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It's been one whole year since we took over the reigns of Regnier & Associates and started anew as WinStar Insurance Group. What a great and successful year it has been! This past weekend, we had our 1 Year Anniversary Celebration at Cover 3 here in Austin. Many thanks to all who showed up and shared in the celebration. We look forward to continue working with all of you for many years to come.
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 Repost via Beall Brewery Insurance
Is a Pet-Friendly Brewery Policy Right for You? Combining man’s best friend with man’s favorite brew might seem like a natural step, but the fact is that having a pet-friendly brewery is a complex issue that requires much careful consideration, Beall Brewery Insurance reports. Your brewery’s ability to legally admit pets on site is closely connected to your state, county, and city regulations. If you are considering making the transition to a pet-friendly brewery, check with local authorities on the regulations are in your area. Once you have all those regulatory ducks in a row, check with your brewery insurance agent. Pet-friendly status could impact your insurance coverage. Pet-Friendly Brewery Points to Keep in Mind Businesses treat service animals differently than other animals. According to a Department of Justice document about the Americans with Disabilities Act, “entities that have a ‘no pets’ policy generally must modify the policy to allow service animals into their facilities.” Other animals, however, present contamination and liability exposures. If you move forward with your pet-friendly brewery, be sure that the rules for animal guests are clear. Here are a few you might want to consider:
Additional Pet-Friendly Brewery Points to Keep in Mind There are other situations to consider, too. For instance, what if a guest who is allergic to dogs enters your brewery, only to find dogs on the premises? A sign posted outside the brewery, declaring its pet-friendly status, is a great way to alert customers. Of course, it’s recommended that the brewery post signage including the rules for animal guests. If a pet is barking excessively or behaving aggressively, the brewery will be in a better position to request the removal of that pet. It’s also a great idea to post your pet-friendly rules on your website. Has your business been affected by Hurricane Harvey? To report a claim, contact our Claims Specialist, Cherry Guidry, at (512) 628-5184 or cguidry@vfistx.com. Download any Claims Forms at www.winstarins.com/claims. If after hours or if no one answers, contact your appropriate carrier - Alteris: 877-474-8808. NSM: 1-888-607-6642. Fairmont: 1-800-690-5520. 
Many breweries, wineries, & distilleries have often rent their facilities for use by the public, including birthday parties, work events, reunions, etc. While these are typically good sources of revenue and are also a good public relations tool, they do present additional liability exposures to your business. For breweries, wineries, & distilleries that lease their facilities to others, we recommend the use of a contract which details the terms and conditions of the rental and also provides that the lessee/rental party will hold the distillery harmless in the event of injury or other damages related to the use of the premises. When reviewing Rental Agreements, many contracts are not appropriately worded with needed protection or are incorrectly completed, often with provided spaces left blank. This document offers risk management guidelines to assist your organization in reducing your liability exposure. A sample rental contract is included with a hold harmless agreement that may be used in whole or as an example for your organization. Whether you use the sample agreement or develop your own, you should have it reviewed by an attorney. If you choose to create your own form, consider including the following points:
Any forms/contracts should be reviewed by an attorney for compliance with local laws and suitability to the particular needs of the organization involved. Once developed, the contract should be used for all rentals, even if the distillery is being used gratis or by a member. A copy of the contract should be given to the lessee and the original kept on file.
 Since 2014, WinStar Insurance Group (formerly Regnier Insurance) has had the Texas exclusive to the BreweryPlus Program with A+ rated carrier Alteris. Alteris, along with our agents, are experts in the field of brewery insurance, and insure hundreds of breweries across the country. We now insure over 50 breweries in Texas alone, along with over 100 Texas wineries as well. Together, our coverages are designed exclusively to meet the unique needs of Texas craft brewery owners, including your General & Liquor Liability as well as your Property & Equipment Breakdown. We can also cover your Commercial Auto & Workers Comp. These coverages at the right price give you the confidence that you are with the most reputable, comprehensive, and affordable insurance product available to assist you in quickly resuming operations after a loss and to help you take steps in reducing your risk.
