Forever 21 Stores Are So Full of Junk It's Endangering Employees' Lives

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), an agency of the Department of Labor that regulates workplace safety and health, is citing Forever 21 -- again! -- because the fast fashion retailer is putting employees' lives at risk. The agency has proposed fines of $165,000 against Forever 21 after receiving complaints from workers of hazardous work conditions at the store located in Westfarms Mall in West Hartford, Connecticut.

OSHA announced today that Forever 21 Retail Inc. store at the Westfarms mall is endangering empoloyees because of obstructed emergency exit routes. The fashion retailer’s employees at Westfarms Mall in Farmington were among the chain’s workers put at risk of not being able to exit the store swiftly because of fire or another emergency, U.S. Department of Labor inspectors determined after receiving a complaint. “Emergency exits and hallways were blocked by store inventory. Boxes were unsafely stacked, which created serious safety threats,” said Warren Simpson, Occupational Safety and Health Administration area director in the Hartford Area Office. “Four stockroom employees were assigned to work in these conditions. At the time of the inspection, they were working around-the-clock before Black Friday, when inventory levels were higher.” During the November 2014 inspection, boxes were stored in the hallway leading from the retail space to an emergency exit, which reduced the exit to 23 inches of passable space. Required space for exits is a minimum of 28 inches. Additionally, the emergency exit routes were obstructed by piles of boxes as high as 10 feet. Boxes were stored unstably and could fall and injure workers. Forever 21 employees have been exposed to these dangers previously. OSHA has conducted 37 inspections of company stores in the past five years. It cited the women’s fashion retailer 12 times for similar hazards, including stores in Bridgewater, New Jersey, in 2012 and Burlington, Massachusetts, in 2013. Due to the recurring nature of these hazards, OSHA has cited Forever 21 Retail Inc. for three repeated violations. Proposed fines total $165,000 for the conditions at the Westfarms Mall store.

source: WTNH

We wonder what happened with the Forever 21 security guards who choked a deaf man they suspected of shoplifting?