Safety at Home Depot Sacrificed for Savings

February 15th, 2007
By Suzanne Kapner
NY Post

On the morning of Oct. 8, a gunman walked into a Home Depot in South Central Los Angeles, took three employees hostage, including the store manager, forced them to their knees and pointed a gun to the backs of their heads.

"If you don't want to die, don't do anything stupid," the gunman said, according to a witness and law enforcement officials. The assailant walked out of the store with $60,000 in cash. No employees were hurt, and an investigation is ongoing.

Tom Egan, another Home Depot employee, was not so lucky. He was shot dead on Friday during a robbery at a store in Tustin, Calif. Home Depot staffers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said the company has reduced the use of armed guards and off duty police officers in some high-crime stores to save money.

The move, these people continued, is just one of several safety protocols that went by the wayside under former management in their relentless pursuit of cost cuts.

New CEO Frank Blake has pledged a renewed attention to Home Depot's 2,159 stores, and he is expected to outline plan details at an analyst meeting later this month.

Home Depot said that it has not reduced the number of in-store security guards, and added that while it is saddened by Egan's death such incidents are rare. Home Depot stressed that safety is a top priority, and said it has more people devoted to safety today than at any time in its history. The company said it has made increased investments in safety programs and has seen a significant reduction in the number of safety-related incidents.

A restructuring last year that combined the loss prevention and safety departments resulted in the loss of about 150 safety managers and seemed to signal that safety would take a back seat to other issues such as the apprehension of shop lifters, sources said. Other changes also suggested that safety had declined in importance. For instance, "in-focus" meetings dedicated to safety had been held weekly, but are now held once a month, sources said.

Safety became a primary focus at Home Depot in 2001, after several customers were killed in stores by falling merchandise. As part of those 2001 safety initiatives, nets were added to prevent merchandise from falling off overhead racks. But employees said that not all the stores have such nets anymore. "We were told there was no money for that," one source said.

Home Depot says it has the appropriate netting in stores.

"The culture under [former management] was 'make your numbers at all costs,' and safety was something that got neglected," said another source. Scott Callahan, a lawyer in Houston, who says he has brought about 75 personal injury cases against Home Depot over the past decade, said the retailer continues to have a dismal safety record. "Home Depot ranks high in terms of in-store injuries, compared with other large retailers, especially Lowe's," he said.