Category: Wholesale and Retail Trade
Help for the Holidays: Preventing Fatigue, Violence, and Stress in Retail
The holidays can be the most stressful time of the year—especially for retail workers who often work long hours and irregular shifts. These workers might also deal with crowds, violence, and robberies. This blog highlights the risk of fatigue, violence, and stress for workers in retail stores and provides strategies for making retail work Read More >
Posted on by Leave a commentDriving Safety Tips to Keep Your Employees Safe this Holiday Season
‘Tis the holiday season—the busiest time of year for workers in the retail and delivery industries. Sadly, more fatal crashes happen during the holidays because more people travel, drink more alcohol, and drive at unsafe speeds. [1] Due to the seasonal rise in online shopping, many employers will hire temporary drivers for the holiday Read More >
Posted on by Leave a commentFrom Brick and Mortar to Beyond: Protecting Workers in the Wholesale and Retail Trade Industries
This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the 15th year of the Wholesale and Retail Trade (WRT) Sector Program. The WRT sector is one of the largest employers in today’s workforce employing nearly 19 million people in 2020. [1] Historically, the businesses within this sector Read More >
Posted on by 1 CommentWholesale Recycling: High Rates of Injuries and Illnesses
The U.S. wholesale recycling material industry consists of about 12,700 wholesale companies, providing an estimated 102,038 jobs [Siccode.com 2020]. Unlike recycling services that pick up empty cartons, cans, and bottles curbside from households, wholesale recycling merchants buy automotive scrap, electronic scrap, industrial scrap, or other recycling materials from manufacturers and resell it to businesses, government Read More >
Posted on by 5 CommentsWholesale and Retail Trade Fatal and Nonfatal Injuries and Illnesses: 2006–2016
In 2010, NIOSH published a comprehensive overview of the 2006 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data on injuries, illnesses, and fatalities in the Wholesale and Retail Trade (WRT) sector. Recently, NIOSH researchers expanded on this study to include the ten years of BLS data that followed, for a richer, more complex view. The resulting article, Read More >
Posted on by 5 CommentsOlder Wholesale and Retail Workers in Nonstandard Work Arrangements
National Employ Older Workers Week takes place the final week in September and recognizes the vital role of older workers [U.S. DOL 2019]. By 2020, workers aged 55 and over will likely make up about 25 percent of the U.S. workforce [BLS 2018]. Within the Wholesale and Retail Trade (WRT) Sector alone, in 2017 almost Read More >
Posted on by 4 CommentsReducing Fatigue and Stress in the Retail Industry: Workplace solutions
Workplace fatigue and stress is a growing topic for worker safety and health research. For instance, workplace studies have shown that the nature of retail industry work may cause fatigue and stress. Nonstandard work schedules such as irregular and extended shifts, long periods of standing, and reduced staffing are a few reasons for health issues Read More >
Posted on by 4 CommentsHealth for the Holidays: Risks and Recommendations for the Retail Industry
It’s finally here—the most wonderful time of the year… for shopping. People will visit retail stores to buy a variety of goods: the cleaning supplies they will use to prepare for holiday celebrations, the food and beverages they will serve at holiday gatherings, the holiday gifts they will give loved ones, and much more. Economic Read More >
Posted on by Leave a commentMusculoskeletal Health Research to Benefit Temporary Retail Workers
In October 2017 we published the first blog in a series to highlight musculoskeletal health research at NIOSH. With the holiday season upon us, this next installment will take the opportunity to discuss how best to promote musculoskeletal health in retail establishments to reduce the incidence of musculoskeletal disorders among temporary retail workers. Temporary or Read More >
Posted on by 1 CommentRetail Worker Safety and Health during the Holidays
The practice of American shoppers looking for a deal on the Friday after Thanksgiving has evolved into a four-day retail event ending with Cyber Monday. This shopping bonanza leading off the holiday shopping season has implications for workers who may have long workdays and expanded work schedules. The approaching season offers an ideal time for Read More >
Posted on by 1 CommentLadder Safety in the Wholesale and Retail Trade Sector: Take the Right Steps towards Safety
In 2014, work-related falls to a lower level in the wholesale and retail trade (WRT) sector accounted for over 12,500 reported injuries. These injured employees were out of work for an average of 7 to 11 days [BLS 2015, BLS 2016]. This blog provides information about preventing ladder-related injuries in the wholesale and retail trade Read More >
Posted on by 4 CommentsNonstandard Work Arrangements
Who is looking out for workers in nonstandard work arrangements? As the prevalence of nonstandard work arrangements (such as temporary agency, contract, and “gig” arrangements) rises, so do concerns about workplace safety and health among this workforce. A recent article, “Nonstandard work arrangements and worker health and safety” published in the American Journal of Industrial Read More >
Posted on by 18 Comments‘Tis the Season for Shopping and Safety
‘Tis the season for shopping and for working—specifically in retail. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2015, 4.6 million Americans worked in retail sales while 3.4 million more worked as cashiers, making up almost six percent of total U.S. employment. This holiday season, many retail employees are working longer hours and to meet Read More >
Posted on by 5 CommentsProtecting Young Workers in Retail Jobs
June, which is National Safety Month, is an appropriate time to focus on young workers, as they head out of school and into the workforce. Many of them will find jobs in the retail industry, a leading employer of young workers in the United States. In 2014, there were approximately 18.1 million workers younger than Read More >
Posted on by 15 CommentsProlonged Standing at Work
The National Retail Federation forecasts that retailers and merchants will hire between 730,000 and 790,000 seasonal workers this holiday season.[i] Many of these workers, such as sales associates and cashiers, have little, if any, opportunity to sit during their work shift. Increasingly, workers across a variety of occupations are required to stand for long periods Read More >
Posted on by 27 CommentsThanksgiving Ergonomics: Reducing material handling injuries with engineering controls
If you haven’t purchased your 20 pound Thanksgiving turkey or your 10 pound bag of potatoes rest assured employees at your local grocery stores are busy restocking the shelves each day with your favorite Thanksgiving foods. It‘s hard enough lifting those items into your cart but what about the workers who haul those tons Read More >
Posted on by 23 CommentsLadder Safety: There’s an App for That
NIOSH recently released its first smart phone application (app) for mobile devices. This free app is aimed at improving extension ladder safety by providing real-time safety information delivered via the latest technology. Falls are a persistent source of injury in many occupations and in home use. Falls are the number one cause of construction-worker fatalities Read More >
Posted on by 45 CommentsReducing Taxicab Homicides
Taxicab drivers face one of the highest homicide rates of any occupation. While rates of homicide have declined among the general working population (in 2010, 0.37 per 100,000 employed), they remain high in the taxicab industry (7.4 per 100,000 employed for the same year). In the early 1990s, bullet-resistant partitions were the dominant safety equipment Read More >
Posted on by 44 CommentsHow Does Work Affect the Health of the U.S. Population? Free Data from the 2010 NHIS-OHS Provides the Answers
You may have some hypotheses about how work affects the health of the U.S. population, but collecting data from a nationally representative sample is expensive and time-consuming. What if there was free data available at your fingertips? You’re in luck! NIOSH sponsored an Occupational Health Supplement (OHS) to the 2010 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), Read More >
Posted on by 12 CommentsWomen’s Health at Work
This week is Women’s Health Week. With over 58% of U.S. women in the labor force[i], the workplace must be considered when looking at women’s overall health. We must keep in mind that susceptibility to hazards can be different for men and women. Additionally, women face different workplace health challenges than men partly because men Read More >
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