Shopworkers are in ever greater danger

Shopworkers' union USDAW has said it is horrified by the latest retail crime figures, which show another steep rise in violence on shopworkers.

The British Retail Consortium crime survey for 2004 revealed the worse figures for over a decade, with physical violence against staff up by 14% since 2003 and verbal abuse by 35%.

The figures contradict claims by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that violence at work is falling. HSE/Home Office figures published last month estimated that there were 655,000 incidents of violence experienced by workers in England and Wales in 2004-05 - half the peak level of 1.3 million incidents in 1995.