Macy's: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Jul 21, 2010: Employee fractures elbow when she trips on barrier

At around 8:45 a.m. on July 21, 2010, Employee #1 was working for the department store Macy's, Inc., as a merchandiser of costume jewelry in the Macy's women's department. Her duties include unpacking jewelry and putting it on display on th e sales floor. On the morning of the accident, Employee #1 was unpacking costume jewelry and cleaning up the sales floor in anticipation of the store opening. A t approximately 8:30 to 8:45 a.m., Employee #1 began to walk across the sales fl oor toward an elevator that would take her down to the floor below, so she could use the bathroom. The employer had cordoned off eight walkways on the sales flo or between the area where Employee #1 was working and the elevator bank with whi te, hard plastic chains, suspended at a height of about 1.5 feet off the walkway s, to prevent members of the cleaning crew from entering secured areas while the alarms were set. The alarms were off at the time of the accident, but the chain s were still in place across the eight walkways. Employee #1 had never been inst ructed regarding the purpose of the eight chains or cautioned not to step over t hem. Employee #1 could have reached the elevator without stepping over any of th e barrier chains, but the unobstructed path was about three or four times longer than the path blocked by a chain. When Employee #1 arrived at Chain #5, she saw it and decided to step over it, as she had done two or three times in the past. She stepped over the chain and managed to clear it with her right foot, but whe n she attempted to lift her left foot over the chain, it became caught on the ch ain. Employee #1 tripped and fell to the ground, shattering her right elbow. She remained on the ground for several minutes until paramedics were summoned to ta ke her to emergency services. She was taken by ambulance to Kaiser San Francisco , where she was diagnosed with a fractured right elbow. Two days later, on July 23, 2010, Employee #1 was admitted to Kaiser Hospital in South San Francisco for surgery to repair the elbow. She remained hospitalized until July 25, 2010.

Incident on Jun 20, 2009: Employee is injured when punched by a customer

On June 20, 2009, Employee #1, a sales associate with Macy's department store, w as working alone at a cash register when a customer approached him for help loca ting merchandise. As Employee #1 escorted the customer to the merchandise, the c ustomer punched Employee #1's face and then fled. Employee #1 ran to the nearest phone and called the loss prevention personnel, who then summoned emergency res ponders. Employee #1 was hospitalized for a fractured jaw.

Incident on May 13, 2009: Employee fractures back when suspect pushes him onto desk

At approximately 5:50 p.m. on May 13, 2009, Employee #1 was attempting handcuff a suspected shoplifter in a department store. The suspected shoplifter broke awa y and pushed Employee #1 onto his back against an office desk in a security surv eillance office. Employee #1's lower back made contact with the desk furniture, causing immediate low back pain that radiated into his lower left extremities. E mployee #1 sustained a lumbar spine fracture with a herniated disc and moderate central spine stenosis.

Incident on Apr 15, 2008: Employee is injured in fall resulting in fractured knee

At 12:30 p.m. on April 15, 2008, Employee #1, a human resource manager for a dep artment store retailer of personal apparel and accessories as well as furniture, was conducting her duties in the basement of the store where the management off ices are located. Employee #1 had just left the ladies restroom on her way back to her office when her left foot slipped forward and her right foot went the oth er way. Employee #1 indicated that the hallway to the restrooms was well lighted and that there were no encumbrances such as stored merchandise along it at the time of the accident. Employee #1 suffered five fractures on her right knee whic h required surgery and three days of hospitalization.

Incident on May 6, 2008: Employee's thumb is amputated in machine

On May 6, 2008, Employee #1, a maintenance person, was working at a logistics op eration that engages in the cross stock and distribution of merchandise. He was working near dock door Number 46 testing an attachment developed in house for th e recycle tech machine, Model 270, EPS: 270. A coworker was in the area assistin g Employee #1. The recycle tech machine processes styrofoam for recycling. The a ttachment was created to compact the processed styrofoam for easier storage and transport. The pneumatic cutting mechanism of the machine was not running smooth ly. Employee #1 detached the attachment from the recycle tech machine. He remove d the guard that covers the cutting mechanism which was also the attachment poin t to the machine. He did not deenergize the attachment while attempting to adjus t the pneumatic cutting mechanism. Employee #1's left hand was near the exposed cutting mechanism of the attachment, when the machine cycled. Employee #1 was ho spitalized with an amputated left thumb.

Incident on Dec 31, 2006: Employee fractures hip in fall from step ladder

At approximately 11:50 a.m. on December 31, 2006, an employee, a store sales ass ociate, was removing stock from a house wares stockroom while standing on a 6-ft fiberglass step ladder. She stepped down off of the ladder, missed the last run g, and fell to the floor on her right side. The employee indicated that she was not in much pain initially but as the day progressed, she could not walk and sou ght medical attention. The employee was taken by Macy's West Security to Grossmo nt Hospital. The employee was admitted to the hospital and surgery was performed to repair a broken hip.

Incident on Nov 24, 2003: Employee receives burns while testing circuit breaker

At approximately 9:13 a.m. on November 24, 2003, an employee, a chief engineer, was informed that the variable frequency drive for the cooling towers in the Mac y's Men's store had tripped out. He and a coworker, his assistant, went to the l ocation, opened the cover and conducted a visual inspection of the unit and chec ked for the possibility of a bad motor starter. The starter looked good and they found no other visible problem with the unit. Then they went out on the roof ar ea where the disconnect switches of the cooling towers are located. They opened the cover and attempted to take them out of the circuit so they could check the variable frequency drive first. The employee reset the circuit breaker for the u nit. The breaker did trip out. He opened the cover to check the line and load vo ltages. According to the employee, at first, he saw to it that the test meter wa s set correctly, then he placed the two leads from his test meter on lines #1 an d #2 terminals of the incoming voltage. For an unknown reason, suddenly, the exp losion occurred. The electrical tester used to test the voltage had burnt the le ads. At the time of investigation, the drive still had 480-volt power. According to Sierra Electric Company, who did the testing of the circuit, the feeders to the drive were Tapped off a 400 amps current and there was no over current prote ction. The employee received third degree burns to his hand and face. He was hos pitalized and treated at the San Francisco general Hospital.