Despite major investments in safety measures for frontline staff, abuse and violent crime continue to rise
Despite major investments in safety measures such as body-worn cameras, staff training, duress devices, and harsher penalties for abuse or intimidation of retail workers, retail crime and aggression toward frontline staff are on the rise.
Supermarket giant Coles says the risk to workers has risen to “unacceptable” levels, with the number of threatening incidents increasing nationally by 28% in the past financial year and it’s worse in Victoria, where staff faced 40% more incidents than their colleagues in NSW.
Woolworths has also implemented initiatives to protect staff, including virtual reality training, enhanced CCTV and team safety cameras. However, the retailer says this has not curbed attacks on staff.
To combat the issue, Coles has rolled out duress pendants and body-worn cameras for an additional 116 supermarkets, taking the total number of devices to 2,000 across 418 stores. De-escalation training was also provided to 1,281 leaders and 61,592 staff members in the last financial year.
“Despite record levels of investment in technology, security guards and safety training, organised crime continues to drive unacceptable levels of abuse and threatening behaviour,” a Coles spokesperson told HRD.
“That is why we are working closely with governments across the country for additional police resources dedicated to retail crime, as well as stronger legislative measures to deter and address this behaviour.”
Woolworths has also implemented initiatives to protect staff, including virtual reality training, enhanced CCTV and team safety cameras. However, the retailer says this has not curbed attacks on staff.
“Acts of violence against team members, some connected to theft, are increasing - both the number of incidents and the severity,” a Woolworths spokesperson told HRD.
“Our team’s safety is not negotiable, which is why we’ve also empowered them to lockdown stores if a particular violent incident occurs.”
Some 45 lockdowns were carried out in Woolworths Group stores in the first half of 2025, the majority with customers inside, the spokesperson said.
“A lockdown is an extreme event, but if the safety of our team members or customers is at risk, we’ll take the necessary precautions.
“Violence and theft is not simply a retail problem, that’s why we’ll continue to engage with governments, local authorities and industry to help reduce the prevalence.”
Privacy vs protection: Facial recognition technology in retail
Retailers’ use of facial recognition technology to deal with fraud and abuse, was in the headlines again last week after the Privacy Commissioner found Kmart had breached privacy laws by scanning customers' faces as part of its attempt to clamp down on retailer refund fraud.
It followed a similar decision against Bunnings last year, which the hardware giant is now appealing in the Administrative Review Tribunal. At the time Bunnings managing director Mike Schneider said, “No one should have to come to work and face verbal abuse, threats, physical violence or have weapons pulled on them.”
Despite the decisions, Australian Retailers Association CEO, Chris Rodwell believes FRT should be part of the response to abuse and crime in the sector.
“It is vital we continue to work together to find a way to responsibly use facial recognition technology (FRT) in retail environments to protect frontline workers and customers from escalating violence, threats and abuse,” Rodwell said in a statement following the Kmart decision.
“Tackling the horrific levels of retail crime and violence requires new solutions. More than half of retailers report their staff face physical abuse at least monthly. Organised crime networks and repeat offenders are driving the greatest harm – just 10% of offenders are responsible for more than 60% of reported loss and damage.
“FRT is not a magic cure, but it is part of the solution, especially in combating the impact of repeat offenders. Its use in other countries has delivered strong results.”
Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind said last week the determinations on Bunnings’ and Kmart’s use of FRT were not a “ban” on the use of the technology.
“The human rights to safety and privacy are not mutually exclusive; rather, both must be preserved, upheld and promoted,” she said.
“Customer and staff safety, and fraud prevention and detection, are legitimate reasons businesses might have regard to when considering the deployment of new technologies.
“However, these reasons are not, in and of themselves, a free pass to avoid compliance with the Privacy Act.”
Do body cameras reduce customer aggression?
Secretary of the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union, Josh Cullinan, is concerned body-worn cameras do not make retail staff safer, and were creating conflict between staff and potential offenders.
“[Body-worn cameras] in fact, make workplaces less safe by putting our members on the front line, in conflict with offenders and customers offended by being considered offenders,” Cullinan told HRD.
Body-worn cameras have been well-received by Coles team members, who report it benefits them in threatening situations, a Coles spokesperson said.
“If a team member feels unsafe in a situation, they can turn on their body camera so they can easily request emergency assistance in the event of an emergency or threatening situation,” the spokesperson said.
“Every effort will be made to inform the customer that they are turning it on for safety.”
Professor Gary Mortimer, from the School of Advertising, Marketing and PR at the University of Queensland looked at the research on the use of body cameras earlier this year and found no studies had been undertaken about the use of devices in a retail setting.
Some studies on body amera use by police, corrective service staff and security train guards found the cameras had little no effect on stopping aggressive behaviour.
“So, an agitated or aggressive or abusive customer or client was going to be abusive or aggressive whether they're being filmed or not,” Mortimer said.
“But in some worst-case scenarios there was a backfiring effect and there were two studies that actually looked at police literature where when you turn a camera on, in fact, it inflames the situation.
“And I think that's something that's really pertinent for people leaders to consider, that, if aggressive or abusive individuals are inflamed by being filmed by a six-foot tall police officer with Mace spray and a firearm that's fully trained, what might the outcome be for a 17-year-old international worker in a 7-Eleven on a Friday night? So that was of concern.”
Mortimer believes while cameras are useful after an abusive event to provide evidence for prosecution, it doesn’t necessarily stop the behaviour.
“Those types of devices, whether it's CCTV cameras, whether it's wearable technology, whether it's duress watches, they're great during the event or after the event but they don't necessarily, in all cases, mitigate or reduce acts of aggression," he said.
Non-tech solutions
Mortimer said staff name badges with “personal disclosures” such as “I’m a daughter” or “I’m a dad” may help frontline workers as it allows them to be seen as a person and not a retail brand.
His research in this area, which is under review and not yet published, suggests this type of self-disclosure may reduce customer aggression.
“The reasoning behind that we offer is social exchange theory. So, when we are trying to form either personal or business relationships, we tend to share something personal about ourselves.
“If the receiver feels as though that we're being true and honest and we're sharing something about ourselves, and in turn they don't need to share anything, it's seen as a positive.”
Long-term change to attitudes required
Mortimer doesn’t believe there is a “quick win” to customer aggression and there needs to be a change of attitude towards frontline service staff.
He said there is a power imbalance between staff and customers, partly based on the idea of the customer was always right.
“I think it's entrenched that as customers, we're always going to be right,” he said. “So, we can never make a mistake, and we sort of walk into an environment where team members are trained to actually comply with that," he said.
“My position is sometimes the customer's not always right and ultimately, I think to resolve these issues around aggression and abuse, it's not going to be a quick win and looking at those numbers, it shows that the numbers aren't going down and they're not even flatlining, they're actually going up.
“It suggests that probably it's going to be a generational shift to change these notions.
“And it's going to take a long time for us to get there, for us to really acknowledge that those types of behaviours won't be tolerated.”
