The Retail Employee Safety Council (RESC) has reaffirmed its commitment to tackling customer abuse and violence by prioritising the focus on Workplace Protection Orders.

At its most recent meeting, the Council welcomed new members to strengthen expertise in workforce development and small business. Members also heard from an expert in urban and architectural design on how the built environment can be used to reduce customer aggression and improve frontline employee safety.

The Retail Employee Safety Council (RESC), chaired by Marie Boland of Safe Work Australia, met in Canberra on Thursday 21 August 2025.

• The Council welcomed new members: Hon. Bruce Billson, Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO), and Natalie Turmine, CEO of Service and Creative Skills Australia (SaSCA). Both bring valuable perspectives to the Council’s work in addressing retail workplace safety challenges.
• The Council reaffirmed WPO as a priority: Consistent with its communique of 10 December 2024, the RESC reaffirmed the urgency of Workplace Protection Orders in jurisdictions where legislation does not provide appropriate protection. Workplace Protection Orders allow courts to impose restrictions on individuals who have engaged in harmful behaviours.
• The Council explored Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) as a strategy to improve retail safety: CPTED is a design-based approach that applies urban and architectural principles to reduce crime and aggression. The Council heard from a CPTED expert and reviewed and provided feedback on a draft project scope to develop national retail design guidance informed by these principles.
• The Council also noted:
  • Safe Work Australia is undertaking a best practice review of the model WHS Act and model WHS Regulations to identify opportunities to strengthen and maintain harmonisation of WHS laws and ensure the laws reflect contemporary best practice.
  • Under the model WHS laws, a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) must manage the risk of psychosocial hazards in the workplace, and that retailers and the SDA have undertaken risk assessments.

The RESC remains committed to working collaboratively on the elimination and prevention of customer abuse and violence in the retail and fast-food industries.

ENDS

About RESC

As an outcome of the third customer abuse and violence industry round table in 2024, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA) agreed to establish the Retail Employee Safety Council (RESC) which convened in August 2024.

The Retail Employee Safety Council includes representatives from Australia’s largest union for workers in retail, fast food and warehousing along with the country’s peak employer body for retailers and is chaired by Ms Marie Boland.

The RESC is a tripartite alliance between unions, employers and government that aims to address the increasing prevalence and severity of unacceptable behaviour in the retail sector, which is having a significant impact on the physical and mental health of workers in retail and fast food.

The RESC agreed that the council’s initial focus should be on sharing information and insights about best practice strategies across workplace design, systems of work, trauma-informed support measures and a standardised approach to reporting. Members of the RESC also agreed to pursue additional public awareness campaigns, consider additional training and continue to drive legislative change.

The RESC has met three times and will meet once more in 2025, with representatives each from the SDA and the soon-to-be-merged ARA and NRA (to be known as the Australian Retail Council). The Council also now includes representation from Service and Creative Skills Australia and the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman.