WHILE many people have set up office in the comfort of their homes, shop workers are bearing the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic. Exposed to hundreds if not thousands of frantic people every day, retail workers are particularly at risk of falling victim to the virus.

But despite this, there’s currently a severe lack of protections in place to keep them safe. British stores have yet to fully implement measures already rolled out in Ireland such as limiting capacity, drawing out social distancing markers on the floor, putting up perspex shields on check outs or giving out protective wear to workers.

“There’s no masks, no shields, no mapping out of the floor to make sure people stand far enough away from you, no crowd control,” Sally Smith,* a supermarket worker and Usdaw rep from Hertfordshire, tells me. “Customers have been queuing out the store from half five in the morning and going all the way back and it’s just carnage because they’re in the store at the same time.”

Smith has since called in sick, fearing she has contracted coronavirus after waking up with a dry cough and chest pains. She blamed the lack of protective measures in stores for falling ill, adding that she is also in the “at risk category” having had part of her lung removed in an operation some years ago. The Hertfordshire worker says it’s up to the government to put these protections in place.

Julie Wells*, who works at a Tesco branch in London, has also experienced the same lax approach to safety. She told me that not enough was being done to protect workers or inform customers of how they should behave to reduce the spread of the virus.

“Customers have no sense of like, personal space at all, they cough everywhere and sneeze everywhere, they sneeze into the items we have to scan, so everyone at work has resorted to wearing gloves now anyway but it’s still not great,” she said. Wells said her colleagues were wearing gloves only of their own volition, and they had not been provided with any other protective wear.

Her team has been working flat out every day, often without breaks, being able to sit down or eat anything. “We are severely understaffed in the store I work for, we haven’t got anyone new, no extra people from other stores to work overtime or anything like that. It’s just been us.”

Despite concerns over stores becoming centres of contagion, Health Minister George Eustice said last week in the Commons that social distancing measures will not be implemented. The Tory minister claimed similar measures in Italy had been “counterproductive” as it led to crowding outside supermarket doors. But failing to put in these protections could come at a great cost.

In Spain, trade unions have blamed delays in implementing safety measures in supermarkets on workers becoming infected with the virus. An article by left-wing Spanish newspaper Publico reported that 130 retail workers across one supermarket chain had been diagnosed with Covid-19. Protective shields, social distancing and protective wear were only introduced there on March 14, after a week of uncontrolled panic buying and pandemonium similar to that seen at the moment in Britain’s supermarkets.

On top of being exposed to the virus, shop workers are also facing rising abuse from customers as they heroically try to impede panic buying. Lewis Blake*, a manager at a Lidl in Bedfordshire, said that while most customers have been “pleasant, understanding and patient towards us,” he has also experienced “cameras pointed at my face, toilet roll thrown at staff, customers fighting each other over the last packet of nappies…”

In London, Wells said she’d seen customers throwing items onto the floor and shouting: “Why don’t we have sanitiser, why don’t we have toilet roll?”

“They are just not understanding that obviously other customers have come before them and bought stuff. It’s just common sense — if it’s gone it’s gone.”

Smith described even worse scenes. Last week she was forced to ban four customers from the store after they went on a verbally abusive rampage against her and her colleagues. The union rep told me of her dismay at the “selfishness” of customers over the past week.

“It’s really bringing out the worst in people.” Panic buying in her store has escalated to the point where most of the shelves are completely empty. “There’s no medicines, no paracetamol, no calpol for kids, nappies running out, baby milk, meat aisles and freezer aisles empty. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I’ve worked for 27 years and I’ve never known anything like it.”

Smith says it’s been “heartbreaking” to see customers who desperately need medicines and food items unable to get them. As a result members of staff have reserved some of the most sought after items such toilet roll in the back for vulnerable customers. But the world’s sudden obsession with bog roll has made even handing a solitary roll to an elderly couple a dangerous mission. “You’re risking your life by going out there with a roll of toilet roll on the shop floor right now!” she exclaimed.

Last week shopworkers’ union Usdaw called on consumers to calm down and show respect to overworked and exhausted retail staff. But general secretary Paddy Lillis tells me these calls seem to have “fallen on deaf ears.”

“People are not listening, there is enough food, there’s enough in stores, but that message is just not getting through,” he says.

“I think people really need to calm down in terms of panic buying and give retail workers the chance to just do their jobs. When stores or shelves are empty the customers are taking that out on retail workers and that is undeserving, it’s no fault of theirs and they should be treated with respect.”

But abuse on the shop floor is unfortunately nothing new. Lillis says that retail staff have historically faced abuse from customers, and a lack of appreciation for their work. The Association of Convenience Stores last week published their annual crime survey showing that over 50,000 convenience store workers were assaulted last year, with 25 per cent of incidents resulting in injury.

“Retail workers are not taken seriously,” Lillis explains. “It’s seen as a job you do until you can get a ‘real’ job.” Recent efforts by the union have tried to shine a light on the terrible treatment of retail workers, with signs put up in supermarkets encouraging customers to treat them with respect.

In these unprecedented times shop workers are being asked to contribute more than most of us, at significant risk to their health. Yet, while the heroism of health workers is applauded from the rooftops, retail staff are dismissed, underappreciated and underpaid. As coronavirus shines a light on our society, it’s time we begin to appreciate all workers.

As Lillis notes: “They are the unsung heroes at the moment, they are the ones keeping the shelves stocked up. It’s important we show courtesy and respect to them.”

*Names of shop workers have been changed to protect their identities.