Most shoppers flock to Walmart for the extra low prices and the wide variety of one-stop shopping. While it’s not as simple as point-and-click online shopping and delivery, it’s convenience is unmatched when you’re on-the-go. Long store hours and central locations have made big box stores the modern bazars for most communities that have turned away from ‘mom and pop’ style shops – much to the chagrin of the old timers. Unfortunately, convenience also attracts the seedy underbelly of our society, and we’re not just talking about brazen shoplifting either. Walmart workers in Orange County, California responded to situation above their paygrade when they found an unresponsive male in the store’s bathroom. It was later determined the man had suffered a fentanyl overdose, which prompted and emergency evacuation of the entire facility. Fentanyl is a highly toxic opioid with high concentrations that can cause an adverse reaction to anyone who even makes miniscule contact with the substance. Any opioid or derivative should always be stored under lock and key and closely watched. Although it’s highly unlikely the man obtained the drug from the store itself, our steel gauge hazmat lockers can keep customers safe from other dangerous substances.
When the Safety of Customers and Staff Should Never Rival Low Prices
Finding everything you need under one roof is without a doubt the biggest appeal of big box stores. Where else can you pick up a carton of milk, a water hose and a HDMI cable in a span of only a few minutes? Vertical integration and superb logistics management have bestowed upon customers both a wealth of goods and convenience that was unheard of just a generation ago. But with such a wide selection and variety of products also comes a plethora of hazards and risks. Many of these products contain hazardous and toxic substances. Car batteries, ammonia, bleach and the dozens of petroleum based products are just a few that come to mind when shopping at these larger retailers. Could you imagine what would happen if the packaging on these materials was compromised and exposed to incompatible materials in a customer’s shopping cart? Unknowing customers would surely get more than they bargained for while browsing your store’s aisles for the latest deals. While store owners and managers go to great lengths in planning store layouts to ensure hazardous products never come in contact with one another, the fact is, such groupings are unavoidable when you have such wide selection under one roof. Then you also must consider the powerful cleaners and degreasers to keep big box stores sparkling and pristine because who wants to shop at an untidy mega store that looks like a dusty old warehouse? But powerful cleaners also contain a bevy of dangerous substances that are proven skin and eye irritants. While you can’t watch customers’ every move in monitoring which products come in contact with what, you can manage the more nefarious substances under lock and key with one of our fire rated hazmat storage lockers.
One Stop Shopping Deserves One Stop Chemical Storage
Streamlined operations, keen procurement and top-notch inventory practices are prioritized for the shopper’s convenience and shopping experience. But at what point does safety come into this conversation? With so many different types of products to keep track of and monitor, it only makes sense that the most dangerous products should be kept and stored in a hazardous materials storage locker. Having centralized chemical storage can also alleviate inventory woes and allow supervisors to even keep the more valuable or highly sought items under strict surveillance. Partition walls and heavy gauge steel allow for the separate storage of incompatible materials, so you can keep a wide variety of potentially dangerous substances in one container, potentially saving thousands on storage costs. While hazmat lockers can keep customer safe, they also have a practical storage implementation when it comes to smooth flowing operations of any big box retailer.
