In rush of crush, avoiding tragedy

A New South Wales winery worker was crushed when he fell into a destemmer in March 2008.

Closer to home, a 20-year old winery worker died in a tank at Williams Selyem Winery in Healdsburg in January 1999.

These are two brutal examples of winery accidents, and safety experts and vintners say safety is on everyone's mind this harvest season because it has become such a fast-paced sprint after the cool summer delayed picking.

"There is a greater potential for accidents during a compressed harvest," said Jim Persons, a consultant with Safety Pride, a Cotati-based company that offers training and safety audits for many North Coast wineries.

"The fast-paced work environment, stress and tight schedule make for more dangerous work. . . . Some white grapes are two to three weeks late, making for a tight crush schedule."

Persons trains winery workers on forklift operations, respiratory protection and entry procedures when shoveling or cleaning tanks, fermentors and presses. Most accidents, he said, are preventable with training.

Bob Cabral, executive winemaker of Williams Selyem, said the death of Taylor Atkins, who was asphyxiated in a small tank, was tragic but didn't happen for lack of training.

In this case, an autopsy discovered marijuana in Atkins' system. Authorities said it appears that Atkins entered the tank from the top hatch to recover a small hatch-cover latch that had fallen in the day before. He was dead when a fellow employee discovered him inside the tank and pulled him out.

"The employee was intoxicated," he said. "The point being that any job becomes unsafe when you show up intoxicated."

Cabral said safety may be at risk whether illegal or prescription medications come into play.

"If you have to take medications, then you have to take it," he said. "But maybe you shouldn't be operating a fork lift."

No criminal charges were filed against the winery, and after the accident, drug testing became an employment requirement at Williams Selyem.

During harvest the gravest danger is the odorless and tasteless gases produced as byproducts of fermentation, said Cabral. The former winemaker of Alderbrook Winery in Healdsburg said he was at the winery and found himself immersed in carbon dioxide.

"My body started to tingle and so I knew what was happening," he said. "I took a breath and then walked out of the room. When I reached the other side of the door, my knees collapsed and I fell."

Cabral said that experience strengthened his resolve to never allow anyone to work alone.

"We're working with high voltage equipment, inert gases and electrical power in wet areas," he said. "I will pay for two people to do a punchdown, with one person just watching the other. . . . Nobody's life is worth a little bit of overtime."

Cabral also staggers workers' shifts in the name of safety, with most employees working six days a week rather than seven and eight to 10 hours rather than 12 hours.

"People make bad decisions when they're tired and that includes winemakers," Cabral said. "Sometimes we think we're Superman, but we're not."

Adam Lee, co-vintner at Santa Rosa's Siduri Winery, agreed that keeping employees safe is particularly crucial in what's turning out to be a harried harvest.

"Everybody is in a hurry," he said. "Even though tonnage is down, many of the activities still take the same amount of time (cleaning the press, cleaning the destemmer) -- so just as much work, less tonnage, shorter time period, and everybody in a hurry."

"Much of (tank safety) is common sense, but one of the things that really stuck with me is how dangerous it can be in a tank -- with the lack of oxygen, CO2 (carbon dioxide), etc.," Lee said. "Having one person clean out a tank and another watching that person, having oxygen monitors, etc., has all been very eye-opening."

Lee said safety training has been a boon.

"We've gained lessons in how to keep our employees safe -- a peace of mind that we've done everything we can to make sure that employees are safe.

"It helps us sleep better at night."

Staff writer Peg Melnik

can be reached at 521-5310 or peg.melnik@pressdemocart.com.