Shop workers facing threats and abuse are at the center of a national week of action from November 9 to 15. Police, retailers, a trade union and the Retail Trust charity are bringing four campaigns together across the UK.
The messages ask customers to treat staff with respect. But the people serving at a checkout also depend on decisions made by employers: how many staff are on duty, whether help is available and what happens when a customer becomes aggressive.
Daylight Post found that the campaign’s appeal to shoppers sits alongside existing employer duties that cover verbal threats as well as physical attacks. We compared the campaign material with guidance from the Health and Safety Executive, the workplace safety regulator for Great Britain.
Protection has to fit the risk
Great Britain means England, Scotland and Wales. Under the health and safety rules described by the regulator, employers must assess risks from violence at work and take reasonably practicable steps to protect staff. That means considering the real risk and the measures needed to reduce it, including their cost and difficulty.
The regulator’s guidance includes adequate staffing to manage violence and respond to incidents. Other examples are clear sight lines, suitable queue arrangements, alarms, trained security staff and support for people working alone.
A poster asking customers to be respectful can be one useful measure. The guidance says a single measure will often be insufficient. Employers need to choose a combination that addresses the risks in their own workplace.
Training also has a role, helping workers recognize warning signs and respond when a situation escalates. The guidance says training should match the actual work, reach everyone at risk and be reviewed. It sits alongside changes to the workplace and how the job is organized.
The campaign also calls for practical action
The National Business Crime Centre, which coordinates police work with businesses, says the November week is intended to connect public awareness with prevention, incident reporting and enforcement. It brings together its Safer Action Week, ShopKind, the shopworkers’ union Usdaw’s Respect for Shopworkers Week and Let’s Respect Retail.
The Retail Trust’s own material includes both public messages and training and tools for staff and businesses. Sainsbury’s, which announced its support on October 29, says it is investing in protective measures across its sites as well as joining the campaign.
The issue is therefore how the messages translate into protection during a shift. The regulator tells employers to check how well arrangements work, consult workers and examine incident records to see whether risks are changing.
Abuse can cause harm without leaving a physical injury. The regulator includes online and telephone threats in its definition of work-related violence and warns that persistent verbal abuse can seriously affect mental health.
For a worker, being asked to report an incident is only part of the response. Their employer needs a plan for acting on that information and reducing the chance of it happening again. The action week puts respect in the public eye; the existing safety duties make protection a continuing workplace responsibility.