OHS in Supermarkets and Shops: Stockroom, Shelves, Checkout

Shop safety: the risk map

Picture a supermarket at 7 in the morning: a lorry is unloading goods at the back door, two workers are moving boxes on pallet trucks, one is spilling water in the fruit section, and another is standing on an upturned crate to reach the top shelf. When the shop fills with customers at 10 o'clock, the same back corridor is the evacuation route in a possible fire. Shop safety means managing these two faces together: protecting workers while ensuring everyone in the building can get out safely.

The table below summarises supermarket worker risks by area. Dividing your risk assessment into these areas ensures no corner is missed.

Area	Main risks	Priority measure
Back stockroom and goods receipt	Box stacks toppling, feet crushed by pallet trucks, manual handling, ramp	Stacking rule, shelf load label, clear aisles, pallet truck check
Sales floor shelving	Falls from height, products falling from the top shelf, cutting (utility knife)	Platform steps, weight limit on top shelf, safety knife
Checkout	Repetitive reaching and trunk twisting, prolonged standing, cold draughts	Adjustable workstation, alternating sitting, breaks and rotation
Refrigerated cabinets and cold rooms	Cold exposure, icy floors, being trapped inside	Door openable from inside, thermal PPE, time planning
Delicatessen, butcher, bakery	Slicing and mincing machines, hot surfaces, cuts	Machine guards, cut-resistant gloves
Cleaning	Slippery floors, mixing cleaning chemicals	Wet floor warning, labelled containers, chemical training
Customer area and whole building	Fire or panic in a crowd, blocked emergency exits	Emergency plan, clear exits, drills

For the machines in the delicatessen and butcher sections, see our article on safety with food machinery; in this article we focus on the other areas.

The shop stockroom and goods receipt

In most shops the back stockroom is the narrowest and fastest-changing area. During promotions, towers of boxes spill into corridors, narrow the emergency exit route and create a risk of toppling. Put the following rules in writing:

Heavy products (water, detergent, tinned goods boxes) on the lower shelves and at waist height; light products at the top.
Shelves have a label showing their load capacity; no load is placed on a shelf of unknown capacity.
Box stacking is limited to the height the packaging can withstand; crushed or wet boxes are not used at the bottom of a stack.
Stockroom aisles and the area in front of doors leading out of the stockroom are kept clear at all times.
Safety shoes with toe protection are worn when working with pallet trucks; a loaded pallet truck is not pulled from the front on ramps and slopes but guided in a controlled way.

Under Annex III of the Work Equipment Regulation, pallet trucks are subject to periodic inspection at least once a year; for intervals, see our periodic inspection intervals guide. If a forklift is also used in the goods receipt area, separate pedestrian and vehicle routes using the steps in our article on forklift and pedestrian traffic plans in the warehouse.

Shelf filling and choosing steps

Standing on a crate, a pile of boxes or a lower shelf to reach the top shelf is a cause of falls we see often in shops. Annex II item 4 of the Work Equipment Regulation requires the most suitable equipment to be chosen for temporary work at height and priority to be given to collective protection; it states that ladders may only be used where, because of the low risk, safer equipment is not justified.

The practical equivalent for shelf filling is:

For frequent and repetitive shelf filling, use platform steps with guardrails and wide treads; if they have wheels, the wheels should lock when stepped on.
Do not carry boxes on the steps; first place the box on the platform or on a trolley beside it.
Place only light products on the top shelf and state the weight limit on the shelf edge.
Take damaged, wobbly steps or steps with a missing tread out of use.

Slippery floors, utility knives and cleaning chemicals

Some of the injuries often seen in shops arise from jobs that seem minor: a spilled product, a knife slipping while opening a box, two cleaning products mixed in the same bucket.

Slippery floors: Spilled product, a broken bottle or an inadequate entrance mat on a rainy day. It should be clear who a worker who sees a spill will mark and clean the area or notify; the wet floor warning sign is removed once the floor is dry. Annex I of the Regulation on Workplace Buildings and Annexes requires floors to be sound, dry, as level as possible and non-slip.
Utility knife: Use safety knives with retractable or guarded blades for opening boxes; the knife is not carried open in a pocket, and cuts are made away from the body.
Cleaning chemicals: Products are kept in their original labelled containers and not decanted into other bottles. Mixing bleach with acid-containing descalers releases a dangerous gas; this rule and the gloves and glasses to be used are explained clearly to cleaning staff.

