A Retail Safety Program

Disclaimer: The foregoing information is provided as a guide to help you reduce the risk of insurance loss but is not

intended to include all potential controls or safeguards. Retailers remain responsible for their own loss control efforts and

should seek appropriate guidance specific to their operations. By providing this information, AWI, White Rose and Co-Op

Agency Inc and any of their representatives are not undertaking a duty to ensure, on behalf of you or others , that your

property or operations are safe or in compliance with any law, rule or regulation.

TOPIC Page Number

Customer Safety 4

Reducing the Hazards 5

Inclement Weather 7

Floor Monitoring Logs 8

Floor Monitoring Compliance 9

Post Accident Guidelines 10

Accident Investigations 11

Employee Injuries 12

Safety Meetings 14

Back Injury Prevention 15

Deli Slicer Safety 16

First Aid Kits 17

Shopping Cart Damage 18

Surveillance Cameras 19

Criminal Incidents 20

Evidence Preservation 21

Retail Crime Prevention 22

Preventative Measures 23

Slip, trip and falls are one of the most common types of

customer accidents in retail business. If we fail to create a safe place for our customers, we risk losing customer sales, we risk having a negative reputation in the community and we could potentially have higher insurance costs.

We need to show that we have taken “reasonable care” or that we have taken the reasonable steps to prevent any acts or possible dangers that we foresee could harm others.

For example, during inclement weather, water can accumulate For example, during inclement weather, water can accumulate at your entrance inside your store causing a slip and fall hazard to a customer. If you have a floor maintenance program in place, you are aware of the possibility of this hazard, a program in place to detect the hazard and a procedure in place such as mopping the floor, putting down mats and caution/wet floor signs to reduce the hazard. You have taken “reasonable care” to prevent a customer from a slip and fall accident.

Having policies and procedures in place to reduce the hazards, will help your insurance company defend your store against these claims.

4*Grocers Insurance

Employees should be

1. trained to recognize conditions that can result in an injury to your customers and co-workers. For example, keeping an eye on the areas that are prone to water build-up such as front entrances, produce and food aisles, looking for low profile displays, worn or loose floor tiles, ice and snow buildup in the parking lot, etc.

2. responsible to eliminate or reduce the hazard and/or report the condition to their manager.

3. familiar with post accident procedures.

Create a Customer Protection Policy so employees can understand

the importance of maintaining a safe environment at the store and their role in recognizing hazardous conditions. Have them sign the policy and keep in their personnel file.

5*Grocers Insurance

It is everyone’s responsibility to identify a hazard and take the necessary steps to eliminate or reduce the hazard.

Some suggested prevention measures are:

Have mats in good condition at all entrances.

During inclement weather, keep “wet floor” signs out at all times. Monitor the area frequently and mop and put down mats.

Walk aisles regularly and immediately pick up debris and clean up spills. Display wet floor signs immediately and clean up the spill properly.up the spill properly.

Do not leave items to be stocked unattended on the sales floor.

Floor displays should be at least 3 feet in height or greater.

Keep parking lot and sidewalk clean and free of debris.

Place floor mats in areas where produce is being sprayed with water, or ice is in the display, and/or anywhere loose product such as grapes and berries can accumulate.

Mats should be placed around floral area.

Restrooms should be checked for any water or debris on the floor.

6*Grocers Insurance

During inclement weather you will want to make sure your

entrance areas are clean and dry.

Assign someone the task to regularly check the floors for wet conditions and to mop and put down mats and caution signs.

Parking lots and sidewalks

Be prepared with shovels, ice melter and traction medium (i.e., sand, kitty litter).

Assign someone the task to regularly check the outside areas for ice and snow build up and to clean up or call areas for ice and snow build up and to clean up or call the responsible maintenance personnel.

Consider discussing inclement weather procedures at your

next employee or safety meeting.

At the start of the winter season, post reminders in the break room for employees. They also are responsible for recognizing unsafe conditions and reporting them to management.

.

7

Floor Monitoring Logs play an important part in showing that we are taking the necessary steps to prevent an accident from occurring on a daily basis.

Without proper floor monitoring and maintenance, a customer could slip and fall. “Reasonable Care” helps demonstrate there was not negligence for the accident. But, to ensure this prevention, we must first have employee training and a policy in place; we must enforce this policy to show good floor monitoring procedures.

