Usdaw, the shopworkers' union, used National Stress Awareness Day on Tuesday to call for retail employers to make sure they have the procedures in place to protect their staff from violence in the workplace.
The union, which is running a Freedom from Fear campaign, is pointing retailers towards the new HSE toolkit. With the director general of the British Retail
Consortium (BRC) raising concerns about a possible increase in shop theft, Usdaw argues that the time is right for retail employers to check their procedures against the HSE toolkit.
The latest BRC retail crime survey reports a welcome fall in violence and abuse against shopworkers in 2007 - down 63 per cent from the previous year. Despite some rises, the overall trend for the last five years has been downward. However, this means that there were still over 8,000 physical assaults and around 30,000 incidents of threats and verbal abuse last year.
The BRC has pointed to government figures that suggest that violent crimes and shop theft may increase as a result of the current economic downturn. The BRC figures show that shoplifting is the main cause of physical assaults against staff and is a major factor in cases of verbal abuse and intimidation.
John Hannett, Usdaw general secretary, said: "Usdaw welcomes the significant reduction in overall levels of violence and abuse against shopworkers over the last five years. We are grateful for the support that the government and the major retailers have given to our Freedom from Fear campaign.
"However, there can be no room for complacency. Even if the fears of an upturn in crime are not fulfilled, the current levels of abuse are clearly unacceptable.
"We are calling on all retail employers to check their staff protection procedures against the HSE toolkit, because we know it works. The toolkit was developed in close consultation with Usdaw and retail employers. It does not make impossible demands but lists tried and tested methods that have led to the reduction in levels of violence so far.
"We need to make sure that all retail employers are meeting their legal obligation to protect their staff from this very real problem."
