Every worker deserves to feel safe at work.
Customer abuse and violence is an ongoing concern for many SDA members working retail and fast food. For some members, the psychological impact can continue long after an incident has happened, and they go to work in fear of the offender coming back.
That’s why the SDA has been advocating for Workplace Protection Orders (WPOs) in Queensland.
WPOs are court orders that can place restrictions on people who have engaged in serious violence, threats or intimidation towards workers. A WPO order can restrict an offender from returning to a workplace for a set period of time.
WPO’s have also already proven to be effective in other states. When they were introduced in the ACT, retailers applied for orders against 13 high-level repeat offenders who were collectively responsible for more than 300 offences.
After the WPO’s were put in place, only two of those offenders ever returned to a workplace they were banned from. They were arrested for breaching the order – and they haven’t been back since.
SDA Members are telling us why Workplace Protection Orders matter
The SDA has been speaking with members about their experiences of customer abuse and violence and hearing how additional protections could have helped them feel safer following serious incidents.
These stories highlight that workplace violence isn’t just a difficult interaction with a customer. For retail and fast food workers who experience serious incidents, the effects can continue for weeks, months or longer and even cause them to change careers.
SDA Member Sally shared a story with us about her daughter:
“My daughter was working at a liquor outlet when a woman high on substances came in and grabbed her and dragged her to the ground. She managed to get away, press the duress button and put the roller door down, locking her in the shop.
The offender put the roller door up, then ran across to the Supermarket where I was working and jumped the service desk and ran around until the police came. It took several officers to subdue her.
When my daughter went back to work, she was always on edge, worried the woman would return. A few weeks later she did.
That brought all of the memories of the assault rushing back to her, and that day she said to be “mum, I can’t do this anymore” and ended up leaving retail and moving from the area.”
SDA member Belinda also shared her story:
“I had a customer line up on my register and she assumed I was talking about them through my headset and she started verbally abusing me.
After that she would consistently come back to my workplace every day, yelling and threatening me – said she was going to ‘meet me in the carpark’. She would make obscene gestures and follow me around the store.
You were always on high alert as you never knew where she was, even walking back to my car after my shift.”
The campaign continues
The SDA has met with the Queensland Government on several occasions to discuss Workplace Protection Orders
The SDA has also joined with other industry representatives to write letters outlining the importance of Workplace Protection Orders to various Government offices.
More than 500 people have signed the petition run by the SDA to show their support for the introduction of WPO’s.
If you would like to add your name to the petition, click here.
