Lone workers in retail

Over the past year I have seen an increase in the deployment of lone worker solutions to retail clients. Historically, retail have spent heavily on improving site security but with the exception of fixed panic alarms (normally a button under the desk at the point of sale) they haven't focused on worker security.

So what has changed?

Talking to clients some or all of the following factors often seem to be in play:

1. Risk assessment reviews carried out by the retailer have identified the growing risk of attack to workers, particularly those involved in keyholding. Attacks often occur to workers when opening/closing the store or when on route to or from the store.

2. A growing appreciation that verbally communicated abuse is damaging to workers and can often be a precursor to physical abuse. Frequent verbal abuse (such as racial abuse, sexual harrassment or threats) can be a principle reason for staff turnover.

3. A desire to capture better evidence of incidents in order to improve the likelyhood of police involvement in a robbery related incident. Audio evidence can also help identify the severity level of the incident.

4. Technology limitations of existing fixed panic alarms (PA's) can lead to high false alarm rates and withdrawl of Police URNs. Range limitations of local radio systems also fail to protect workers outside of the store (e.g. when on route to/from the store).

5. Increases in store opening hours and lone working (to keep staff costs down) means greater risks.

For all of these reasons, retail employers are right to look to better protect their workers. Not only for safety and security reasons but also to help mitigate their business risks, improve relations with the Police, reduce insurance costs and to protect valuable business brands.

Connexion2 is helping retailers achieve all of these benefits and more...