Major department stores across Australia have asked their staff to wear bodycams to combat abusive customers.
Dealing with furious customers has forced the stores to allow the employees to wear body cameras so that they could record their actions and protect themselves against abuse.
The move came after a spike in abusive behaviour towards the employees during the pandemic.
So far, only six major department stores including Woolworths and Target have started trialling the cameras in the selected stores.
A sign at the Buranda Target store has highlighted how staff will wear bodycams as a part of a safety trial against raging customers.
“The body cameras will be worn by selected employees and turned on only during the situation when the staff will feel threatened or unsafe while dealing with customers,” the sign said.
“The cameras will capture recordings only and the footage is only accessible by Target leadership and security teams.”
Tim Kemp, Target General Manager, said the safety of employees is necessary and we just can’t let our employees tackle abusive customers.
“Since the pandemic, the number of threatening situations by customers has increased drastically across the retail industry, our team members are experiencing the situation frequently and we are doing everything we can prevent this in our stores,” Mr. Kemp said.
Dominique Lamb, chief executive of the National Retail Association, told the ABC that staff wearing cameras has become more common in major retail stores.
“Throughout the COVID, the aggression from customers towards the employees has increased and there has been quite a spike around the use of weapons in retail crime, which is quite a dangerous thing and we should take steps to protect workers,” she said.
“Predominantly, it is major retail stores that are using the technologies to keep the situation under control, it is quite understandable as there is a certain amount of cost involved.”
The supermarket giant Woolworths has already started a similar trial across 11 selected stores. The rise in assaults in the stores last year has forced the supermarket chain to introduce body cameras.
