You want to know if any neighboring state requires safety glass to be installed in convenience stores for employee protection.

None of the New England states requires safety glass protection (bullet-proof enclosures) for employees in convenience stores. And, of these states, only Maine has comprehensive safety standards that the stores must meet.

Maine prohibits opening any convenience store for 24 hours each day unless the store:

1. has a drop safe bolted to the floor, installed in the floor, or weighing at least 500 pounds;  

2. has a conspicuous sign in its entrance stating that (a) between 9 p. m. and 5 a. m. the cash register contains $ 50 or less, (b) the store contains a safe, and (3) the safe is not accessible to employees;  

3. keeps no more than $ 50 cash available and readily accessible to employees between 9: 00 p. m. to 5: 00 a. m. ; and

4. has, accessible to employees, a telephone or an alarm connected to a private or public safety agency (Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. Tit. 17 § 3321-A).

Some in the convenience store industry argue against bullet-proof enclosures in convenience stores on the grounds that they (1) provide only limited protection, (2) isolate employees from customers, and (3) are expensive to install.

In arguing against a 1992 proposal (SB 296) to install bullet-proof enclosures for cashiers in certain retail food establishments, Art Hurley, representing the Independent Connecticut Petroleum Association, testified that bullet-proof enclosures (1) do not diminish robberies or attempted robberies in convenience stores; (2) are expensive to install (as much as $ 35, 000 per site, in the case of gas stations); (3) are not customer-friendly; and (4) are unnecessary because the majority of stores were crime free (Testimony before the Public Safety Committee, SB 296, March 5, 1992).

The Connecticut Food Association also opposed the bill. According to Grace Nome, the association's president:

I don't think that glass enclosure in a supermarket is going to change a really serious problem we have, that maybe we have to address differently. . . I do not want to turn our stores into unruly, sterile environments. Our cashiers should be people-oriented people; they should be able to roam through the store. . . . (Testimony before the Public Safety Committee, SB 296, March 5, 1992).

The Public Safety Committee referred the bill to the General Law Committee, which took no action on it.

A copy of the testimony is attached.

VR: ts