OSHA warns Pizza Hut late-night crews face higher violence risk

Pizza Hut has more than 6,000 locations, including stores with Hut Lane drive-thru service. Restaurants can become targets for workplace violence because they handle cash, stay open late and deal with the public. Workplace violence covers threats and verbal abuse, physical assaults and homicide, and it is the third-leading cause of fatal occupational injuries in the United States.

For Pizza Hut drivers, cashiers, closers and shift leaders, a well-written and implemented workplace violence prevention program, paired with engineering controls, administrative controls and training, can reduce the risk. Stores should spell out what happens during cash drops, how a two-person closing works when staffing allows it, who checks doors, who handles a confrontation and how a driver or cashier gets out of a situation that feels unsafe.

OSHA’s late-night retail recommendations, first written for late-night retail establishments and updated in 2009, are advisory rather than a standard or regulation. They call for better lighting, cameras, barriers, drop safes or other cash-management devices, and clear signage at the register. An employer that has seen violence, threats, intimidation or other warning signs is on notice and should put a prevention program in place. A customer who turns verbally abusive should not be treated as a nuisance to absorb and keep serving.

At the drive-thru window, young employees can face workplace violence while working alone or behind a barrier with limited escape routes. A Bureau of Labor Statistics study from 1998 to 2002 found that 14 percent of overall youth workplace injuries were tied to assaults or violent acts.

BLS counted 392 workplace homicides in 2020 and 37,060 nonfatal workplace injuries resulting from intentional injury by another person. In restaurant and food service, a secondary summary of BLS data counted 37 homicides and 139 nonfatal assaults and violent acts in 2019.