By Alesha Capone
Store supervisors at four Woolworths supermarkets in the west will begin wearing body cameras to help deter customers from assaulting and abusing staff, as part of a nationwide trial.
Woolworths’ director of stores, Rob Moffat, said the trial – which is being rolled out at 11 supermarkets across Australia – follows a doubling in reports of assaults against employees last year.
The cameras will be trialled at supermarkets in Hoppers Crossing, Millers Junction at Altona North, St Albans and Sunshine MarketPlace. An Abbotsford store will also trial the cameras.
Woolworths has placed signage in each of the stores to inform customers of the camera trial.
“We’re trialling team safety cameras in a small number of stores to see if they can help prevent assaults and abuse of our team members,” Mr Moffat said.
“The cameras will only be turned on as a last resort if a supervisor is concerned about a threat to team safety.
“Nobody deserves to be abused at work, so it’s important we look at new measures to help keep our team members safe.
“These cameras are used widely in retail across the US and UK and have been effective in reducing the rate of reported incidents.”
The cameras need to be turned on to capture footage, and audio will not be recorded.
Any recordings filmed at the supermarkets will be stored securely on Australian servers, and access to the footage will be limited to a small team of Woolworths security experts and law enforcement agencies.
The National Retail Association released a report last year revealing more than 85 per cent of workers in the industry were being abused verbally or physically almost daily.
The association reported that panic-buying, sparked by the COVID pandemic, had contributed to a rise in customers harassing retail workers during 2020.
