OSHA Citation Upheld Against Wal-Mart in Crowd Management Fatality Case
From OSHA QuickTakes –
OSHA applauds the March 25 ruling by Chief Administrative Law Judge Covette Rooney, of the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, upholding the citation and full penalty issued to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for inadequate crowd management following a November 2008 trampling death of a worker at one of the company’s retail locations in New York.
OSHA cited Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for inadequate crowd management after a Nov. 28, 2008, “Blitz Friday” holiday sales event during which a worker was knocked to the ground and crushed by a crowd of about 2,000 shoppers surging into a Wal-Mart store in Valley Stream, N.Y. OSHA inspectors found that the store put workers at risk by failing to implement reasonable and effective crowd management practices and issued a citation, carrying a $7,000 fine, under the agency’s general duty clause. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. disputed the citation before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, which decides contests of citations or penalties resulting from OSHA inspections of American workplaces.
OSHA Assistant Secretary David Michaels said in a news release (http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=19500), “Today’s ruling supports OSHA’s position that, even in the absence of a specific rule or standard, employers are still legally responsible for providing a place of employment free of recognized hazards that are likely to cause serious injury or death.”