Retailers are heading into the Christmas and New Year rush with a new commitment on the table. The ShopCare Retail Pledge asks businesses to treat violence and aggression from customers as a critical health and safety risk, on the same footing as any other serious hazard in the workplace.
ShopCare is a charitable trust, funded through ACC, that works on health, safety and wellbeing for retailers and their supply chains. Woolworths, Foodstuffs North Island, The Warehouse Group and ASB are among the founding supporters, along with the New Zealand Security Association, the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management and the Manurewa and Papakura business associations.
“Violence and aggression are not isolated incidents. They are a workplace risk that deserves the same attention as any other health and safety risks,” says ShopCare chief executive Selena Armstrong.
Nine in ten workers
The pledge follows ShopCare’s National Customer Aggression Survey, which found 91% of customer-facing workers had experienced customer aggression in the past 12 months. ShopCare commissioned the survey and ran it with KPMG, and 2,538 frontline workers from a range of industries took part between April and June 2026.
Taking part was voluntary, and the survey was promoted through ShopCare’s mailing list and the organisations that took part. The report itself notes that workers who’d faced aggression may have been more likely to respond, so the 91% describes the people surveyed rather than every frontline worker in the country.
Armstrong is asking shoppers to think about the person serving them. “I urge people to stop and think. Take a pause for a moment and consider the other person behind the counter and that you may be causing them harm,” she says.
Denva Wren, head of safety, health and wellbeing at Woolworths New Zealand, says no single organisation can solve the problem alone.
“Theft has become organised, aggressive, and brazen and we’ve seen a disturbing increase in weapons, knives and even machetes, shown in our stores,” Wren says.
The festive season adds to the pressure. “Christmas and New Year is the busiest period of the year but, with many more customers in store, that means many frontline workers face heightened levels of customer pressure and risk. That’s not OK,” she says.
What signing commits a business to
The pledge is a one-page statement. Signatories acknowledge that occupational violence and aggression is a critical risk to the retail sector and the people who work in it, and they commit to seven things.
They agree to recognise it as a critical workplace risk and to lead with a culture that puts staff safety, wellbeing and dignity first. They commit to preventing harm by identifying risks, putting practical controls in place, checking those controls work and improving over time.
Workers who face violence or aggression are to be supported, with incidents reported, responded to and followed up with care. Signatories also agree to learn from data, incidents and industry insights, to work with others across retail to reduce aggression, and to champion respectful behaviour in their workplaces and communities.
Signing is done online at shopcare.org.nz. The person signing gives their name and job title and confirms they’re authorised to sign for their organisation, and businesses can choose to have their name and logo listed as supporters on the pledge page.
Each signatory gets a supporter pack with a workplace poster, graphics and short messages to adapt for staff and customers. ShopCare’s pledge page points businesses to its guidance, training and resources for turning the commitments into action.
The pledge is open to businesses of all sizes, and ShopCare is inviting suppliers, landlords, technology partners and industry bodies connected to retail to sign as well.
