Just in time to win this year’s Safety Irony Award, the Philidelphia City Council passed a bill this week that calls for the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections to develop rules for the “USE OR REMOVAL” of the bullet-proof barriers by January of 2021. This news came on the heels of OSHA’s announcement this week that “Workplace violence injuries increased by 23 percent, making it the second most common cause of workplace fatality.”
The original bill actually required the removal of the bullet-proof barriers in the “beer delis” or as some call them “stop and go’s”. What is so ironic is that OSHA’s Publication OSHA 3153-12R 2009, Recommendations for Workplace Violence Prevention Programs in Late-Night Retail Establishments actually says…
Given that late-night retail businesses are prone to robberies, employers should seek to reduce their risk by improving visibility and surveillance, controlling customers’ access, and limiting the availability of cash. Such measures could include:
…
Installing physical barriers such as bullet-resistant enclosures with pass-through windows between customers and workers; and
This is the part of the bill regarding the “bullet-proof” glass:
(g) Customer access. By no later than January 1, 2021, the Department of Licenses and Inspections shall promulgate regulations to provide for the use or removal of any physical barrier that requires the persons serving the food in any establishment required to obtain a Large Establishment license, as provided in subsection (4)(a)(.1), either to open a window or other aperture or to pass the food through a window or other aperture, in order to hand the food to a customer inside the establishment.
I understand politicians do not like these kinds of businesses and are trying to apply pressure to them, but passing a bill that could lead to a contradiction to a protection method for the most “recognized hazard” in these types of businesses is just assinine. Yes, it is true that the bill that passed 14-3 was revised and does not mandate the removal of the bullet-proof glass, but that is merely a political play and a liability move on the part of the politicians.