OSHA launches retail LEP in Pacific region

Honolulu – In an effort to reduce workplace deaths and injuries in the Pacific region’s retail industry, OSHA has launched a Local Emphasis Program.

The LEP will feature targeted inspections of clothing stores, department stores, general merchandise stores and other retailers in Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.

More than 250 retail workers in the United States died in 2012, according to an OSHA press release, and the injury and illness rate for retail workers both nationally and in the Pacific that year was 4.0 per 100 full-time workers, compared with an overall private-sector injury rate of 3.4.

Commonly cited safety and health violations in the retail industry include electrical hazards, unsafe merchandise handling and fire hazards, the press release states. Injuries that may occur in the industry include slips, trips and falls; struck-bys; and amputations.