Black Friday is known for the incredible deals retailers offer on products. It is the catalyst for
fourth quarter sales, help bring many retailers back into the black, and signals the beginning of
the holiday buying season. But with the holiday season also comes long lines, hectic customers,
and exhausted employees. And this year, OSHA has put a request out to all retailers to focus on
safety.
“During the hectic shopping season, retail workers should not be put at risk of injury or death,”
said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. “OSHA
urges retailers to take the time to adopt a crowd management plan and follow a few simple
guidelines to prevent unnecessary harm to retail employees.”
Any good crowd management plan should include: on-site trained security personnel or police
officers, barricades or rope lines for pedestrians that do not start right in front of the store’s
entrance, the implementation of crowd control measures well in advance of customers arriving at
the store, emergency procedures in place to address potential dangers, methods for explaining
approach and entrance procedures to the arriving public, not allowing additional customers to
enter the store when it reaches its maximum occupancy level, and not blocking or locking exit
doors.
Keeping these guidelines in mind as you prepare for the holiday season will keep your
employees safe, your customers safe, and help keep the company safe from any OSHA
inspections. If you need help in creating these guidelines, or in determining how to enforce them,
it is time to contact a qualified third party occupational safety and health auditing firm to help
you put your plan into place. You don’t want to wait until after there is an injury or a fatality to
take action.
If you have any questions about this release from OSHA or about how to properly create a crowd
management plan, please contact us. If you have anything to add about crowd management
concerns during the holiday season, please leave a comment.
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