Workers in major shopping centres deserve better security and protections.
There have been a number of widely-reported incidents within our major shopping centres where workers and customers have been put at risk.
Shopping centres are not just public places. They are workplaces for thousands of South Australians and every single worker deserves to feel safe.
Our members in retail have told us they are concerned about the adequacy of security and their safety at work.
The lack of strong security protocols – which are set by shopping centre management – are failing to keep workers and customers safe.
Our members in shopping centres are concerned that:
- There are not enough security guards present
- Security guards do not have enough power to keep them safe
- The current security guard arrangement poses a risk to their health and safety.
The SDA is publicly calling for major shopping centres to:
Increase security guard numbers to ensure their centres are always adequately staffed.
Increase the powers of security guards and ensure the appropriate level of training so that there is security on hand that can intervene and properly response to incidents.
Retail Workers' Experiences
We have received countless examples from members about times where shopping centre security has been inadequate and where workers’ health and safety has been put at risk.
- "They cannot hold, or stop customers. They really are a visual deterrent for theives with a conscience which sadly is very few of them."
- "People that want to do the wrong thing know that security guards don’t have the power to stop them and there are lots of customers that push the line or deliberately act to provoke security guards."
- "On multiple occasions we have needed security for customers that are endangering others with their behaviour. However, security at our centre is not permitted by centre management to enter any of the stores in the mall, as they will not insure them if they are hurt. They are only allowed to observe and report."
- "I just feel like centre security are pretty powerless and fairly useless. We've had a couple of stabbings, people walking around with knives and machetes. They kind of just stand there and watch or just walk at a distance following offenders until they leave."
- ":Security in Westfield only can make a report about the incident and they ask us to call the police."
- "On most occasions security arrive long after the perpetrators had left and say that there’s nothing they could do now that they’d left."
- "Multiple occasions where security has failed to attend or taken 30 minutes or more to attend. On one occasion someone started a small fire in the store, security did not attend at all."
Shopping centres must do the right thing and address these concerns in 2025.