In 2021, 1.8 million working people suffered a workplace accident or injury. Most of these injuries occur in construction, the educational and health services sectors, transport, and warehouse.
Retail workers are also prone to workplace injuries due to the nature of the work they carry out.
There are many risks involved in working in retail, from poor posture and lifting techniques causing back injuries and sprains to injuries from falling objects or poorly maintained shelving and displays.
Employers have a responsibility under Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 to ensure that all employees have a safe place to work, are protected from hazards with additional safety gear and training, have access to adequate facilities and are protected from accidents and injuries for carryout out their job role along with other responsibilities.
If you are concerned about helping employees and customers to be safe in your retail environment, these tips can go a long way in boosting your business’s health and safety credentials.
Carry out risk assessments
Risk assessments need to be carried out periodically; you cannot reduce risks if you are unaware of the dangers posed to those in your store on a daily basis.
Look for things such as the layout and how people navigate the store, the shelving and floor displays you have, the weight and height products are stored, how employees stack the shelves or put away inventory, etc. Once you have a clear picture of the risks in your workplace, you can put plans in place to reduce or minimise said risks.
Remember to revisit the risk assessment regularly to make sure safety precautions are being adhered to, and nothing has changed, or that needs your explicit attention urgently, i.e. fixtures becoming damaged or fire extinguishers becoming unusable and damaged, lighting obscuring hazards.
Training
Every single employee needs to be trained in all aspects of health and safety that specifically affect your type of business. Retail covers a lot of different sectors, and retail food stores will have different health and safety responsibilities than clothing retailers, for example.
Ensure all employees are trained in how to work safely and reduce the risk of harm to themselves or others, i.e. not leaving rubbish on floors and using equipment correctly, and everyone is aware of how to approach sills and esses so they are cleaned quickly and appropriately.
Put a health and safety training plan in place and ensure everyone is up to date by refreshing knowledge periodically and having them sign off once you are satisfied they know what they need to be doing.
Aspects of the training plan can include;
● Cleaning and waste handling
● Fire safety and evacuation
● Lifting and handling
● Working at height
● Safe load levels
● Using safety equipment and the correct PPE
● Being aware of the surroundings
Provide the right equipment
If you really want to keep your employees safe during their working day, you need to look at the equipment they need to do their jobs safely and easily and how they use that equipment.
Even something as innocuous as sitting at a till can cause pain and injuries if the chair and till level is incompatible with your workers.
Processing stepping stools and ladders for sticking and reaching high shelves, using trolleys to move stock to reduce lifting and carrying, providing high visibility workwear for people working in warehouses, taking in deliveries or working in the dark such as security patrol outside, car park attendants, petrol forecourt work workers and employees tasked with bringing in shopping trolleys for example.
If you start by providing the correct safety equipment and apparatus for employees to use, then this can reduce the risk of accidents and injuries from having to improvise or from them not being visible to avoid danger.
Safety monitoring equipment
You can use a different range of safety monitoring equipment to help you ensure everyone is compliant with all of your procedures and to provide evidence and support that you are meeting your obligations.
This can be things like installing additional lighting and warning systems for the busy warehouses to ensure workers are alerted to movement and incoming deliveries. Installing security surveillance to monitor how employees work to desire they are following producers at all times and installing a sprinkler system in the event of a fire.
The little measures you put in to support what you do and ensure everyone is safe can go a long way in helping you to improve visibility in your retail business and also provide you with evidence you are compliant, and you are monitoring the compliance of all of your employees too.
Follow government regulations
As an employer, you must be aware of the government regulations regarding your retail business and what you are legally obliged to do. As mentioned earlier, the Health and Safety At Work Act 1974 is in place to provide minimum standards all employers need to adhere to.
It will pay to become overly familiar with this to ensure complete compliance. From here, look for any different regulations you need to be implementing in your store pertaining to your sector, e.g., food safety standards, using moving equipment, working at height regulations, and security and fire safety regulations too.
Once you know your legal responsibilities, you can implement measures for compliance and put training in place. Make sure you are aware of any changes and updates to laws and new regulations that come out to update practices and policies accordingly.
Conclusion
Running a retail site comes with many different compliance issues.
Still, as a minimum, you need to enforce health and safety initiatives in the workplace to help reduce the risk of harm and injury to employees and ensure that your store is safe to work in and shop at for everyone on the premises.
Not only will you be putting your employees’ lives at risk if you fail to follow regulations and legal obligations regarding health and safety, but you risk ruining the reputation of your business and putting yourself at risk of criminal prosecution and fines too.
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