Question

Question Two H is a retail company that specialises in selling men's suits. The company has recently received a letter from a lawyer who is the legal representative of Frank, a customer who was injured recently in one of the company's shops. Frank had taken a suit into the changing room to try it on. Another customer had left a coat hanger on the changing room floor and Frank tripped over it and injured his back. A member of the shop staff called an ambulance and helped Frank into a chair while he waited Frank claims that the injuries that he sustained in the fall were due to H's failure to provide a safe enviraiment. Furthermore, he clairms that his injury was warsened by the fact that H's employee had encouraged him to sit on a chair when it would have bee bett hi to have been lying flat on the floor until the ambulance had arrived. The incident report that the shop manager submitted to the head office of H immediately after the incident confirmsthat Frank had fallen in the changing room of the shop and that an ambulance had been called at Frank's request. No other information was provided concerning the incident. H's safety officer has been unable to obtain any further information about this incident. The shop manager had been in the cash office aime f the accident and had not been called until Frank was already being attended to by the anbulance crew. The member af staff who had assisted Frank was a part-time member af staff who has since left the company and is n langer available for comment. The shop manager daes not know whether the member of staff was a trained first aider nor whether any of the staff on duty that day was trained in first aid. H's insurer is unhappy with the company's treatment of this case and intends to offer Frank a generous out of court settlement. The insurer has requested that H carries out an immediate review of its health and safety procedures and has indicated it may withdraw cover unless they it is satisfied with the result of this review

required
evaluate the Risk to the H arising from the Risk of injury to it's customer, recommend, stating reasons,the procedure that H should have in place for dealing with accidents involving customers

Answer 1

Risk management is the identification, evaluation, and prioritization of risks followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities. Retailers should adopt strategies to minimize the risks that could force them to shut down their business, thinking ahead and accounting for all the things that could go wrong. Safety of employees and customers is a significant factor to be considered while setting up any organization, and its risk management plan. If there occurs any incident affecting safety of employees or customers, they can sue the entire organization for the cause, and the after effects can even include shutting down the organization forever. Every organization should be safe in terms of ergonomics, customer service, air quality, visual appeal, lighting and employee training, and should be able to resist fire hazards, natural disasters, crimes and theft. In the case mentioned, it is clear that the retail company H has not adhered to or at least tried to implement safety measures safeguarding customers and employees. My findings from the case are:

• The company has not employed someone exclusively responsible to inspect the changing rooms after each customer finishes dress trials. If at all there was an employee to check out the trial rooms to ensure safety of the customers, there wouldn't be a hanger lying on the floor to injure another customer.
• The company has not provided first aid training to its employees so that the employees are not properly aware of what to do in case of an injury to a customer or an employee.
• There should be one or more employees responsible for handling any medical emergencies in the company so that they could provide proper guidance to the injured and take good care of them ensuring proper first aid and treatment.
• Employees were not proactive enough to call the ambulance before the injured person himself asked them to do.

In my opinion, H could have avoided the entire situation, if they had a proper risk management policy, giving proper emphasis on health and safety measures. This plan should include the importance of first aid awareness and ensuring safe environment for both employees as well as the customers. Above all, the employees should be well-trained regarding safety measures to be taken and proper first aid to be provided at the time of requirement.