OSHA GUIDELINES FOR BLACK FRIDAY RETAILERS

Are You Prepared for Black Friday?

“Crowd related injuries can occur during special sales and promotional events. In 2008, a worker died at the opening of a ‘Black Friday’ sale.” – from the OSHA FactSheet: Crowd Management Safety Guidelines for Retailers

 

With “Black Friday” right around the corner, it is important to ensure the safety of the customers shopping at stores. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, commonly referred to as OSHA, states that employers bear the responsibility of providing a safe and healthy environment for their employers and customers. With nearly 140 million adults visiting retail stores last Black Friday, that responsibility will grow significantly the weekend of November 28th. To this end, it is important to revisit the following OSHA recommended guidelines:

FIRST PHASE: PLANNING

• Where large crowds are expected, hire additional staff as needed and have trained security or crowd management personnel or police officers on site.
• Create a detailed staffing plan that designates a location for each worker. Based on the size of the crowd expected, determine the number of workers that are needed in various locations to ensure the safety of the event (e.g., near the door entrances and throughout the store).
• Ensure that workers are properly trained to manage the event.
• Contact local fire and police agencies to determine if the event site meets all public safety requirements, and ensure that all permits and licenses are obtained and that local emergency services, including the local police, fire department and hospital, are aware of the event.
• Designate a worker to contact local emergency responders if necessary.
• Designate a store manager to make key decisions as needed during the event
• Provide legible and visible signs that describe entrance and exit locations, store opening times, and other important information such as the location of major sale items and restrooms.
• Prepare an emergency plan that addresses potential dangers facing workers, including overcrowding, crowd crushing, being struck by the crowd, violent acts and fire. Share emergency plan with all local public safety agencies.
• Train workers in crowd management procedures and the emergency plan. Provide them with an opportunity to practice the special event plan. Include local public safety agencies if appropriate.

SECOND PHASE: PRE-EVENT SETUP

• Set up barricades or rope lines for crowd management well in advance of customers arriving at the store.
• Make sure that barricades are set up so that the customers’ line does not start right at the entrance to the store. This will allow for orderly crowd management entry and make it possible to divide crowds into small groups for the purpose of controlling entrance.
• Ensure that barricade lines have an adequate number of breaks and turns at regular intervals to reduce the risk of customers pushing from the rear and possibly crushing others, including workers.
• Designate workers to explain approach and entrance procedures to the arriving public, and direct them to lines or entrances.
• Make sure that outside personnel have radios or some other way to communicate with personnel inside the store and emergency responders.
• Consider using mechanisms such as numbered wristbands or tickets to provide the earlier arriving customers with first access to sale items.
• Consider using Internet lottery for “hot” items.
• Locate sale items in different parts of the store to prevent overcrowding in one place.
• Locate shopping carts and other potential obstacles or projectiles inside the store and away from the entrance, not in the parking lot.
• If appropriate, provide public amenities including toilets, washbasins, water and shelter.
• Communicate updated information to customers waiting in line. Have signs and distribute pamphlets showing the location of entrances and exits, store opening times and location of special sales items within the store.
• Shortly before opening, remind waiting crowds of the entrance process (i.e., limiting entry to small groups, redemption of numbered tickets, etc.).

THIRD PHASE: DURING THE SALES EVENT

• Provide a separate store entrance for staff. Provide door monitors there to prevent crowd entry.
• Make sure that all employees and crowd control personnel are aware that the doors are about to open.
• Staff entrances with uniformed guards, police or other authorized personnel.
• Use a public address system or bullhorns to manage the entering crowd and to communicate information or problems.
• Position security or crowd managers to the sides of entering (or exiting) public, not in the center of their path.
• Provide crowd and entry management measures at all entrances, including the ones not being used. If possible, use more than one entrance.
• When the store reaches maximum occupancy, do not allow additional customers to enter until the occupancy level drops.
• Provide a safe entrance for people with disabilities.