Brooklyn Supermarket Staffers "Caged" Overnight, Says OSHA

Identifying victims of the Triangle shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911

Clean up in Coney Island! A Mermaid Avenue supermarket is in hot water with the feds this week for "essentially caging" its employees in the store overnight, which could lead to disaster in case of an emergency.

The owners of Fine Fare Supermarket allegedly kept their overnight stock clerks locked in by keeping rolldown gates over all give exit doors, which were kept shut with padlocks and multiple sliding bolts. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules require that employees be able to open an exit from inside at all times, without a key. The owners of Fine Fare are being charged with $62,300 in fines for the locked exits and obstructing the exit routes. The exit routes in question were probably quite useful in 2008, when an SUV crashed through the window of the supermarket and smashed into an elderly woman at the checkout counter.

A OSHA spokesman chided the store's owners, saying that the violations evoked "conditions from 1911," the year of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which 146 garment workers died because they were locked in the building. "These are imminent danger situations, potential catastrophes in the making," the rep said. A lawyer for the store said the OSHA is mistaken and there were open exits, though the store's manager was unavailable for comment when we called.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jamie Feldmar in Food on September 23, 2011 10:42 AM

Comments [rss]

soothsayer

exactly 100 years ago, fearing theft, the owners of the triangle shirtwaist factory locked their workers in and blocked exit doors. after the massive fire claimed 146 young girls who either burned alive, suffocated, or jumped to their deaths, fire safety codes were upgraded to mandate automatic sprinklers and fire exit doors that swung out rather than in. however 100 years later the same ignorance on the part of owners exist.

PicoPhreako69

*cue George Santayana quote*.....
0:>\=

Joey Boots

i am sure as soon as the owner is forced to unlock all the doors a good portion of his inventory will walk out the backdoor during the overnight stocking shift.

mmheidelberger

I've worked overnight shifts in stores before, and the management just armed the perimeter within the alarm system. If any of the staff tried to exit before the AM manager disarmed it, the alarm would go off, the cops would show up, and the employees would be fired.

Emmily_Litella

Then if that is a problem there are counter measures, such as cameras, that can be taken. You are smarter than you sound Joey, or so I thought.