Falling wooden boards kill a boy in hypermarket

Overloaded shelves are listed as one of the possible reasons behind the tragedy.

(Source: TASR)

A three-year old boy became the victim of falling wooden boards in the Baumax DIY outlet in Žilina on May 10. The tragedy is now being investigated by the police as well as the company itself, while occupational safety experts examine whether security regulations were kept, the TASR newswire wrote.

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The accident happened on Sunday shortly after noon. The shop’s employees provided first aid to the boy, but after he was transported to the hospital he died.

Rudolf Kubica, senior inspector of the occupational safety authority in Žilina, claims that hobby markets in Slovakia violate safety principles the most by overloading shelves and not checking the stability of goods on them, the Sme daily wrote.

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“Shelves are overloaded,” said Kubica, adding that this may result also in goods sliding down n or even entire shelves collapsing.

Inspectors check shelves only above two metres, while outlets themselves should check the client zone, i.e. lower parts of the shelves. After the tragedy inspectors want to check also the lower parts.

Another frequent violation is that shop assistants climb onto the shelves to heights which are out of reach of forklifts to put goods on the shelves.

Most hobby markets let children in, but they do not pay any special attention to their safety. The only exemption is Metro which has a height limit for children, 140 cm. 

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