OSHA Homes In on Home Depot

At the beginning of April I wrote posted an Atlanta Business Chronicle article about health and safety problems at Home Depot. Seems that from 1999 to 2002 and nine workers have died in accidents at Home Depots and in 2002 Home Depot was cited for 86 violations of federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards in 2002.

Seems they haven't quite cleaned up their act. The Atlanta Business Chronicle has another article about CalOSHA's interest in Home Depot because five Home Depot employees have been injured in the company's California stores since February.

The three employees injured by falling merchandise at California Home Depot stores this year include an 18-year-old employee in a North Hollywood, Calif., store who was hospitalized with a broken pelvis in February after he was struck by a bundle of wood fencing that fell from a shelf above him. In March, a 25-year-old store supervisor in Newbury Park, Calif., was injured when he was struck on the head by falling merchandise. In May, a 39-year-old employee suffered a broken bone when merchandise fell on him as he was cleaning in the company's Elk Grove, Calif., store, Cal/OSHA records show.

The other accidents involved a 56-year-old employee in the company's Santa Clarita store whose ring finger on his left hand was amputated when it was caught between a ladder and the store's shelving and an employee in the company's Cerritos, Calif., store who was hit by a car in the parking lot of the store, according to Cal/OSHA's records.