Interested in a quote? Click the Button Below or Contact us at info@winstarins.com or (800) 252-9435.  Going to the 2017 TWGGA Annual Conference this weekend in San Marcos? Make sure to stop by our booth, say hi, & enter to win the above Texas Winery framed print. We will announce the winner at the end of the conference & we look forward to seeing you!
 Thanks to everyone who came out to 11 Below Brewing at the last Texas Craft Brewers Guild Houston Brewers Night and for sitting through our little lecture on insurance. I'm sure some of the things we discussed are common knowledge to you but I hope you at least took something from it. As promised, we've attached our Powerpoint presentation for you to download to peruse at your own leisure. For those not at the last TCBG Houston Brewers Night, as insurance specialists for the Texas brewery industry, we put together a short powerpoint on best practices and risk reduction regarding insurance for your brewery. Implementing some of these suggestions will not only reduce your risk and keep your brewery and your employees safer, but it could also reduce your premium, allowing for savings to be allocated where you want..  We are pleased to announce that effective October 1, 2016 our agency ownership has changed. Ted Regnier has decided to officially retire and has sold his interest in Regnier & Associates, Inc. Regnier & Associates was founded in 1982 by Cynthia Regnier and has specialized in specialty insurance programs since 1985. We have had much growth and success over the past 30 years and we sincerely thank YOU, our customers, for the trust you have placed in us and the opportunity you have given us to serve you.  Pictured (L-R): Glenn Hastings (Vice-President), Barbara Marzean (President), Stephanie Dew (Vice-President) The new agency owners are Barbara Marzean, Stephanie Dew and Glenn Hastings, all of whom have been with the firm for many years. Along with this new ownership, the agency name is now WinStar Insurance Group LLC. Barbara Marzean has been with Regnier for more than 30 years and has served as the President since 2005. She will continue to serve as the President of WinStar. Stephanie Dew has been with Regnier since 2010 and has served as the Director of Sales & Marketing. Steph will serve as VP/Director of Sales & Marketing for WinStar. Glenn Hastings has been with Regnier for over 15 years as an outside Sales Associate for the Houston area. Glenn will serve as VP/Senior Sales Associate for the Houston area for WinStar. With this change, there is no change in staff or the way we operate and we will continue to offer the same service and products as we provided under “Regnier Insurance”. We are excited for the future and we want to thank all of our friends and customers for your continued loyalty and trust! Our Programs:       Originally published on www.CraftBrewingBusiness.com Written by Scott Jimenez & Karl Ockert  Caustic burns on the skin. Splashing in the eyes. Hate to say it, but these accidents do occur in the craft brewing industry. Most — if not all — are preventable. A brewhouse presents many employee safety issues, and with OSHA paying unexpected visits around the country, now is a great time to push brewery safety to the forefront. Here is a look at some best practices that breweries may be able to implement to stay ahead of the game. 1. Post and review SDS Sheets/Safety Data Sheets (formerly known as “Material Safety Data Sheets”) Ensure this information is not only visible and available for all employees, but also that employees know what they are and where they can be found. In the event of an emergency, the SDS sheets contain crucial information from first aid to spill containment and Personal Protective Equipment. Make it a practice to review with employees on a regular basis or ask your chemical provider for assistance. Zep also offers an SDS site, here. 2. Conduct chemical safety training regularly OSHA requires this training, and we advise that trainings be held on a quarterly basis as well as with new employee training. This can and should include training on protective gear, proper use of cleaning chemicals, storage and handling. Rely on and ask your suppliers for assistance with this. Your workers compensation insurance may look favorably on this practice — reduced accidents could lead to reduced rates — and it may even be able to help provide the training. 3. Post and train employees on GHS and product warnings With the new Global Harmonized System (GHS) in place, safety hazards for chemicals are now more readily identifiable. Hazards are now communicated using a Signal Word, Hazard and Precautionary Statement and Pictograms. These are found on labels and SDS sheets. 