The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and employers must provide greater protection for shop workers against violence, and the threat of violence, from customers, a leading union claimed today.
Mandate, which represents 36,000 retail workers in Ireland, called on the HSA to begin an information campaign and issue guidelines for employers whose workers are exposed to the risk of violence.
The union demanded action in a motion raised at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) Biennial Delegate Conference in Belfast.
Mandate General Secretary John Douglas said international research showed a shop worker was verbally abused, threatened with violence or physically abused every minute of the working day.
“The situation in Ireland is no different and there is evidence that retail workers in particular have been subjected to increased incidences of violence, verbal abuse and threatening behaviour from members of the general public,” he said.
Retail workers represent more than a quarter of a million of the total labour market in Ireland.
HSA statistics indicate that injuries in the workplace due to violence accounted for 6.3 per cent of all reported workplace injuries in 2003, up from 3.9 per cent in 2002.
Mr Douglas said national research on the scale of violence and the threat of violence was urgently needed to adequately respond to such a growing problem.
“At the moment, employers are advised to put in place minimum protection safeguards for retail workers ranging from the use of CCTV and panic alarms to varying the time of cash collection and bank deposits,” he said.
“There is no clear policy or code of practice in place in Irish retail to deal with this issue which leaves staff in an extremely vulnerable position.
“We will vigorously pursue this motion and want to see clear guidelines developed for employers and unions to deal with the matter.”