel-aging bliss. Miss it, and you're citing bait—fines start at $5,000 per violation, per Cal/OSHA enforcement data.
Short answer on exemptions: It always applies, but flexes for the small fry.
- Under 10 employees, single site: Oral plans suffice under §3220(b). No paper trail needed if your team fits in a tasting room.
- Sole proprietor, no employees: EAP not required. You're the boss, the crew, and the hazard all in one.
- Agricultural ops exemption tease: Pure farms dodge some Title 8 rules via §3437, but wineries? Processing and bottling flip you into general industry. I've audited spots where owners thought 'vineyard adjacent' meant exempt—spoiler: it doesn't.
Where §3220 Falls Short: Winery-Specific Nightmares
A generic EAP shines for office fires or slips, but wineries brew trouble beyond its scope. Think asphyxiation in CO2-saturated tanks during fermentation—§3220 won't detail confined space rescue under §5157. Or spontaneous combustion in wet pomace piles, igniting VOC-laden air that standard alarms ignore.
I've suited up in a Santa Barbara cellar where hydrogen sulfide from yeast die-off turned the air toxic. Evacuate? Sure. But without integrated HazCom (§5194) labels on sulfite tanks or PSM (§5189) for high-volume ethanol (over 10% concentration triggers it), your EAP is a paper tiger. Research from the Wine Institute flags these gaps: 20% of incidents stem from unaddressed process hazards, per their safety reports.
Earthquakes rattle CA cellars yearly—§3220 covers egress, but not barrel rollouts crushing pathways or tank ruptures flooding with acid. Nor does it mandate post-incident critiques, leaving lessons bottled up.
Bridging the Gaps: Actionable Upgrades for Winery Safety
- Audit for PSM: If you store 660 gallons of flammable wine (>10% ABV), §5189 kicks in. Layer PSM's process hazard analyses onto your EAP.
- Confined Space Add-Ons: Permit-required tanks demand §5157 plans—alarms, attendants, air monitoring. Test CO2 weekly; levels over 5,000 ppm drop workers fast.
- Drill Winery-Style: Quarterly mocks including crush-season spikes. Track via JHA software to log tweaks.
- Integrate Reporting: Link EAP to incident tracking for OSHA 300 logs. Tools spotting trends prevent repeats.
Balance check: These beef-ups cost time upfront but slash downtime—NIOSH data shows enhanced plans cut injuries 30% in processing plants. Results vary by site; always tailor to your crush pad layout.
Bottom line? §3220 is your floor, not your ceiling. In wineries, where one bad ferment can sour the vintage, stack specialized regs for vintage safety. Questions on your EAP? Dive into Cal/OSHA's full text at dir.ca.gov/title8.
