Standing Stone Brewing Company is the first Emergency Prepared Business in Ashland! The designation comes from Ashland Fire & Rescue’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), and acknowledges our coworkers’ efforts in creating an emergency prepared business model.

Several brewery employees, including all the members of our in-house safety committee, attended Emergency Prepared Business Workshops held by Ashland CERT to gain information about steps business owners and employees can take to create a safer environment for themselves and patrons. The Standing Stone team created a contingency plan for how the brewery will continue to operate if negatively impacted by a disaster. To learn more about the program, visit the City of Ashland’s CERT webpage.

Our brewpub has been taking steps towards emergency preparedness for years. We created an active safety committee, retrofitted the historic building for seismic activity, and purchased generators in preparation of power outages – which is why you’ll still find us pouring beer and making food when the power goes out in town!

(photo: R. Koning)

Since attending the workshops, we’ve included digital scheduling and employee contact procedures, video archiving of property in case of damage to quickly and easily replace, and altered brewing operations to include having 420 gallons of clean water immediately available for use in the event of a disaster similar to the Ashland flood in 1997. We also gathered all our managers and kitchen staff to do a hands-on fire extinguisher training with the Ashland Fire Department, and held an all-employee meeting to discuss workplace safety.

An award ceremony was held at the brewery on Wednesday, March 19th with the Fire Marshall giving the designation. We’re so proud of all our safety committee members for taking an active approach to improving safety in the workplace. Come have a pint and rest easy knowing you’re in one of the safest businesses in town!