With surging grocery prices, staff shortages and empty shelves, cases of customer abuse against supermarket workers are increasing.
In a bid to try and protect staff and reduce the rate of these attacks by angry customers, some stores have resorted to equipping workers with body-worn cameras.
Over 85 per cent of retail workers report being abused on a daily basis with a spike in customer aggression during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When we look at the statistics from our retailers, we know there’s been an increase of about 20 per cent when it comes to threatening behaviour across each state and territory,” National Retail Association’s Dominique Lamb told Today.
After being one of the most locked down locations in the world, statistics showed Victoria was the worst state for customer crime and abuse.
“When you look at what Victoria has experienced, prolonged lockdowns, impacts on the socio-economics amongst other things, there is no doubt that mental health is playing a huge part in the experience of both retail workers and obviously consumers,” Ms Lamb said.
So several stores, not just in Victoria, but across the country, have implemented body-cams similar to those worn by emergency personnel.
Motorola is one of the major suppliers of body-worn cameras, with the average one retailing for $550 along with additional video management costs.
The Motorola body-cam has a breakaway harness incase a customer pulls at it and the staff member can wear an earpiece and press a duress button in case they feel threatened.
The camera isn’t always recording, but can easily be activated with the push of a button on the device that will light up to let the customer know they are being filmed.
When the body-cam is charged at the end of the night – any footage recorded is uploaded to the cloud.
While the Ritchies IGA store in Carrum Downs has seen staff walk off the job due to customer attacks, manager Fred Harrison told Today they haven’t had to resort to body-cameras yet.
“Customers are taking it out on the produce team due to the pricing of our produce,” Mr Harrison said.
“Customers know why, but they are frustrated and are unhappy. I suppose we’re the last contact in the chain.
“Let’s stick together, support each other. It will get better, I know it’s been a long couple of years, but we will come through this together.”
Extracted from 9now
