Retail surgery: Organising emergency keyholding

There are several legal implications and responsibilities retailers need to consider when assigning emergency keyholding responsibilities. By law, store managers are required to appoint two emergency keyholders if they decide to use members of staff. Alternatively, one set should be given to a professional keyholding company.

Keyholders are expected to attend an incident where the store alarm has sounded out of hours. If they are harmed while carrying out this duty and authorities believe the retailer’s directors have not taken satisfactory measures to prevent this, they can be charged with corporate negligence under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

Also, the Association of Chief Police Officers insists anyone holding this position must be at the premises within 20 minutes.

Charlie Gordon Lennox is chief executive of The Keyholding Company, which is the professional keyholder for retailers such as Max Mara and Stella McCartney. He highlights the importance of keyholder procedures being in place, saying: “There must be a clear process with regards to what keyholders do once they get to the store.

“When they get to the site, they need to be able to phone someone and let them know what is happening. Managers need to organise who they will call.”

Lennox also highlights store managers need to think about the practicalities of transport when it comes to getting staff to a store in the middle of the night.

“If an employee has had a drink in the evening and they are then called out, store managers have to ask how will they get there? It would make sense to organise an account for the keyholders with the local taxi firm.”