Last night at a function in Sydney, the Wolf Blass winery in Nuriootpa, SA was highly commended at the prestigious Telstra National Safety Award in the category of Best Management of an OH & S Specific Workplace Risk, recognising its innovative approach to addressing longstanding workplace hazards in the wine industry.

The awards are presented annually and are judged by an independent panel of judges appointed by the National Safety Council of Australia.

Alan Edward, General Manager Production at Wolf Blass said of the commendation "This is to be shared by those who had the vision and were prepared to take the risk and create something completely different in terms of product handling in the wine industry. It is the result of a commitment to ensuring we could retain the tried and trusted winemaking techniques, such as the open fermenters, without the inherent health and safety risks of the original process".

With the help of Beca Simons Pty Ltd and A&G industries in Griffith, Alan had the opportunity to design the new Wolf Blass winery’s operating processes from the ground up, with occupational health and safety improvement a driving force in their considerations.

As a result, the winery features new stainless steel open fermenters, a revolutionary pre-programmable crane and new workplace practices, which together have eradicated previously necessary but hazardous tasks in the winemaking process.

The use of the pre-programmed crane has eradicated the practise of manually draining open fermenters and shovelling wet marc out of the tank into the press. The crane locates the fermenter, picks it up and tips the wet marc into the press, removing the risk of employee injuries from slips, falls and the manual handling of large hoses and pipes.

The new style open fermenters also have a trolley mounted pump-over system that replaces the back-breaking work of pumping over juice. Cellar hands at Wolf Blass no longer need to work within the confined space of open fermenters when ‘digging out’ skins from the bottom of the tank or when the tanks require cleaning and maintenance.

The new Wolf Blass winery successfully processed its first vintage of more than 25,000 tonnes (5,000 more than original plan) in April 2001. Its many innovations allow the winery to use "old world" methodologies safely and efficiently, with these innovations in place, 2001 vintage proved lost time injury free.

Further information:

Alan Edward
Mob: 0418 838 762