A real estate agency in Australia has implemented a new safety measure to support their staff when meeting potentially disgruntled tenants.

Adele Crocker, Office Manager & Sales Agent at 360 Property Management Mackay, recently made the decision to fit her staff with body cameras when entering a tenant’s home for routine inspections.

She told news.com.au that the agency decided to take this step after there was an incident where a tenant trapped a young woman inside the property and refused to let her out.

“After this occurred we had a big discussion on safety in the workplace and spoke about how we could all feel safer entering into home of what essentially are strangers,” Ms Crocker said.

“After some collaborative discussion the use of body cameras was decided.”

Once the decision was made, all current tenants were informed that cameras would be used by property managers as part of their PPE equipment.

New tenants are informed of the policy at the start of the tenancy.

Staff turn the cameras on at the start of the inspection when they enter the home, after which the footage is uploaded and stored for a short period of time. Ms Crocker said that if no incidents occurred during the visit then the footage is deleted.

“Staff are of course very mindful of tenants privacy during an inspection being carried out,” she said.

Apparently, most tenants reacted in a positive way to the news with some saying they were surprised it had not begun a long time ago and that they understood that staff safety was important. Just a handful of tenants expressed a view that they were not happy with the change, citing privacy concerns.

Crocker said:

“We have had discussion as a team and wondered if perhaps that if someone was upset, the camera may very well be a visual deterrent to become upset at staff and instead wait until they have left and then perhaps phone with their concerns.

“I believe any safety equipment that a business implements in a workplace gives staff the feeling of safety.

“We have a lot of younger female staff who need to feel safe and if walking into a stranger’s home with a camera on gives that feeling of security, with or without incident, then we are doing our job correctly.”