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Retail Workplace Health & Safety

Retail health and safety checks are in place to ensure a workplace free of hazards to associates and consumers and to prevent loss of profits due to lost-time accidents. Failure to follow these workplace safety rules can result in hefty fines for noncompliance.

  1. OSHA: Occupational Safety and Health Administration

    • States that did not elect to form their own safety councils are governed by OSHA rules.

      The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a division of the U.S. Department of Labor. It was formed in conjunction with the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to regulate and help manage hazards in the workplace. In most states, OSHA sets the safety standards to which most businesses, including retail establishments, must adhere or face hefty fines (see References for list of states).

    Low-Hazard Retailers

    • Retailers who specialize in apparel and accessories are considered low-hazard by OSHA standards.

      Retailers that specialize in the sale of items such as apparel and accessories, vehicles, furniture, insurance, real estate, financing and food and drink are considered low-hazard by OSHA standards, which exempts them from certain record keeping and reporting requirements. Low-hazard retailers are not required to submit OSHA Form 101 (Individual Incident Reporting) or Form 200 (Illness/Injury Log). Reporting rules may differ in those states with their own safety administrations.

    Retailer Responsibilities

    • Retailers who fail to maintain adequate OSHA standards may incur citations.

      To comply with the health and safety standards set forth by OSHA, all retailers, including those classified as low-hazard, must adhere to certain rules and regulations. These include maintaining safe equipment, providing medical exams, training employees in OSHA requirements, displaying OSHA poster 3165 ("Job Safety and Health: It's the Law"), not retaliating or discriminating against employees who exercise their OSHA rights, displaying citations at or near the workplace, resolving cited violations within the given time frames, participating in survey requests from OSHA or the Bureau of Labor Statistics, reporting accidents that result in any fatalities or in the hospitalization of three or more employees and any fatalities, and record keeping and reporting requirements.

      Employers who fail to maintain these standards can find themselves on the receiving end of disciplinary action by OSHA.

    Noncompliance Penalties

    • Fines can be hefty for retailers who don't take OSHA requirements seriously.

      Most OSHA fines are imposed on businesses that employ the use of heavy machinery. Lock out and tag out violations, as well as crane and gantry standards, will quickly incur the wrath of OSHA. However, retailers failing to take OSHA standards seriously can easily fall under the "General Duty Clause," which is an all-encompassing term for OSHA violations that may not fall under any specific category.

      OSHA fines for businesses that are non-compliant have ranged from $7,000 to $87,000.

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