All employees need to be trained to include visual monitoring of the sales floor as they work, hazard identification, importance of maintaining a safe environment for customers and spill clean-up procedures. All employees should All employees should All employees should All employees should be responsible for looking for hazards and reporting them or fixing the hazard be responsible for looking for hazards and reporting them or fixing the hazard be responsible for looking for hazards and reporting them or fixing the hazard be responsible for looking for hazards and reporting them or fixing the hazard themselves.themselves.themselves.themselves.

Stress with all managers and employees to visibly check the floors more often when inclement weather, post wet floor signs at entrances and put down rug/mats at entrances.rug/mats at entrances.

Floors need to be walked on a regular basis, picking up fallen items and sweeping and mopping as needed. This could prove that you did what is reasonably expected to keep the sales floor clean. After the floor is walked, document the time and the person who performed the walk on your log.

A schedule needs to be implemented. Every hour the sales floor and restrooms need to be walked. Assign employees to be responsible for walking the floors. Train the employees who will perform the walk to what they need to look for and to use the log to record times and document what was taken care of during their walk.

The store manager will need to monitor the log on a daily basis to make sure it is in compliance.

8*Grocers Insurance

Floor Monitoring Logs need to be reviewed on a daily basis to make sure you are in compliance.

If the logs are not being done on a consistent basis , the logs could also harm you if these logs were subpoenaed in a suit that is filed against you.

If the floor logs and/or sweeps are not done consistently, (i.e., hourly If the floor logs and/or sweeps are not done consistently, (i.e., hourly If the floor logs and/or sweeps are not done consistently, (i.e., hourly If the floor logs and/or sweeps are not done consistently, (i.e., hourly and daily) it could show that you are not taking “reasonable care” to and daily) it could show that you are not taking “reasonable care” to and daily) it could show that you are not taking “reasonable care” to and daily) it could show that you are not taking “reasonable care” to prevent an accident. prevent an accident. prevent an accident. prevent an accident. ------------ If you do plan to use this system, please If you do plan to use this system, please If you do plan to use this system, please If you do plan to use this system, please make sure it is in compliance every day.make sure it is in compliance every day.make sure it is in compliance every day.make sure it is in compliance every day.

9*Grocers Insurance

If a customer accident occurs, it is important to react quickly and appropriately.

1. Immediately call for a manager or supervisor.

2. Take care of the injured customer.

3. Be courteous and helpful.

4. Let the customer decide whether he/she wants to see a doctor, go to a hospital or go home. Do not promise that you will take care of medical or hospital bills.

5. Ask him/her how the accident occurred.

6. Secure names of witnesses as soon as possible.Get names/addresses of customers first, whether they are eye witnesses or not.

Get names/address of employees and have them complete a witness statement.

7. Inspect accident scene carefully and ask another employee to also inspect the scene.scene.

8. After the customer is taken care of, document as much information about the accident as possible, what the customer was wearing and footwear if they had a slip/fall, using a cane, etc.

9. If you have video footage available, check and save video. Also, take photos of the unaltered scene.

Please remember: Please remember: Please remember: Please remember:

• Do not offer to pay any medical expensesDo not offer to pay any medical expensesDo not offer to pay any medical expensesDo not offer to pay any medical expenses

• Do not admit responsibilityDo not admit responsibilityDo not admit responsibilityDo not admit responsibility

• Do not mention insuranceDo not mention insuranceDo not mention insuranceDo not mention insurance

• Do not apologize for accidentDo not apologize for accidentDo not apologize for accidentDo not apologize for accident

• Do not argue cause of accidentDo not argue cause of accidentDo not argue cause of accidentDo not argue cause of accident

• Do not reprimand employee at the sceneDo not reprimand employee at the sceneDo not reprimand employee at the sceneDo not reprimand employee at the scene

• Do not discuss details of the accident with other parties in the days or weeks Do not discuss details of the accident with other parties in the days or weeks Do not discuss details of the accident with other parties in the days or weeks Do not discuss details of the accident with other parties in the days or weeks

following the incident .following the incident .following the incident .following the incident .

10*Liberty Mutual Insurance

For every 330 “unsafe acts”

300 will result in no injury and/or damage

29 will have a minor injury and/or damage

1 will be a lost time injury or fatal injury or major property damage.

Investigate all employee and customer accidents reported to find the root cause of why it happened.

Correct unsafe acts and conditions to prevent future employee lost time accidents and customer accidents.accidents.

Discuss accidents that occurred in your monthly safety meetings; as well as why it happened (the root cause) and how it will be prevented from occurring in the future.

