Safety Checklist For Business Owners On Black Friday

Posted on 20th Nov, 2017 | By Lorretta Tatham

Black Friday is one of the year’s biggest events for the retail calendar, and business owners across a huge array of industries are likely already preparing for the day itself. If you’re a business owner, your very top priority throughout the preparation (and the day itself) should be on ensuring the safety of everyone on your premises, including your staff. With that in mind, our experts at Browns Safety have assembled a quick checklist for you, so that you can make sure you’re totally prepared for the Black Friday rush.

Prepare For The Event

In order of priority, amongst the first measures you should take is to

1. Hire any additional staff as needed, and see to it that they receive proper training.
2. Depending on the size of your premises, you may find it beneficial to have dedicated crowd management staff on-site, who are trained in security operations and best practices.
3. If you’re expecting a particularly big rush, it may even be worth consulting your local police service, but we certainly recommend hiring security staff before you do that!
4. With that all done, create a staffing plan that pins down the locations for everyone on your team throughout the day. (Not only does it help you to maintain a better overview, but it ensures any evacuation proceeds smoothly.)

Once you’ve done all this, at the bare minimum, you’ll be off to a good start when looking to…

Manage Crowds Effectively On Black Friday

When the crowds start arriving at your business on Black Friday, here are a few simple measures you can take to maximise everyone’s safety:

1. Provide clear and legible signage that indicate entrances and exits, store opening times, and toilet facilities
2. Have staff on hand to explain vital information to customers, just in case they can’t read or understand signs for whatever reason (for example, short-sightedness)
3. Have rope lines or barricades prepared – or another system to divide the crowd into smaller, manageable groups
4. Clear away shopping trolleys and other potentially problematic obstacles from the crowd’s path. Only have what you absolutely need to have!
5. Designate a separate store entrance for staff, and post members of staff to ensure that no customers try to take advantage of it

If you follow all these steps, you should have a good chance of guaranteeing safety for both staff and customers. However, you should agree beforehand on…

What To Do In An Emergency

The unfortunate truth is that due to the sheer excitement and high spirits often present on the day, with bigger crowds it’s almost inevitable that you might have to deal with a developing situation at some point during the day. This might take the form of a minor scuffle between customers – in which case, you can designate your security to deal with it – but it’s also important to run through general emergency procedures beforehand too.

So if an emergency occurs:

1. Don’t stop people from leaving unless it’s detrimental to their safety, and don’t block or lock exit doors
2. Have a designated member of staff ready to call relevant emergency services if necessary
3. It’s an excellent course of action to have members of staff – or yourself – available on hand to administer first aid, or similar treatment.

Happily, this is our particular area of specialty. First Aid training is just one of the many courses we offer here at Browns Safety. This can take the form of an intensive 1 Day course, or a longer 3 Day First Aid at Work Course. Even if you’re not in time for Black Friday, it may still be worth getting staff trained up in time for the January sales! You can book your place through the relevant course pages, or by giving us a call on 01282 615517.

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter: @brownssafety