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COMMON VIOLATIONS IN BREWERIES:
OSHA:

29 USC 654: General Duty Clause
Employers shall furnish to each of [his] employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees;
One of the largest recognized hazards in breweries are ergonomic hazards from heavy lifting.

29 CFR 1910.119: Process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals.
(d) In accordance with the schedule set forth in paragraph (e)(1) of this section, the employer shall complete a compilation of written process safety information before conducting any process hazard analysis required by the standard. The compilation of written process safety information is to enable the employer and the employees involved in operating the process to identify and understand the hazards posed by those processes involving highly hazardous chemicals. This process safety information shall include information pertaining to the hazards of the highly hazardous chemicals used or produced by the process, information pertaining to the technology of the process, and information pertaining to the equipment in the process.
(e)(1) The employer shall perform an initial process hazard analysis (hazard evaluation) on processes covered by this standard. The process hazard analysis shall be appropriate to the complexity of the process and shall identify, evaluate, and control the hazards involved in the process. Employers shall determine and document the priority order for conducting process hazard analyses based on a rationale which includes such considerations as extent of the process hazards, number of potentially affected employees, age of the process, and operating history of the process.

29 CFR 1910.120: Hazardous waste operations and emergency response.
(c)(6)(iv) An ongoing air monitoring program in accordance with paragraph (h) of this section shall be implemented after site characterization has determined the site is safe for the start-up of operations.
(h) Monitoring shall be performed in accordance with this paragraph where there may be a question of employee exposure to hazardous concentrations of hazardous substances in order to assure proper selection of engineering controls, work practices and personal protective equipment so that employees are not exposed to levels which exceed permissible exposure limits, or published exposure levels if there are no permissible exposure limits, for hazardous substances.

29 CFR 1910.146 Permit-required confined spaces
The employer shall evaluate the workplace to determine if any spaces are permit-required confined spaces.
If the workplace contains permit spaces, the employer shall inform exposed employees, by posting danger signs or by any other equally effective means, of the existence and location of and the danger posed by the permit spaces.

Note: A sign reading "DANGER - PERMIT-REQUIRED CONFINED SPACE, DO NOT ENTER" or using other similar language would satisfy the requirement for a sign.

29 CFR 1910.1200: Hazard communication
The purpose of this section is to ensure that the hazards of all chemicals produced or imported are classified, and that information concerning the classified hazards is transmitted to employers and employees. The requirements of this section are intended to be consistent with the provisions of the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), Revision 3. The transmittal of information is to be accomplished by means of comprehensive hazard communication programs, which are to include container labeling and other forms of warning, safety data sheets and employee training.

FLSA: Fair Labor Standards Act

29 C.F.R. Part 541 Defining and delimiting the exemptions for executive, administrative, professional, computer, and outside sales employees

"A job title alone is insufficient to establish the exempt status of an employee. The exempt or nonexempt status of any particular employee must be determined on the basis of whether the employee's salary and duties meet the requirements of the regulations in this part."

Executive exemption:

  1. Compensated on a salary basis pursuant to § 541.600 at a rate of not less than $684 per week
  2. Whose primary duty is management of the enterprise in which the employee is employed or of a customarily recognized department or subdivision thereof
  3. Who customarily and regularly directs the work of two or more other employees
  4. Who has the authority to hire or fire other employees or whose suggestions and recommendations as to the hiring, firing, advancement, promotion or any other change of status of other employees are given particular weight.

Admninistrative exemption:
  1. Compensated on a salary or fee basis pursuant to § 541.600 at a rate of not less than $684 per week
  2. Whose primary duty is the performance of office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer's customers; and
  3. Whose primary duty includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance.

Professional exemption:
  1. Compensated on a salary or fee basis pursuant to § 541.600 at a rate of not less than $684 per week
  2. Whose primary duty is the performance of work:
  3. Requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction; or
  4. Requiring invention, imagination, originality or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor.
Learned professionals:
  1. To qualify for the learned professional exemption, an employee's primary duty must be the performance of work requiring advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction. This primary duty test includes three elements:
    1. The employee must perform work requiring advanced knowledge;
    2. The advanced knowledge must be in a field of science or learning; and
    3. The advanced knowledge must be customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.
Creative professionals:
  1. To qualify for the creative professional exemption, an employee's primary duty must be the performance of work requiring invention, imagination, originality or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work. The exemption does not apply to work which can be produced by a person with general manual or intellectual ability and training.
  2. To qualify for exemption as a creative professional, the work performed must be “in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor.” This includes such fields as music, writing, acting and the graphic arts.
  3. The requirement of “invention, imagination, originality or talent” distinguishes the creative professions from work that primarily depends on intelligence, diligence and accuracy. The duties of employees vary widely, and exemption as a creative professional depends on the extent of the invention, imagination, originality or talent exercised by the employee. Determination of exempt creative professional status, therefore, must be made on a case-by-case basis. This requirement generally is met by actors, musicians, composers, conductors, and soloists; painters who at most are given the subject matter of their painting; cartoonists who are merely told the title or underlying concept of a cartoon and must rely on their own creative ability to express the concept; essayists, novelists, short-story writers and screen-play writers who choose their own subjects and hand in a finished piece of work to their employers (the majority of such persons are, of course, not employees but self-employed); and persons holding the more responsible writing positions in advertising agencies. This requirement generally is not met by a person who is employed as a copyist, as an “animator” of motion-picture cartoons, or as a retoucher of photographs, since such work is not properly described as creative in character.
Outside sales professionals:
  1. The term “employee employed in the capacity of outside salesman” in section 13(a)(1) of the Act shall mean any employee:
    1. Whose primary duty is:
      1. making sales within the meaning of section 3(k) of the Act, or
      2. obtaining orders or contracts for services or for the use of facilities for which a consideration will be paid by the client or customer; and
    2. Who is customarily and regularly engaged away from the employer's place or places of business in performing such primary duty.
  2. The term “primary duty” is defined at § 541.700. In determining the primary duty of an outside sales employee, work performed incidental to and in conjunction with the employee's own outside sales or solicitations, including incidental deliveries and collections, shall be regarded as exempt outside sales work. Other work that furthers the employee's sales efforts also shall be regarded as exempt work including, for example, writing sales reports, updating or revising the employee's sales or display catalogue, planning itineraries and attending sales conferences.
  3. The requirements of subpart G (salary requirements) of this part do not apply to the outside sales employees described in this section.