11

It is important to:

Have all employees trained to know that any injury they have must be reported to their manager the same day as it occurs, even if they are not seeking medical attention. Otherwise, you do not truly know if this occurred in the workplace.

Your managers should have the employee complete an employee injury report form and sign and date the form.

Determine if the injury is an OSHA Recordable injury and maintain your OSHA Log. Refer to the OSHA Recordkeeping guidelines on the web at

http://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/

Complete an accident investigation to determine why the injury occurred and if there is any preventive measure that can be put in place so that it does not happen again.

Review all injuries at your monthly safety meetings and share the cause of the injury and the preventive measure that will be or was cause of the injury and the preventive measure that will be or was put in place.

If employee was injured using equipment, make sure they are retrained in the proper use of the equipment and maintenance before allowing them to return to their job. Document the training by a sign-off form that they were retrained and keep this form with your worker’s compensation file. If audited by OSHA, this will show that you took the injury seriously and preventative measures were put in place so it does not happen again.

12

Check video surveillance to see if injury was recorded and keep a copy of the video with your workers compensation file in case you need to refer to it again or if the insurance company requests a copy.

If the employee did an unsafe act or did not obey a policy and this caused the injury, issue a safety violation and keep a copy in their personnel file and workers compensation file. (For example, a deli employee is trained to use the deli slicer with the guard in place and they did not have the guard in place when the injury occurred.)

Invest in a safety program and/or a safety incentive program and communicate safety awareness to your employees often, make sure managers support the program and that they set an example to work safely.safely.

All safety training should be documented and employee sign offs should be kept in their personnel files.

Consider a light duty program to keep the employee working while they are healing from their injury. If you can accommodate their restrictions given by the doctor and they can be placed in alternate employment at the store, this can be beneficial to get the employee back to their regular job duties. These jobs should be monitored so the injured employee works within the doctor’s restrictions and they do not get injured further.

13

Form a Safety Committee at your store to discuss safety topics and implement preventative measures against unsafe acts and conditions. Members of your committee can be managers and full-time/part-time employees from various departments within the store.Schedule your safety meetings on a monthly basis.Have an agenda of what should be covered at the meeting.Talk about recent employee injuries and customer accidents and how they happened and what was done or can be done to prevent the accident from occurring again.Have a “Safety Topic” of the month that gets communicated to all employees (i.e., Lifting Safely, Back Injury Prevention, to all employees (i.e., Lifting Safely, Back Injury Prevention, Deli Slicer Safety, refresher on accident procedures, etc.)Safety Committee members should take the information from the meeting back to their co-workers in their departments and share what was discussed. Communicate the importance of working safely.Safety Meetings allow employees an opportunity to relay safety/health concerns/ improvements back to management and vice-versa.In the state of PA , you can apply for a Safety Committee Certification to help reduce your insurance costs. Reference PA’s Labor and Industry website if you would like to learn more about PA Workplace Safety Committee Certification Program - click on the tab “Workplace & Community Safety” at http://www.dli.state.pa.us

14

The human body works much like a machine. And like a machine, we need to make sure that we maintain our body adequately. Back injuries are one of the most common problems we can have with our body. They affect all types of people and occur on the job, at home or at play.Most people don’t realize how frequently back injuries occur. 80% of us will develop back problems at some time in our lives.If you injure your back, you often have to deal with:

Frequent pain

Long rehabilitation

Lost time from work, personal activities and family

Back injuries can result from many things:

Back strain and fatigue are probably the most common problems. Causes include:Causes include:

Bad posture

Awkward positions

Over-reaching

More serious back injuries can occur from slips and falls, including fractured vertebrae and damaged spinal cord nerves.

Improper lifting can also cause back injuries. It most often results in tears in the discs between the vertebrae or pressure on spinal nerves.

Use proper lifting & carrying techniquesTo lift:

Slowly straighten your legs

Keep object close to your body

Bring your back to a full upright position

There are also rules for carrying objects:

Move slowly & smoothly

Always turn your feet, never twist your back

Just reverse the steps when you put down the object.

15

The US Department of Labor considers deli slicers to be hazardous in the workplace

Only employees over the age of 18 may operate slicers

Cleaning a meat slicer is the leading cause of lacerations in deli departments

A severe cut from a meat slicer can occur very quickly

Learning specific safety precautions will help reduce your chances of being injured on the job

Guidelines for CleaningGuidelines for CleaningGuidelines for CleaningGuidelines for CleaningAlways turn the blade to zero, turn off the unit and unplug the electrical cord.

