Black Friday 2011: Getting the Safest Bang for Your Buck at Target, Walmart or Best Buy
OSHA Issues Guidelines for the Busiest Black Friday Yet
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued recommendations for Black Friday shoppers to help maintain safety during one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
In the past, eager shoppers have led to overcrowding, resulting in stampedes, injuries, and sometimes deaths.
The OSHA Fact Sheet for Black Friday includes several guidelines planned to help ensure the safety of deal-eager customers.
Some suggestions include setting up barricades for queues, using wristbands to identify early-arriving customers and creating an Internet lottery for "hot" items.
OSHA also encourages stores to obey their occupancy limits and not allow customers to enter past capacity.
"Crowd control is critical to preventing injuries and deaths," OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels Said.
“"These incidents can be prevented by adopting a crowd management plan," he added.
In 2008, a Walmart employee was trampled to death in Valley Stream, N.Y.
In 2010, a male shopper was trampled at a Target in Buffalo, N.Y.
"At that moment I was thinking, I don't want to die here on the ground," the victim told reporters after receiving pain killers and X-rays at the local hospital.
Black Friday 2011, on Nov. 25, is expected to be the busiest shopping holiday yet. Many stores are upping the ante this year by opening their doors at midnight, including Macy's, Kohl's, Target, and Best Buy.
Safety officials worry that lack of sleep coupled with overly-eager shoppers willing to hit the stores at midnight will result in injury.
"It gets pretty hectic, we have people from everywhere and we are over staffed at times to try to meet all their needs," New York City Sears manager Shannon Taft told Fox 6.
Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is the official mark to America's Christmas shopping season. Many stores offer promotional sales to lure customers and jump-start holiday revenue.
