Over the past few weeks, the hot topic of conversation on television, radio and internet broadcasts has been the rapidly approaching "Black Friday" sales and other large-scale promotions at retail stores across the country. While most of this dialogue concerns the availability of desired products, potential savings and store hours, there is one important topic that is repeatedly overlooked: the potential for serious or fatal work injuries to retail store employees because of improper crowd management.

While this may seem difficult to believe, remember that an employee of a large retail store was trampled to death back in 2008 during the mad dash of a "Black Friday" sale.

This year the United States Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is once again working to prevent these types of horrific accidents by pressing employers to take the necessary steps to eliminate work hazards. To that end, they have released a fact sheet detailing "crowd management measures to protect workers during major sales events."

"Crowd control is critical to preventing injuries and deaths," said Dr. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary for OSHA. "These incidents can be prevented by adopting a crowd management plan, and this fact sheet provides retail employers with guidelines for avoiding injuries during the holiday shopping season."

While a complete breakdown of all the safety guidelines is beyond the scope of this blog entry, it's still interesting to take a brief glance some of the fact sheet's more notable recommendations to prevent work injuries.

OSHA recommends that stores perform the following crowd management tactics:

  • Have trained personnel, hired security or police officers on hand to manage large crowds
  • Establish barricades or rope lines in advance to keep the crowd organized
  • Appoint employees to explain to waiting customers how to properly enter and exit the store once the doors open
  • Carefully monitor for when the store reaches its maximum capacity

This post was for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as legal advice.

Stay tuned for more from our San Diego workers' compensation blog ...

Source:

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), "US Labor Department's OSHA encourages major retailers to provide crowd management measures to protect workers during major sales events" Nov. 9, 2011