4. Label and use secondary containers properly Did you know that OSHA can impose a fine for each unlabeled bottle with chemical product in it? Secondary containers are used to transport any kind of cleaning or sanitizing chemicals around the brewery. These may be anything from plastic jugs to spray bottles. Ensure that any and all vessels that you use to transport chemicals around your brewery carry a Secondary Container Label, which are provided by chemical suppliers. This label identifies what is in that container, so, should an accident occur, someone can relay what solution was involved. Many Secondary Labels are laminated and can easily be attached using a zip tie or an adhesive label. To avoid incidental splashing, be sure to use secondary containers with screwcaps. And do not use the same secondary container to carry different types of chemicals. Have specific containers for caustics, acids and sanitizers. Using the same container for different chemicals may cause a reaction and form a hazard, e.g., bleach and acid make chlorine gas. 5. Use PPE PPE, or personal protective equipment, is probably the single most important protection each brewery employee can use. Get everyone into the habit of wearing the appropriate personal safety equipment when measuring out or using chemicals, e.g, eye protection, rubber or nitrile gloves, boots or chemically resistant footwear, and aprons or clothing to cover bare skin. Eye protection hanging around your neck or stuck in a pocket will not protect your eyes from a chemical splash!  6. Use proper first aid when incidental chemical contact occurs
Always consult the SDS for immediate first aid guidelines. Incidental caustic contact to skin needs to be neutralized quickly. Some people use beer to neutralize caustic, then rinse off thoroughly with water. For incidental acid, bleach or peroxide contact, rinse with water immediately. For any kind of eye contact with chemicals, irrigate with water and get immediate medical attention. Wearing safety glasses/goggles and gloves at all times when handling any chemical can prevent many of these incidents from happening. 7. Automate dispensing of chemicals Automating chemical dispensing can greatly reduce and limit exposure of chemicals to employees and ensure the exact chemistry needed for every cleaning job. This increases employee safety while ensuring your chemical costs stay in line. Your chemical supplier should be able to offer you advice and help with dispensing solutions. 8. Take precaution when mixing chemicals by hand Always mix chemicals to water — NOT water to chemicals! Add the chemicals gradually to avoid causing a dangerous chemical reaction. When mixing caustic powder into water, the starting temperature of the water will start to rise as the chemical is added. Added too quickly, it will boil out. NEVER MIX ACIDS WITH CHLORINE BLEACH as they can create a deadly chlorine gas. Stick to and implement Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for cleaning and chemical use. Do not get creative with mixing chemicals without consulting your chemical supplier. 9. Cover the tank manway during CIP cleaning When cleaning a tank with recirculation (CIP), make sure the tank manway is positioned to cover the opening. In-swing, manway door gaskets should be taken off and draped with the door swung inside the tank, covering the opening. 10. Burst rinse properly Burst rinse for best water conservation and most complete rinsing action. Rinse for 30 to 60 seconds, drain and repeat until you get to neutral pH (7-8). Always rinse to a neutral pH. Use litmus paper, a pH meter or use phenolthalein. If it’s purple, keep rinsing. This is a short list of some best practices in brewhouses today and is by no means comprehensive. If you are not sure where to start, ask your chemical suppliers to provide help and guidance. You do not have to do this on your own. Chemical suppliers will do site visits and can help identify areas to improve the overall safety of a brewery. We all want our breweries to be safe working environments. With state regulators and OSHA looking more closely at the craft brew segment, now is a perfect time to up our game when it comes to brewery safety. Scott Jimenez is the director of sales at Zep Inc. Karl Ockert is a brewing consultant with Karl Ockert Brewing Services, LLC. For more information about Zep Craft Brewing Solutions, visit www.zepbrew.com. Re-Blogged from www.CraftBrewingBusiness.com. Written by Paul Martinez of BreweryPAK.  If an employee walks out with a couple kegs he or she shouldn’t, is your brewery covered? It has all the makings of a Hollywood mafia movie. Unidentified individuals broke into the SweetWater Brewery on Ottley Drive in Atlanta this June, hooked truck tractors to sitting trailers full of SweetWater beer and hit the road.
