Retail Store Occupational Health Risk

Qiuestion: Discuss about a risk profile for a retail store, risk assessment for the display of goods and comments on the Role of HSE and the LA system? Answer: Introduction Every occupation is associated with some hazards that may be potentially harmful to the workers and other human being in the premises and may cause injuries, major or minor if not tended to. Risk assessment is the observation and study of any specific occupational premises like a retail convenient store in this document and the identification and management of the potential hazards involved. Simple events like spillage of oil or paint on the floor to uneven surfaces and loose fixtures can cause serious accidents and endanger the lives or injure the occupants of the premises. If not taken care of, the store owner may face legal prosecution (Felton, 2000). The following document is a detailed analysis and risk assessment for a convenience store in an attempt to identify and understand the occupational hazards and recommendations and discussions to prevent them. In doing so, I, as a newly qualified environmental practitioner has visited the store as a customer, observed and noted down the good and bad practices that I have encountered in the experience in the store and compared them to some recently occurring hazardous incidents in other retail stores due to bad practices and tried to recommend certain remedies in overcoming the risks and their management. In doing so, I have extensively used the HSE templates and guidelines for risk assessment and it is based on some assumptions that I have mentioned later on in the succeeding sections of the document. A risk profile for a retail store A retail store deals with many different types of products and commodities which may prove to be hazardous to the health of onlookers and customers who may visit the store. In addition to this, the hazards can be fatal to the working staff in the premises of the store. The following points will provide a better insight of the potential practices or items that may be hazardous to the health if not assessed or managed otherwise. Not all of them are relevant in this particular assessment of the retail store in concern, but they are all common hazards that are found in the most of the retail stores (Hse.gov.uk, 2016). Tripping over on uneven steps or products kept unorganized on the ground/floor. Slipping on oil or paint spills or wet floors and rainwater leakage from unmaintained roofing. Handling and moving of heavy or bulky items Operation of heavy equipments like cranes or forklifts within the premises of the store in order to move heavy items or products Display of heavy items at inappropriate heights without the implementation of proper fixing techniques. For example the hanging of a mirror at an inappropriate height without properly fixing it to the wall or ceiling. Unattended delivery procedures. Workers or staff working at inappropriate heights without the aid of proper safety measures. Improper use of extension material like poles or pipes for hanging of promotional items or other items. Bad condition or unmaintained ladders used for reaching out to items kept at a height on top shelves or racks. Hot or cold items Poisonous or toxic items like acids or bleaches and other industrial compounds commonly available at retail outlets. Workplace tensions giving rise to physical or mental assault, abuse or threats. Fire and electricity hazards like improper electrical equipments and wiring or un-insulated live electrical conducting wires that may prove to be fatal if touched or may be the cause of a fire in case of a short circuit. Vulnerable worker LPG or asbestos (Linkov and Bakr Ramadan, 2004). Good and Poor Practices It is a well known saying that prevention is better than cure. In order to prevent the health hazards to disrupt the health of the human beings present at the premises, it is a good thing to maintain and follow some pre determined dos and donts, which if properly followed and executed at all times will narrow down the chances of any occupational hazards occurring inside the retail store. Training and obliging the working staff in these aspects should be a great start in achieving this. In addition to this, putting up posters or warning signs to make the customers and visitors aware of the potential risks or hazardous items or zones will allow the store visitors to be more aware and attentive toward their own safety within the store (Martonik, Grossman and Gordon, 1998). Good Practices Prevention of spillage of liquids like oil or paint Storage of sharp edged items like nails, screws, blades etc in shelves with warnings on the boxes Prevention of items lying here and there causing tripping over and injury Use of safe and supported ladders to reach out at heights instead of using conventional ladders Prevention of electrocution by naked live wires or faulty wiring Storage, use or demonstration of potentially inflammable items away fire or fire origins and provision and use of fire extinguishers in case of afire Use of proper tight and secured fixtures for hanging and supporting items at a height like large and heavy mirrors or bulky toilet fixtures Use of heavy equipments for moving in forklifts in specific zones only where visitors shall have minimum access and only concerned workers shall be going (Occupational Safety and Health Legislative Agenda, 1989: Council on Occupational and Environmental Health, National Association for Public Health Policy, 1988). Poor Practices Cleaning and mopping leading to wet and slippery floors exposed during the operational hours of the store Unorganized storage of items leading to tripping and injury Unsafe equipments like conventional ladders which may easily trip over at little vibrations Uneven flooring or too much slippery flooring Unsafe wiring and electrical systems No provision of fire fighting measures Summary of the observations at the retail store As part of the surveying aspects of my duty, I went into a retail store to take note and observe what good and poor practices of occupational and workplace hazards were being followed there and this is a brief account of the observations. As I entered the store, I realized that there was an ongoing promotion and sale of household decorating materials and everywhere there was a spree of building materials including paint solvents, paints and wallpapers. In addition to these, other painting related items like paint brushes and rollers were to be found here and there. Owing to the ongoing promotion, the store was filled to the brim with customers rumbling for the right equipment for their needs and exploring every nook and corner of the store. As a result of this, it came to my notice that there was a spillage of paints form knocked over containers which was unattended at that moment (Oshwiki.eu, 2016). In order to find myself a tin of paint of my choice I seeked the help of a young sales person who came to my help but informed me that the paint I was looking for only came in 20 liters can which was kept at an upper shelf. He readily came to my help in order to fetch me the tin and brought in a conventional ladder to reach at the top. As he laid the ladder on to the rack where the paint tin was stored at the highest shelf, and