Senate Bill sb2740

    Florida Senate - 2004                                  SB 2740

    By Senator Lawson





    6-1757-04                                               See HB

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to working warehouse safety;

  3         providing definitions; providing requirements

  4         for securing certain merchandise in working

  5         warehouses; requiring the establishment of

  6         safety zones in working warehouses under

  7         certain circumstances; requiring maintenance of

  8         certain casualty insurance; requiring annual

  9         reports to the Office of Insurance Regulation

10         of the Financial Services Commission; requiring

11         compliance by a certain date; providing an

12         effective date.

13  

14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

15  

16         Section 1.  (1)  For purposes of this act:

17         (a)  "Sales floor" means any area where the public is

18  invited to shop, whether indoors or outdoors.

19         (b)  "Working warehouse" means a wholesale or retail

20  establishment in which:

21         1.  Heavy machinery, including, but not limited to,

22  forklifts, is used in any area where the public shops while

23  customers are on the premises.

24         2.  Merchandise is stored on shelves higher than 12

25  feet above the sales floor.

26         (2)  The owner, manager, or operator of a working

27  warehouse shall secure merchandise stored on shelves higher

28  than 12 feet above the sales floor. Methods of securing

29  merchandise shall include, but not be limited to, rails,

30  fencing, netting, security doors, gates, cables, or the

31  binding of items on a pallet into one unit by shrink-wrapping,

                                  1

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 2004                                  SB 2740
    6-1757-04                                               See HB




 1  metal or plastic banding, or by tying items together with a

 2  cord.

 3         (3)  When heavy machinery is used to move merchandise

 4  on a shelf or remove merchandise from a shelf in a working

 5  warehouse, a safety zone shall be established around such

 6  shelf to temporarily block customers from entering the areas

 7  surrounding such shelf.

 8         (4)(a)  Each owner of a working warehouse located in

 9  this state shall maintain a current and valid policy of

10  casualty insurance, as defined in section 624.605, Florida

11  Statutes, providing liability insurance for death, injury, or

12  disability of customers shopping at the warehouse as a result

13  of falling merchandise.

14         (b)  An owner, manager, or operator of a working

15  warehouse who employs more than 50 employees shall submit to

16  the Office of Insurance Regulation of the Financial Services

17  Commission, within 30 days after December 31 of each year, a

18  report of all known injuries requiring hospitalization,

19  including emergency room medical treatment, or deaths

20  occurring to customers as the result of falling merchandise.

21  Each year, a corporation owning, managing, or operating more

22  than one working warehouse may submit within 30 days after

23  December 31 of such year, a single report on behalf of all of

24  the corporation's working warehouses in this state, provided

25  the report identifies the location of the warehouse where each

26  reportable incident occurred.

27         (5)  All working warehouses shall comply with the

28  provisions of this act on or before July 1, 2004.

29         Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

30  law.

31  

                                  2

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.