Posted By Mark Elliott I have been asked to undertake a review of a chain of small retail outlets health and safety systems. I have surveyed the work and would like advice if anyone has done risk assessments for shops, as so far l have not found any significant hazards in their operations to warrent specific risk assessments, am i missing something?

Posted By Merv Newman And have you considered the special risks of, for example, butchery (sharp knives combined with slippery floors, exposure to fowel pest, scrapies, mad cow disease ...) and of Undertaking ? (well, you did say retail. Or do you have one that does it wholesale ?) I was once asked "As a safety consultant, do you have customers or clients". I replied "Clients". "Ah, just like butchers and undertakers" Sunday afternoon and its raining. Done the samurai. Waiting for dinner. Have a nice day Merv

Posted By Frank Hallett Hi Mark I don't wish to be insulting to you or anyone else; but your question raised a couple of my own that, with the greatest respect, you should give serious consideration to. What is the actual business of your employer? Financial, Estates Management, H&S Consultant, something else? Is there any definitive and demonstrable level of understanding within your organisation of what H&S risk assessments are supposed to achieve? What was it that caused your employer to consider you competent to undertake the task as described? Long-term functions in H&S, some form of formal H&S training, something else? Feel free to not respond publicly to the above Mark; if you wish to flog me in public, feel free to do so but only after you've satisfied yourself that my questions are totally unwarranted in response to your question. Let the vultures fly free! Frank Hallett

Posted By David Kimmins Mark You have a good question, thanks for asking for help. To get you thinking.. The most common types of fatality in retail for employees are falls from height and struck by moving vehicle. Therefore you need good risk assessments in receieving areas, vehicle moevement; compactor pickups; lift truck and other MHE equipment. Also look at ladder & step use (are they suitable)and access to racking and storage areas in the backrooms. For customer fatalities look at slips, trips & falls and struck by moving/falling object. For non fatal injuries, understand that retail is about one thing. Bringing merchandise in the back door and selling it out the front. Most employee accidents are therefore related to material handling. Generally in the backroom, and to a lesser extent at the checkouts (depending on what type of merchandise you are moving) Again for both customers and employees, look at slips, trips & falls. This is mostly about housekeeping. Unfortunately retail does have a lot of accidents and a lot of lost workdays associated with those accidents, and they are avoidable. David