Tesco has installed new protective screens in over one hundred of its Express stores and petrol station kiosks as it looks to protect its staff following an increase in violent attacks.
The supermarket, which has already introduced body-worn cameras across its store estate, will roll out the toughened glass screens to a further 250 locations as part of its multi-million pound investment into colleague safety.
The move comes as new figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) found violence and abuse towards retail workers had doubled in the last four years.
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Tesco UK chief executive Jason Tarry said: “The rise in retail crime has been widely talked about in recent weeks, but the most troubling aspect is the surge in assaults and abuse we have seen against our colleagues in stores.
“This is something impacting the whole retail industry, and something too many of my colleagues have had to endure first-hand, with incidents of violence against our colleagues up by a third year-on-year.
“The safety of our colleagues is our number one priority. That is why we have rolled out a number of measures, including these screens, to help protect our colleagues from the small minority of people who would do them harm, and offer them additional peace of mind when they come into work each day.”
Tesco joined over 80 retailers in a letter penned to Home Secretary Suella Braverman demanding action over rising levels of retail crime.
The sector is calling for the government to create a nationwide standalone offence of assaulting or abusing a retail worker, as well as greater prioritisation of retail crime by police across the UK.
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