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Safety and Standards at Sustainability in Drinks 2026

Writer: Alya Lilani
Alya Lilani
Oct 6
2 min read

For many businesses across the drinks industry, from hospitality to production, retail and more, it feels like operating under real pressure right now - rising costs, shifting legislation, tighter budgets. When businesses are stretched, conversations about culture and people are often the first to get pushed down the list. But it's even more important to make sure they stay a priority.


Earlier this year, Drinks United commissioned the first independent, industry-wide culture survey of the UK drinks sector, giving the industry a credible, collective baseline for what people actually experience day to day - real numbers on workplace safety, inclusion and support.


One finding stood out: one in five people working in this industry has felt unsafe at work.


At the same time, the standards businesses are being measured against are shifting. B Corp's Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) criteria change in 2027, raising the bar for what 'doing right by your people' looks like. Whether or not certification is something you're working toward, what good looks like is changing for everyone.


Put those two things together, and the question facing the industry is whether businesses are actually prepared: for the standards that are changing, and for what the data is already telling us about where the gaps are.


Drinks United is bringing two sessions to Sustainability in Drinks 2026 built exactly on this, bringing together industry experts to look at what it takes to get ready for 2027, and what safety in this industry actually needs to look like in practice.

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Are You Ready for 2027? (12pm - 12:45pm, Education Zone)

Lara Sills (Head of Operations and Planning, Wild Idol and Drinks United Board member) will share highlights from the survey findings, particularly around inclusion, before an honest conversation with three speakers who bring different experiences on this work, to discuss what it actually takes to get ready for 2027, where businesses get caught out, and how to map your own organisation against what's coming.


  • Erin Williams (Sustainability Manager, North South Wines)

  • Shivani Tomar (Awards Manager, Decanter, & Drinks United Advisory Council member, Decanter)

  • Rosie Davenport (Founder & Lead Consultant, Impact Focus)



Creating Safer Workplaces (2pm - 2:45pm, Sustainable Society Zone)

Laura Willoughby (Founder, Club Soda, and Drinks United Board member) will open this session with an introduction to why "safe" is one of Drinks United's key priorities, and what this looks like in practice. She’ll then hand over to three tables, each hosted by an expert, for smaller group conversations on different elements of safety in the drinks industry. Your views will feed directly into a safeguarding toolkit being developed by Drinks United. Our table facilitators are:



Learn more about Sustainability in Drinks:


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