Woolworths has rolled out an expanded array of personal protection equipment for employees as the retailer confronts escalating incidents of customer aggression and violence targeting its workforce.
The major retailer reports it has significantly increased distribution of safety equipment including personal alarm devices, two-way communication headsets, and wearable safety cameras for team members over the past twelve months.
Beyond equipment upgrades, Woolworths Group is implementing store redesigns incorporating crime prevention principles focused on optimized layout configurations, enhanced lighting systems, and improved access control measures.
Violence Statistics Prompt Action
During the company’s annual results presentation, CEO Amanda Bardwell informed investors that rising staff-directed aggression and violence represents “a great concern to us in terms of the safety of our team.” The company recorded a 26 percent increase in violent incidents during the reporting period, with Victoria’s 280 stores accounting for over half of this surge.
Woolworths’ newly released 2024-25 annual report reveals intensified lobbying efforts targeting state governments to establish workplace protection orders (WPOs). These proposed retail industry measures, currently under consideration in South Australia, would enable authorities to ban specific individuals from entering stores and other work locations, prevent contact with designated employees, and prohibit violent behavior to safeguard workers.
Enhanced Safety Metrics and Training Programs
Board chair Scott Perkins noted the group’s revised safety action plans and measurement systems implemented over two years, highlighting 2024-25 progress across three primary safety indicators: severity scoring, total recordable injury frequency rate (TRIFR), and the newly introduced high potential (HiPo) learning events metric.
TRIFR decreased 6.2 percent overall, while manual handling injuries—representing a significant portion of company incidents—fell 5.9 percent. The retailer expanded its high-potential event learning initiative, sharing 98 percent of all HiPo learning incidents through company-wide training programs to ensure knowledge distribution and application across operations.
Targeted Risk Reduction Initiatives
Woolworths’ sustainability report analysis of HiPo learning data revealed that over 55 percent of fall-related high-potential events during 2023-24 occurred in store back-dock areas. This finding prompted focused risk mitigation programs including manual handling equipment replacement with smaller, more maneuverable alternatives across 81 locations, and physical fall protection installation in 330 identified Australian stores, complementing complete coverage already achieved in New Zealand facilities.
These interventions produced substantial reductions in back-dock fall-from-height HiPo events during the current financial year.
Vehicle impact prevention became another back-of-house priority, with 2024-25 initiatives encompassing improved site design, enhanced training protocols, vehicle monitoring systems, and strengthened physical exclusion zone controls implemented across more than 140 supermarket back-of-house areas.
The company developed innovative virtual reality and online training modules to improve vehicle hazard recognition and exclusion zone application, with over 100,000 group employees completing this specialized training.
Wellbeing Support Expansion
Employee wellbeing received increased attention, with more than 26 percent of eligible team members now accessing the company’s wellbeing response and support platform provided by Sonder. During 2024-25, over 30,000 employees utilized Sonder services, with 61 percent seeking mental health and wellbeing assistance and 16 percent requiring medical support.
Recent employee satisfaction surveys indicated 72 percent of staff agreed that “mental health support is readily available,” while 74 percent confirmed their leaders “genuinely care about my wellbeing.”
Digital Portal Development
For the current financial year, Woolworths plans to launch a comprehensive group-wide digital safety and wellbeing portal, representing what the company describes as “a significant shift” in safety management approach. The platform will provide universal employee access for incident reporting and safety improvement contributions.
The system aims to generate enhanced risk profile insights, enabling more focused attention on critical safety areas while improving overall workplace health and safety outcomes across the organization.
