Workers in retail establishments are constantly at risk of facing various kinds of injuries. These could be musculoskeletal, broken bones, fractures, scrapes, cuts, repetitive strain injuries, leg cramps, and backaches. The demanding schedule, irregular shifts, and various other factors put them at risk of injuries.
You must consider providing workers’ compensation insurance as a small business owner. It saves you from facing a lawsuit and prevents you from paying the expenses involved in your workers’ treatment, recovery, and rehabilitation from your pocket.
Although workers’ insurance provides coverage for injuries at the workplace, their importance is higher for holiday injuries. These refer to injuries a worker is at risk of getting during the holiday season, for example, Christmas. It is essential that your workers have coverage during the holidays, which are marked by higher in-store traffic, more customers, etc.
But why do such injuries increase during the holidays, and what steps can you take as an employer? Read on to get the answers below.
Reasons behind injuries during holidays
It is interesting to know that retail injuries have a significant risk of increasing during the holidays. But why does this happen? Well, there are many reasons. As mentioned earlier, one is the increased number of customers, leading to workers working twice as hard to manage the orders, packages, delivery, etc.
Employees at retail outlets are prone to injuries like tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and other repetitive motion injuries. The risk of these injuries is higher during the holidays when stores have increased shoppers.
Because of the rush, various safety protocols in the store are often overlooked or not given the attention they should. For instance, many retail outlets report incidents of materials collapsing on the floor because of improperly stacked inventories.
Outlets also stock a higher number of goods, materials, and inventories to cope with the increased demands of shoppers. However, storing these in front of emergency exits compromises the safety of the workers.
Types of injuries faced by workers
As a business owner, you should be aware of the various injuries faced by workers in retail outlets during holiday seasons and their everyday operations. That will help you provide safety training and take safety precautions as required.
Musculoskeletal
It includes back, shoulders, hands, and arms injuries caused by improperly lifting heavy items. The risk of such injuries during the holidays is higher because of the additional hours of heavy lifting.
Fractures and broken bones
Fractures, bruises, and broken bones happen because of slipping and falling. During Christmas, for example, retail stores have wet floors from snow and ice, increasing the chances of workers slipping and falling.
Customers and workers entering the stores from icy parking lots also create wet conditions. The chances of slipping and falling are the highest for older workers, who report the highest cases of broken bones during holidays.
What can you do to reduce the risk of injuries?
As the owner of a retail store, it is your responsibility to ensure the existence of adequate safety measures and precautions.
Ensure emergency exits are open
You should ensure objects and goods do not block the fire extinguishers. The floors should always be dry, with workers constantly mopping and cleaning them. If a wet floor cannot be cleaned immediately, it is better to put a wet floor sign.
Avoid overcrowded stacks
Avoiding overcrowding on merchandise stacks prevents them from tumbling on the floor and injuring somebody. You should instruct your workers never to leave stacks or other storage objects on the floor or walkways, where customers may easily trip over them and injure themselves.
Hiring extra workers
Since the rush during the holiday season is exceptionally high, you could consider hitting extra workers or arranging their shifts so that every employee gets reasonable time to rest, recover and relax.
Workers’ compensation
Most of all, you should have workers’ compensation insurance which provides financial coverage to your workers in case of an injury, covering their treatment, rehabilitation, and recovery costs.
It is better to buy this insurance from a company that understands the requirements and challenges of small businesses and will help you choose one according to your needs.
You should take adequate safety precautions for holiday injuries because they can cause various injuries, like cuts, lacerations, backaches, sprains, broken bones, and tendonitis. Workers’ compensation insurance protects your workers financially and assures them of timely treatment for workplace injuries.
