The 2023 Commercial Victimisation Survey reported that the most commonly cited circumstances in which incidents of violence were experienced in the retail and wholesale sector included:
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encountering someone committing a store theft (19%)
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a customer complaint (17%)
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confronting suspicious behaviour (14%)
In addition, The British Retail Consortium (BRC) Crime Report 2024 stated that, on average, there were 1300 violent or abusive incidents a day (over 475,000 during the year) in 2022-23, up from 867 last year and at the same levels as at the height of the pandemic. The huge increase has been in abuse, which now stands at 434,000 incidents in 2022-23 or 1,190 a day, up from 340 a day pre-pandemic.
Abuse, threats and physical violence are a real and present risk for those working in retail and being equipped with the tools and training to defuse and avoid conflict are key to shop workers remaining safe.
The NBCC has commissioned a series of videos designed as a training aid for those working in the retail sector to empower employees in the areas of personal safety and de-escalation, saying no - refusing service, deterring and interacting with thieves and handling disruptive behaviour.
