Retail outlets in breach of health and safety laws

The Polish media recently reported on the flagrant disrespect for the labour rights of persons employed in the retail trade. The majority of the objections related to non-compliance with health and safety legislation, as reflected in the results of investigations carried out by the National Labour Inspectorate in 2006. The inspectors give a number of reasons for the violations found, while employers cite lack of financial resources and overly complicated regulations.

For several years now, the National Labour Inspectorate (Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy, PIP) has closely monitored the retail trade sector, conducting frequent audits on compliance with occupational health and safety and other labour legislation. In 2006, PIP’s inspections extended to three groups of stores:

• large-area retail outlets, such as supermarkets and hypermarkets;

• supermarkets from the Biedronka chain;

• other retail outlets.

More specifically, the inspectors verified compliance with laws regulating the establishment and termination of employment relations, working times, recreational leave, remuneration and other employee benefits, and special conditions governing work of juvenile and female employees. The PIP auditors also devoted considerable attention to occupational health and safety issues in relation to the work facilities, as well as the sanitary infrastructure, work organisation, use of machines and vehicles, and storage of goods.

This article focuses primarily on issues of occupational health and safety, and is based on PIP’s annual report for 2006.

Large-area retail outlets

Shops in the large-area retail category revealed the most frequent irregularities in respect of the organisation and fitting of sanitary facilities: such infringements were found at 52% of the stores audited. The same holds true for storage and warehousing of goods; violations in this regard were found at almost 35% of the stores. In many cases, merchandise was piled up at incorrect locations, leading to the obstruction of emergency exits. Almost 60% of the audited stores committed irregularities as regards maintaining order in passageways and aisles.

The PIP inspectors discovered several breaches in the law with regard to preparing employees for work. At 39% of audited stores, employees were working without the clothing and footwear required by applicable regulations, while 52% of the stores did not ensure personal safety gear for their workers. In 37% of the cases inspected, employees had not received mandatory health and safety training.

In a few instances, the violations which were uncovered gave rise to serious safety risks. This category of grave offences included exceeding the maximum height of transported loads and use of equipment in poor technical condition.

Supermarkets from the Biedronka chain

The PIP audit of the Biedronka supermarket chain was carried out against the backdrop of court proceedings against its managing company, Jeronimo Martins S.A., concerning criminal violation of employee rights (PL0410104N). The audit extended to almost 80% of all Biedronka outlets in Poland, as a result of which PIP reported numerous breaches of occupational health and safety rules, including:

• failure to provide employees with personal safety gear (mainly shoes and gloves) – recorded in 61% of the stores audited;

• incorrect fitting of the sanitary infrastructure – found at almost 45% of audited stores.

In 57 cases out of 726, the PIP officers encountered blatant violations of applicable rules occasioning a threat to life and limb. Most of these cases concerned excessive loads and the danger of electric shock.

The third of the shop categories listed above – other retail outlets – displayed similar infringements of occupational health and safety rules.

Reasons for violations

The PIP officers believe that the violations which they discovered may be due to the following:

• poor legal awareness among management;

• high turnover rates among employees;

• inadequate work organisation and minimum staff levels;

• the fact that wholesale distribution centres and logistics operators pack goods onto pallets which, under the relevant laws, are too heavy for transport on hand carts;

• a careless approach to health and safety issues;

• pressure from management to reduce costs at the individual outlets;

• insufficient qualifications of outlet managers.

According to the employers concerned, the explanations for the breaches of occupational health and safety laws are much simpler – they are usually caused by interpretational difficulties stemming from the complicated regulations and by financial problems.

Commentary

The results of the PIP store audits suggest a number of general tendencies. Many of the infringements seem to concern the same issues – inadequate sanitary facilities, improper storage and arrangement of goods, and inadequate safety clothing – irrespective of the size of the stores or their ownership structure. Furthermore, the inspectors highlight that the incidence of violations is greatest at newly established outlets and at those belonging to new retail chains operating at a local level which are still struggling to establish themselves in the market, often with only modest capital at their disposal. These theories are borne out by research conducted by the Polish office of the German Friedrich Ebert Foundation (Fundacja im. Friedricha Eberta) concerning the possibilities for establishing trade unions at Polish hypermarkets. The respondents in that study, at least some of whom had experience working at various retail outlets, seemed to agree that working conditions tend to be better at hypermarkets operated by large chains than at smaller, local supermarkets; occupational health and safety poses the greatest problem in the latter category.

Rafał Towalski, Institute of Public Affairs (ISP)