Cellar Safety and Hygiene

A cellar can look like an ordinary store room. HSE names cellars among the places where carbon dioxide has caused deaths, and some cellars are cramped, with steps, heavy kegs, gas cylinders and cleaning chemicals all in one place. This course is a plain guide to the safety and hygiene risks in a pub, bar or restaurant cellar, and to what to ask and do before you go down.

Who this course is for

• People who work in, or go into, a pub, bar or restaurant cellar or drinks store
• New starters, part-timers and agency staff, with no earlier training needed
• Managers who decide how the cellar is run
• Employers who want a short course on cellar safety for their teams

What you’ll learn

• Why a cellar is a workplace with its own mix of hazards, who is responsible, and what to ask before you go down
• Carbon dioxide: what it is, what it does to the body, why cellars are a problem, and why you cannot rely on sight or smell
• What the law means by a confined space, why a cellar must be assessed and never assumed, and why entry should be avoided
• Emergencies and rescue arrangements, why you never go in after a collapsed colleague, working alone, and gas under pressure
• Lifting using HSE’s basic technique, and keeping steps, floors, lighting and drainage safe
• Cleaning chemicals under COSHH, using products safely, spills and storage, and waste, pests and a clean cellar

How it works

Six lessons, each split into short topics with a “Remember” box at the end. Every lesson finishes with its own assessment of 10 questions drawn at random from its question bank, so no two attempts are the same. The course ends with a final exam of 20 questions drawn from a bank of more than 40 covering everything. The pass mark is 80% and you get three attempts at each assessment. Finish the course and your certificate, with your name and a reference anyone can check, is issued to My Account → Certificates.

12 months’ access · any device · certificate the moment you pass

Worth being clear about: this is a short course that applies general health and safety rules to a cellar. It is not a qualification, it is not training to service gas equipment, cylinders or drink lines or to enter a confined space or carry out a rescue, it is not first aid or fire marshal training, and it does not cover beer quality, dispense, stock or how to clean beer lines. It does not replace your employer’s risk assessment or your suppliers’ instructions. It covers Great Britain; Northern Ireland has its own health and safety law.

Course content

• Before you startLesson
• The cellar as a workplaceLesson
• What this course isTopic
• Why a cellar is differentTopic
• Who is responsible, and your dutiesTopic
• The risk assessment of the cellarTopic
• Training and instructionsTopic
• Before you go downTopic
• Scenario: “Just pop down and change the gas”Topic
• 🎮 Practice: Employer’s duty or your duty?Topic
• Lesson Assessment: The cellar as a workplaceQuiz
• Carbon dioxide in the cellarLesson
• What carbon dioxide isTopic
• What too much carbon dioxide does to the bodyTopic
• Why cellars are a problemTopic
• Carbon dioxide is a hazardous substanceTopic
• LeaksTopic
• What not to rely onTopic
• Scenario: Dizzy after a cellar shiftTopic
• 🎮 Practice: True or not true about carbon dioxide?Topic
• Lesson Assessment: Carbon dioxide in the cellarQuiz
• Confined spaces: is your cellar one?Lesson
• What the law means by a confined spaceTopic
• Could a cellar be one?Topic
• The assessmentTopic
• Avoid going inTopic
• If entry cannot be avoided: a safe system of workTopic
• Safe one day, not the nextTopic
• Scenario: “Not sure”Topic
• 🎮 Practice: Confined spaces in the right orderTopic
• Lesson Assessment: Confined spaces: is your cellar one?Quiz
• Emergencies, working alone and gas under pressureLesson
• Emergency arrangementsTopic
• Do not become the second casualtyTopic
• Working alone in the cellarTopic
• What a pressure system isTopic
• What the user must doTopic
• What to ask your employerTopic
• Scenario: Nobody has come back upTopic
• 🎮 Practice: Your part in an emergencyTopic
• Lesson Assessment: Emergencies, working alone and gas under pressureQuiz
• Lifting, steps and floorsLesson
• Manual handling and the lawTopic
• Avoid and reduceTopic
• Task, load, environment and youTopic
• A basic safe liftTopic
• Slips and tripsTopic
• Stairs, light, space and drainageTopic
• Scenario: A full box and a wet stepTopic
• 🎮 Practice: A basic safe liftTopic
• Lesson Assessment: Lifting, steps and floorsQuiz
• Cleaning chemicals, hygiene and waste in the cellarLesson
• Cleaning products can hurtTopic
• What the law and your employer must doTopic
• Using products safelyTopic
• Storing, decanting, spills and disposalTopic
• If something goes wrongTopic
• Waste, pests and a clean cellarTopic
• Scenario: An unlabelled bottle under the sinkTopic
• 🎮 Practice: Do or never with cleaning productsTopic
• Lesson Assessment: Cleaning chemicals, hygiene and waste in the cellarQuiz
• Course summaryLesson
• Final examQuiz