Lone worker safety

Safety for retail workers.

Most retail violence is not a robbery. It is an ordinary interaction that escalates, usually near closing, usually when the store is thinly staffed and the person behind the counter has nowhere to go.

The risk

What retail workers are actually up against

Customer aggression and theft-related confrontation, concentrated around opening, closing and late trading when fewest staff are present.

  • A refused refund or a suspected theft that escalates with one staff member on the floor
  • Closing up alone, cashing up with the doors still unlocked
  • A back-of-house area where a staff member is alone and out of sight of the shop floor

The FY26 retail pattern showed alarms clustering around trading transitions rather than spreading evenly through the day. See the data ›

Questions

Common questions

What is the best panic button for a retail store?
Something the worker carries rather than something fixed under a counter, because staff move around the floor and incidents rarely happen where the button is. It should reach a monitored operator, since a duress alarm that only sounds locally relies on someone nearby choosing to intervene.
Should staff ever work alone in a shop?
It is lawful, and common. Whether it is reasonably practicable depends on the assessment: trading hours, location, cash held, history of incidents, and whether the worker can summon help and withdraw. Closing alone is the shift that most often fails that test.

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