November 25, this year. Retailers have it marked on their calendars and look forward with excitement and dread. Black Friday can often mean big profits for stores, but it can also mean extra danger for their employees and customers because of the rush to get that “special” toy or other item. In addition, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) expects you to control crowds as part of your “general duty” to protect your workers. Today we will provide some crowd management tips for all the “Black Fridays” on the retail calendar.
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Given your duty to control crowds at your store, OSHA suggests that you have procedures in place for anything that can happen, preevent, during the event, and in the event of an emergency. See if you can implement these tips to keep your workers and customers safe in the holiday rush. Most of it is in the planning.
Tips for Planning Ahead
All retailers know when a Black Friday-type event will be happening at their stores. Tips for safety planning when large crowds are expected include:
- Hire additional staff as needed and ensure that workers are properly trained to manage the event.
- Have trained security or crowd management personnel or police officers on-site.
- Create a detailed staffing plan that designates a location for each worker.
- Contact local fire and police agencies to determine if the event site meets all public safety requirements.
- 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.
- 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.
Tips for Setting Up for the Event
How you set up for your event will go a long way in keeping a crowd under control. Most people will follow an orderly process. Tips for your event setup include:
- Set up barricades or rope lines that are away from the entrance of the store well in advance of customers arriving.
- If possible, have a plan for dividing the crowd into smaller groups.
- 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.
- Provide a separate store entrance for staff. Provide door monitors there to prevent crowd entry.
- Provide a safe entrance for people with disabilities.
- Designate workers to explain approach and entrance procedures to the arriving customers, and direct them to lines or entrances.
- Equip outside personnel with radios or some other way to communicate with personnel inside the store and emergency responders.
- Locate sale items in different parts of the store to prevent overcrowding in one place.
Tips During the Event
OK, the day has arrived and your customers are gathering outside your store—hours before you open! How can you keep your customers content and your employees safe before and after the store opens? Here are some tips:
- Keep shopping carts and other potential obstacles or projectiles inside the store and away from the entrance and not in the parking lot.
- If appropriate and possible, provide public amenities, including toilets, 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 you have devised (e.g., limiting entry to small groups).
- 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) customers, not in the center of their path.
- 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.
Tips for an Emergency Occurrence
We all know that no matter how much you plan, things happen. Here are some steps to take in case of an emergency:
- Do not restrict egress, and do not block or lock exit doors.
- Know in advance whom to call for emergency medical response.
- Keep first-aid kits and Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) available, and have personnel trained in using AEDs and CPR on-site.
- Instruct employees, in the event of an emergency, to follow instructions from authorized first responders, regardless of company rules.
EXTRA TIP. Last, but certainly not least, for this event and at all times, make sure you maintain appropriate access to exit routes and ensure that exits are not blocked.