When cleaning the blade with sanitizing solution, put on cut-resistant gloves and move the rag in a circular motion.

Never leave slicer blades that are being cleaned unattended or at any time.

Wipe away larger pieces of meat and cheese from the top and bottom of slicer.

Unscrew the blade cover and wipe the plate down all the way to the blade.

Wipe down the grips and handles.

When you clean and break down the slicer for the night, remove the slide and blade cover while wearing cut-resistant gloves. Wash the blade, slide and When you clean and break down the slicer for the night, remove the slide and blade cover while wearing cut-resistant gloves. Wash the blade, slide and cover in the sink or dishwasher.

For food safety, deli slicers must be cleaned at least once every 4 hours and at the end of each work shift.

Safe OperationSafe OperationSafe OperationSafe Operation100% concentration and attention to the deli slicer can help reduce the chance of injury. If you are interrupted, stop operating the slicer immediately

When cutting meat or cheese, always make sure that they fit properly into the push guard. If not, trim them so they do.

Always use the push guard when pushing food through the deli slicer

When finished slicing, always turn the blade to zero so other employees will be safe using it.

Be sure to cleanup any water or spillage

Wear cut resistant gloves when cleaning the slicer

Do not leave slicer blades that are being cleaned unattended at any time

Never bypass or tamper with the slicer safety switch

Never reach across the blade for any reason.

Use locking features to keep blade in place when not in operation

16

Keep first aid kits available throughout your store.

Deli areaBack roomBakeryFront of store/Customer Service areaMeat department

Kits should have basic supplies such as:Ø Adhesive bandagesØ Adhesive bandagesØ Elastic bandageØ Alcohol cleansing padsØ Instant Cold/Hot PacksØ GauzeØ Antibiotic ointmentØ Burn creamØ Non-latex glovesØ Bandage tapeØ CPR micro-shield mask

17

Stray shopping carts can damage customer’s vehicles. This is one of the most common types of property damage in retail business.

Have employees or positions assigned to monitor the parking lot, side walks and cart corrals.

These employees should wear safety vests and be responsible for retrieving stray carts and bringing carts from the cart corrals to the store.

Have a regular schedule for cart collection such as every half hour or more often during busy times.or more often during busy times.

Place signage at the cart corrals and the front of building stating you will not be held responsible for damage caused by carts.

18*Grocers Insurance

Strategically placed cameras should be throughout the store. For example:

• Entrances

• Parking Lots

• Porches/Sidewalks

• Deli

• Produce

• Meat

• All grocery aisles

• Cashiers/Check Out• Cashiers/Check Out

• Customer Service Area

• Dairy

• Backroom

• Loading dock

Video documentation is valuable for:

• Retail theft investigation

• Accident investigation

19

Common criminal incidents at retail locations include retail theft, vandalism and robbery

Retail theft is the taking of products for sale with intent to deprive the merchant the value of the merchandise

Robbery is the taking of property by force or the threat of force

Vandalism is the destruction of store property including merchandise, displays or other property

Store policies should be developed that outline how employees should respond to each type of crime

Employees should not be expected to endanger their lives or the lives of other employees or customers to stop a crime or make an apprehension

20

Video of a crime should be saved for future court use

Physical evidence should be photographed and saved

Facial photos of persons involved in crimes should be obtained either from video or after apprehensionshould be obtained either from video or after apprehension

Products stolen and recovered should be photographed and if uncompromised, returned to the sales floor

21

Keep the inside and outside of the store adequately lit.

Have clear visibility in and out of the store and also the front windows.

Place mirrors throughout the store.

Have roof access, side and back doors locked.

Cash should be kept and counted in a secure area.

Have an auditing system in place for cash drawers and lottery sales.lottery sales.

Employees should be trained in procedures for a robbery.

Have pre-arranged signals in place to alert co-workers of a threatening situation.

22

It is important to show your insurance carrier you have taken preventative measures. Develop programs for

Preventative Maintenance for refrigeration systems and heating and air conditioning

Emergency Action Plan for breakdowns, power failures, etc.

Hazard identification and solutions

Fire Extinguishers – employee training, inspection Fire Extinguishers – employee training, inspection and maintenance

Fixed Fire Suppression systems are properly inspected, tested and maintained

Preventative Maintenance and semi-annual cleaning for commercial cooking equipment.

23