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This guide aims to help retailers who sell knives and other bladed items comply with the law and play their part in reducing the harm caused to our communities by knife crime.
It offers practical guidance that will help you manage your business to prevent the theft and illegal sales of knives.
It is true the majority of knives purchased from a shop are not used in crime - but some are. Some are bought or stolen to be used as a weapon. This guide suggests ways you can store and sell knives responsibly and minimise the chances of your business supplying an item that will be used in this way.
Before selling a knife or bladed item, staff must take steps to ensure that it is appropriate to sell the item. It is against the law to sell to anyone who is under 18, but businesses should also never sell if they have concerns about how the buyer may use the item.
Remember – the law is on your side. Businesses do not have to sell goods to anyone if they don’t want to.
Some business do, of course. If you sell hardware or kitchenware, you may need to.
However, if you don’t have a clear business need to sell them, or your profit from these sales is less than the costs of the additional training and other precautions needed before you can sell knives safely, then please stop selling them.
If you don’t sell knives, you cannot break the law by making an underage sale or risk feeling guilty if a knife sold by you was used to injure someone.
Before selling a knife or bladed item, staff must take steps to ensure that it is appropriate to sell the item. It is against the law to sell to anyone who is under 18, but businesses should also never sell if they have concerns about how the buyer may use the item.
Remember – the law is on your side. Businesses do not have to sell goods to anyone if they don’t want to.
This can be achieved by:
The best way to avoid underage sales is to train and monitor your staff to ensure that they follow a process called 'Assess, Challenge, Check'.
Assess the age of all customers buying knives (or any other age restricted goods).
Challenge anyone the seller thinks is under 25 for proof of age - a rule known as 'challenge 25.’
Check the ID offered, carefully, to ensure the customer is over 18.
Training staff in assess, challenge, check effectively is much more than telling them what to do. You have to explain why each step is important and how to do it.
Giving instructions to staff is not enough on its own – you have to know that they are able to follow them and monitor to ensure they do.
Staff must be trained before they are allowed to serve customers.
Methods that can be used to train staff to avoid underage sales can vary, but it is unlikely that verbal training will be sufficient on its own. The following can also be used.
You could watch a member of staff closely as they serve customers until you are satisfied they are following the 'asses, challenge, check' process properly.
It is highly recommended that you require staff to watch the training animations that can be found on the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) website.
Watching these can be an effective way to understand key messages.
It is important that you give the trainee something in writing – such as a training checklist – which they sign to say that they have read and understood the training. This protects the business if the trainee makes an underage sale.
Staff should receive refresher training a few weeks after they have first been trained and then periodically – maybe every six months – until they leave your employment. Refresher training reinforces the key messages of the training and allows you to satisfy yourself that staff have remembered and understood them.
Training records should be kept for each member of staff, detailing the initial training and the refresher training received. It should detail the person giving the training, how and when it was given and be signed by the trainee. You can download training forms on the NBCC website.
Reminders do not need to be recorded on the training record, but should be given daily: the more you mention the need to avoid underage sales, the more important it will seem to staff.
Keeping a record of refusals to sell is good practice, especially if young customers regularly attempt to purchase knives or other age-restricted goods.
Refusals can be recorded in any format, but the date and time, the reason for refusal and the person refusing should be entered. Many Trading Standards teams will be able to supply a book for you to record refusals in.
You can also ask staff to record every time they challenge a customer for ID.
This can be a good idea for new employees, or for those who don't appear to make many refusals, at least until you are comfortable that they are getting it right.
A professionally installed CCTV system with wide angle high definition cameras and a zoom facility, enhances security for your staff and stock. It can be integrated with personal alarms and panic buttons to provide additional security should you or your staff ever feel threatened.
Sharing information about crime or suspicious behaviour with other businesses and the police can help protect your business and keep your community safe.
Joining a business partnership can help you to reduce shoplifting and anti-social behaviour, as well as theft from your customers.
There are many business partnership schemes across Essex already sharing information, intelligence and good ideas.