For beer lovers, we can tease a happy ending – as much of the $90,000 haul of beer was recovered. Unfortunately, after its recovery, SweetWater declared the beer unfit for sale due to quality control considerations. This incident brings to attention the risk of theft breweries face — whether it’s from outsiders, or more commonly, brewery employees taking advantage of a golden opportunity. In fact, while it is unclear at this point if the SweetWater incident was an inside job, many brewery thefts — like in other retail sectors — are the result of employee dishonesty. In this article, we look at common types of theft affecting breweries, including employee dishonesty, keg theft and cargo/transit theft. We also discuss how a brewery can reduce its risk exposure and what to look for in an insurance policy to make sure the brewery has the right coverage if it were to fall victim to theft. Thirsty EmployeesEmployee theft is responsible for $18 billion or 43 percent of lost revenue for retailers in the U.S., according to a recent article from Fortune, which highlighted facts from the Global Retail Theft Barometer. In all, U.S. retailers lose roughly $42 billion annually from shrinkage – missing or stolen merchandise. Employees may leave the gate open for a friend to quietly come in and smuggle out cases or kegs of beer. Breweries may not realize it, but regular theft insurance does not cover an event like this. Employee dishonesty, as it is known in the insurance industry, has its own coverage and it is a coverage that breweries want to make sure is included in their insurance policies. In many cases, the employee may not blatantly steal a truckload of beer, but they may swipe a few six-packs, brewing equipment, tools, kegs or have a little extra in the tasting room without keying the sale into the register. Valuable KegsKeg theft is another risk exposure for breweries. According to the Beer Institute, a trade association that represents small and large U.S. brewers, each year more than 350,000 kegs are lost to the tune of a $50 million cost to the industry. The empty kegs are valuable to thieves to sell as scrap metal or otherwise, particularly as new kegs sell for around $130 and a standard keg deposit now ranges from $10 to $50. From an insurance perspective, it is important for breweries to know the value of owned or leased kegs and to understand whether the keg is covered when it leaves the brewery premises. The Cargo Transit Blame GameTransit is also a common area where theft can impact a brewery’s bottom line. An event similar to the SweetWater incident occurred at a Florida truck stop in October 2014 when thieves took off with a tractor trailer truck full of Miller High Life beers – 9,700 four-packs, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. During transit, brewers cannot assume the onus is on the trucker if the beer cargo goes missing. Insurance coverage for beer missing during transit is not automatic. Brewery owners should have a written agreement with the trucking company, ideally transferring all risk to the trucking company and ensuring the trucking company has a sufficient limit of insurance to cover a potential loss. Breweries can also look into transit insurance coverage to make sure their beer is covered while it is on the road. Tapping the Right Insurance CoverageWith risk exposures like this and the potential to lose $90,000 worth of beer as in the SweetWater incident, breweries need to make sure they have comprehensive insurance. Often the best policies can be found at a specialty insurer, focused on the beer, wine or spirits industry. Specialty brewery insurers can also provide risk management tips to help breweries limit their risk exposure. While finding the right insurance partner is key to protecting a brewery’s assets, there are steps breweries can take to protect themselves, including: • Train employees to be aware of employee theft and provide anonymous hotlines to report theft; • Protect other merchandise with cages; • Install security cameras and keep tapes for 30-60 days in case a loss is not immediately discovered; • Install alarms and sufficient lighting; • Paint numbers on tops of trailers or employ only those with aerial identifiers; • Install blocking mechanisms on truck starters; • Insist on written agreements with truck operators/distributors – transferring risk to them if possible; • When brewing a higher quality beer, make sure insurance limits are still sufficient for the increased value of the beer. Unlike a general insurer, specialty insurers know the brewery business and the intricacies of a comprehensive coverage plan encompassing everything from the brewing process, the value of higher quality beer, leakage, theft, equipment breakdown, employee dishonesty and transit, among other things. Brewers should be able to spend their time focusing on brewing quality beer. Finding an insurance partner they can trust to ensure their brewery has comprehensive coverage at a competitive price will allow brewers to do what they do best – keeping our pint glasses filled. This timely column was sent over from Paul Martinez, Brewery Pak Program Manager, Pak Insurance Programs. Martinez has 20 years of commercial insurance experience and 6 years of experience underwriting breweries. He travels throughout the U.S. and Canada visiting breweries providing risk management and loss prevention services for the brewery industry. |
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