Crowd-related injuries during special sales events have increased during recent years. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) encourages employers to adopt effective safety and health management systems to identify and eliminate work-related hazards, including those caused by large crowds at retail sales events. Here are some planning tips from OSHA:

• Where large crowds are expected, have trained security or crowd management personnel or police officers on site.
• Create a detailed staffing plan that designates a location for each employee. Based on the size of the crowd expected, determine the number of employees that are needed in various locations to ensure the safety of the event (e.g., near the door entrance and throughout the store).
• Ensure that employees are properly trained to manage the event.
• Contact local fire and police agencies to determine if the event site meets all public safety requirements, and ensure that all permits and licenses are obtained and that local emergency services—including the local police, fire department, and hospital—are aware of the event.
• Designate an employee to contact local emergency responders if necessary.
• Provide legible and visible signs that describe entrance locations, store opening times, and other important information such as the location of major sale items.
• Prepare an emergency plan that addresses potential dangers facing employees, including overcrowding, crowd crushing, being struck by the crowd, violent acts and fire. Share emergency plan with all local public safety agencies.
• Train employees in crowd management procedures and the emergency plan. Provide them with an opportunity to practice the special event plan. Include local public safety agencies if appropriate.

Source: OSHA Fact Sheet: Crowd Management Safety Tips for Retailers, issued November 17, 2009; http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_General_Facts/Crowd_Control.pdf.