Health and safety in the retail industry

Violence in licensed and retail premises^[1]

Take action to prevent or control work-related violence.

Shattered Lives campaign

This is HSE's current campaign on the prevention of slips, trips and falls in the workplace. One focus of the campaign is stopping slips in food retail. Visit the website to learn more or read on for more information on preventing slips and trips in retail.

• Visit the Shattered Lives website^[2]

Accidents in retail

In 2005/06 the retail industry reported 13,000 work related accidents. Over 2000 of these accidents were classified as major injuries such as fractures.

• Statistics on the retail and wholesale industries^[3]

The most common types of accidents are:

• Slips and trips^[4]
• Manual handling^[5]
• Falls from height

Managing violence in licensed and retail premises

HSE and local authorities have worked in partnership to develop this toolkit to help you reduce the risk of work-related violence in your licensed or retail premises.

The toolkit provides practical advice on how to conduct a risk assessment and take action to prevent or control work-related violence. It contains information on a wide range of possible control measures and good practice that other businesses have found effective.

The main focus is on tackling work-related violence towards your employees, but some of the control measures could also help to reduce the risk of violence to customers and members of the public on your premises, and reduce the risk of crime against your business.

• A leaflet summarising the information in this toolkit is also available [PDF 98KB] ^[1]