June 2009 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton edition of The Union News

Wal-Mart fined for death of employee during holiday season

BY PAUL LEESON
THEUNIONNEWSSWB@AOL.COM

REGION, June 1st- The United States Department of labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) office in Westbury, New York has cited Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for inadequate crowd management following the November 28th, 2008, death of an employee at its Valley Stream, New York store. The worker died of asphyxiation after he was knocked to the ground and trampled by a crowd of about 2,000 shoppers who surged into the store for its annual “Blitz Friday” pre-holiday sales event.

Agency inspection found that the store’s employees were exposed to being crushed by the crowd due to the store’s failure to implement reasonable and effective crowd management principles. This failure includes providing employees with the necessary training and tools to safety manage the large crowd of shoppers.

Anthony Ciuffo, OSHA’s acting Area Director for the Long Island Office, stated Wal-Mart did not properly plan for the event and should have known the sale would attract a huge amount of customers, putting their employees at risk of injury.

“This was an unusual situation but not an unforeseen one. The store should have recognized based on prior “Blitz Friday” experiences, the need to implement effective crowd management to protect its employees,” said Mr. Ciuffo.

As a result, OSHA has issued Wal-Mart one serious citation under its general duty clause for exposing workers to the recognized hazard of being crushed by the crowd. The citation carriers a proposed fine of $7,000, the maximum penalty amount for a serious violation allowed under the law. OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from hazards about which the employer knew or should have known.

“Effective planning and crowd management could have prevented this incident and its grave consequences. Wal-Mart must now take steps to ensure that a situation such as this one never happens again,” said Robert Kulick, OSHA’s regional administrator in New York.

According to the agency, Wal-Mart has 15 business days from the receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, particiapte in an informal conference with the OSHA director, or contest the citations before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Under the Accupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthy workplace.