Checkout ergonomics and cashiers standing

The checkout is the most repetitive job in the shop: the same reaching, lifting and trunk twisting are done thousands of times a day. Heavy products (six-packs of water, sacked goods) place a direct load on the cashier's back and shoulders. Standing in the same spot for a long time also increases leg and back fatigue.

One detail is often confused: Art. 2 of the Display Screen Equipment Regulation excludes cash registers and similar devices with small displays from its scope. This does not mean checkout work is not assessed ergonomically; Art. 5 of Law No. 6331 requires work to be adapted to the individual and the adverse effects of monotonous work to be prevented, for every job.

Measures that can be applied at the checkout:

A height-adjustable chair and workstation allowing alternation between sitting and standing work.
Anti-fatigue mats at points where work is done standing.
Scanning heavy products with a handheld barcode scanner without lifting them from the belt.
Positioning the barcode scanner, screen and cash drawer so that they do not require excessive reaching.
Checkout rotation and regular breaks; measures against cold draughts at checkouts near the entrance door.

Annex I of the Regulation on Workplace Buildings and Annexes also requires a suitable rest area to be provided at workplaces with 10 or more employees. Plan the break area as a designated space rather than a corner of the stockroom corridor.

Refrigerated cabinets and cold rooms

A worker stocking a cold room goes in and out of the cold many times a day, for short periods. The risks are cold exposure, floors made slippery by condensation and icing, carrying heavy crates, and the door closing behind the worker so that they are trapped inside.

The cold room door must be openable from inside in all circumstances; there must be lighting inside and an alarm button to alert people outside.
The worker should be given a thermal jacket, gloves and non-slip shoes; time spent in the cold and warm-up breaks should be planned.
The floor should be checked regularly for icing and water accumulation, and a non-slip covering used in front of the door.
Who does what in the event of a refrigeration unit failure or suspected refrigerant leak should be written in the emergency plan.

Evacuation in crowds

Art. 11 of Law No. 6331 requires emergency planning to take into account other persons present at the workplace as well as the number of employees. In a shop, this means including customers in the plan. Your plan should answer these questions:

Who raises the alarm, how is the announcement made and how are the checkouts closed?
Which worker directs customers in which section to which exit?
Who checks that no one remains in the cold room, toilets, stockroom and staff areas?
Who helps disabled and elderly customers and those with children?
Is the assembly point away from car park traffic?

You can hold the drill at least once a year, before the shop opens or after closing; but set up a scenario that enacts the role of directing customers. For plan content and the number of support staff, see our emergency plan guide, and for choosing extinguishers by section, our article on types of fire extinguisher.

Small grocers and chain stores are both in scope

Both the neighbourhood grocer and the branch of a chain store are within the scope of Law No. 6331 because they employ workers. Following the Constitutional Court decision, there is no longer any postponement for less hazardous workplaces with fewer than 50 employees either; details are in our article on OHS at workplaces with fewer than 50 employees. Your obligations vary with the hazard class of your activity code; check your class using the steps in our article on how to find out your hazard class, and calculate your specialist and physician time with the OHS obligations calculator tool.

At office and retail businesses in Bursa and the surrounding provinces, Bursa Sistemer OSGB carries out the shop walk area by area, enters the findings into the risk assessment document and follows them up as part of our OHS specialist services.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is an OHS specialist mandatory for supermarket workers?

Yes. Whatever the number of employees, the employer appoints an OHS specialist and a workplace physician. At less hazardous workplaces with fewer than 50 employees, the employer may carry out the service themselves, except for medical examinations, if they complete the Ministry training.

Is it mandatory to give cashiers the option of working seated?

There is no separate seating rule for cashiers in the legislation; however, adapting work to the individual and reducing the effects of monotonous work is a general principle of the Law. If prolonged standing is identified in the risk assessment, measures such as alternating sitting, breaks and rotation should be planned.

Can we lock the emergency exit door against theft?

No. The regulation requires emergency exit doors not to be locked or fastened. For security concerns, door hardware that opens from inside without a key and sounds an alarm when opened, or solutions that do not obstruct the exit such as cameras, should be preferred.

What kind of steps should be used for shelf filling?

For frequent shelf filling, platform steps with guardrails, wide treads and, if wheeled, lockable wheels are suitable. Crates, boxes or shelf ledges should not be used instead of steps, and boxes should not be carried on the steps.