started climbing on top of it I could see that the ladder was moving to some extent dangerously and I tried to support it in order to let him fetch my paint tin safely. There were some metal lattices stored at the other aisle and if the ladder slipped and fell, he could have been impaled by the sharp edges of the metal items. I acquired a trolley to put my tin on and went ahead to get myself a spray paint machine. I had to guide the trolley around trailing wires on the floor. I also wanted mirrors for my wall and found that they were big and heavy yet they were stacked against the wall loosely and it took me some effort to get them on the trolley (Parker, 2005). As I brought my car around the bay to collect my stuff other vans were parked there of construction workers who was in the store. There were no lanes marked. The sales guy from before was helping a guy with the loading while the guy was abusing him with his choice of language. There was only one delivery bay and heavy vehicles damaged that bay and it was difficult to maneuver a vehicle form out of the store. As I left I felt the sales guy deserved a break for lending me a hand but it was a couple of hours before he could have got a break from his supervisor. Risk assessment for the display of goods The aisles were full of unorganized items lying here and there There was spillage of paint on the floor The heavy 20 liter paint tin was stored at the top shelf of a rack at an inappropriate height The rack was wobbly and could have easily tumbled over with the ladder and the sales guy on it. There was sharp edged metal lattices stored inappropriately which could have hurt anyone unaware There were training wires on the ground Heavy mirrors were stacked against the wall without any external support Only delivery and pickup bay was damaged by heavy vehicles entering to unload items (Rosenstock and Stout, 2001). Account of similar hazardous incidents In Oldham, greater Manchester, a four year old girl was injured when an improperly fixed washbasin fell on her at a DIY chain B Q. She suffered cuts and bruises and injuries to her ribs. Despite the chain issuing notices to its other outlets, when the health and safety officials visited a year after, several other stores did not follow the safety procedures and the retail chain was legally prosecuted and fined 20,000 (Mail Online, 2013). In Glasgow, a shop operator while operating a crane dislodged a display door and it dropped 20 feet down on top of an unsuspecting customer and knocked him unconscious. The city council ruled that the man was saved because the door hit a display before falling on to the man. He was permanently disabled and faces walking difficulty and spasms. The legal prosecutions fined B Q 10,000 (News.bbc.co.uk, 2016). In a Hugo Boss store in Bicester village, while a customer tried on his suit in front of a 19 stone heavy mirror, it toppled over his four year old son and crushed him to death. Investigations found out that the mirror was not being supported by any fixture and it was standing all by itself like a piece of domino. It occurred due to the lack of planning and management ruled a judge and prosecuted the company for 1.2m (BBC News, 2016). Legal Duties Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 Avoiding hazardous manual handling operations as much as possible Proper risk assessment of manual handling operations that are not avoidable Reducing the risk of injury Lifting Equipment at Work INDG290 Lifting equipments should be strong, stable and suitable in relation to the load being hauled Position of equipment is away from zones prone to loads falling on people Visible warnings and markings Lifting operations are planned and supervised Equipments to be handled by competent skilled operators Management of Health and safety at Work Regulations (MHSWR) 1999 Proper risk assessment to identify the existing hazards in the premises and analyzing the importance of the risk. Determining and execution of the planned preventive measures to control the risks and keep them from happening to a minimum Establishing a comprehensible management risk battling plan The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) In the incident of an accident, the law requires the owner of the establishment to report the incident at the Incident Contact Centre Comments on the Role of HSE and the LA system HSE has been doing a great job in restoring the importance of health and safety management in different establishments and Britains health and safety is one of the best in the world. The close association with LA rating and intervention has defined a new edge in keeping in control and monitor the health and safety issues and if they are managing it properly. However, the system lacks the confidence when it comes to association of government prosecution protocols and policies and this has to be incorporated within the system for the system to work as one big unit. LA Rating System The National Local Authority Enforcement Code was developed as a compliment of Reclaiming the health and safety for all to assist the local authorities health and safety inspection. In order to determine the intervention significances on a priority basis there is a risk rating system. The establishments not managing the risks effectively are rated A who does not induce confidence in their management systems. Likewise the categories follow into B1, B2 and C. Discussions and Recommendations The observations made at the retail store and the identification of the potential hazardous elements of product display featured in the store brings me to shivers when compared with the outcomes of the incidents at the three different locations in the UK one of which claimed the life of a four year old and one another permanently disabling the walking ability of a grown man. Improper storage of bulky items like the washbasin at an inappropriate height like the one that happened at the Greater Manchester store in Oldham can be reflected by the observation at the retail store that had a 20liter can at the top shelf of a rack. Similarly the mirrors were loosely stacked against the wall and similar incidents that proved fatal could be related to. The damaged delivery bay at the retail store can be closely related to the incident at the Glasgow store where the door fell and injured the man. Similar incidents with vehicles moving in and out could occur at the delivery bay of the store.The good hazard management practices that has been stated earlier needs to be followed and implemented in order to prevent any such occurrence which may lead to the loss of life or injury as well as the legal prosecution of the store leading to heavy penalties and destruction of goodwill (Segura, 2008). References BBC News, (2016). Hugo Boss fined 1.2m over Bicester Village mirror death - BBC News. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-34153922 [Accessed 27 Jan. 2016]. Felton, J. (2000). Occupational Health: Risk Assessment and Management. Occupational Medicine, 50(7), pp.535-538. Hallenbeck, W. and Cunningham, K. (1986). Quantitative risk assessment for environmental and occupational health. Chelsea, Mich.: Lewis Publishers. Hse.gov.uk, (2016). HSE: Information about health and safety at work. 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