Holiday Shopping Safety
For a lot of us, this upcoming holiday shopping season is a time looked forward to throughout the year. For some it is the dreaded “Black Friday”! Those of us shoppers that actually enjoy the events and sales put on by retailers have to consider safety concerns like crowd trampling, slips, trips and falls, hostility from others and I am sure there are more. So, what about the workers of the retail industry? What safety issues do they have to deal with?
Employees of retail chains are going to come across the very same issues a shopper comes across during this shopping season. However, because they are on the other side of the “counter” it is their workplace. As a workplace there are OSHA standards that must be met to proactively ensure the safety of these employees. With the increased volume of shoppers this time of year most retail workers will experience longer work hours and increased workloads. In some cases this means temporary seasonal help. This seasonal help should be trained to the same OSHA standards as regular hourly employees to maintain their safety too. With increased sales comes more empty shelves for restocking. Therefore more lifting, more time on ladders and narrower aisle ways. This means an increase for potential injury if lifting and safety procedures are not followed properly.
Black Friday sales bring in abnormally large shopping crowds where potential dangers, facing workers, include; overcrowding, crowd crushing, being struck by the crowd, violent acts, and fire. This will take a lot of planning and preparation on behalf of the retail stores to help keep their employees safe while still serving their customers. It may require stores to possibly increase security for crowd control, create barricades to create clear entrances and exit lines, and additional staff to monitor isle ways to maintain open passage in case of emergencies.
OSHA has a fact sheet for just such shopping events like Black Friday. It is the Crowd Management Safety Guidelines for Retailers. This fact sheet prepared by OSHA can help assist retailer in four key areas: Planning, Pre-Event Setup, During the Sales Event, and Emergency Situations. It gives great suggestions to keep everyone safe.
Whether you are shopping or catering to shoppers please take the time to act in a safe manner so Black Friday along with the rest of the shopping season can be a fun and enjoyable experience by avoiding injury!
Have a Happy Safe Season Everyone!
