OSHA Crowd Management Guidelines for Retail Safety

As hectic holiday shopping approaches, OSHA encourages major retail employers to take precautions to prevent worker injuries during Black Friday and other major sales events during the holiday season. The agency’s crowd management fact sheet provides employers with recommended elements for crowd control. Having trained security personnel on-site, setting up barricades or rope lines for pedestrians, having emergency procedures in place that address potential dangers, and having security personnel or customer service representatives explain approach and entrance procedures to the arriving public are all ways to keep employees and customers safe during sales events. OSHA also recommends stores set capacity guidelines and prevent customers from entering past the maximum occupancy level. In addition to OSHA’s recommendations, the National Retail Federation has released 2011 Crowd Management Guidelines, as well as other safety information.