Have you ever been verbally threatened in your own workplace
? Have you ever had to clean up someone else's mess from your own living room carpet? How about just generally being shouted at by every customer or client you deal with? If you are a taxi driver then you are probably saying yes to all these questions so what can you do to avoid it?
If you go into a supermarket, what do you see when you look up? CCTV cameras. When you walk through the doors who is greeting you? A security officer. So when you walk past a door marked security what do you think is behind there? Lots of monitors watching you make your weekly shop. There are several reasons why supermarkets have CCTV. The first is to catch thieves. They can see who is shoplifting and who isn't and catch them on camera to be prosecuted at a later date. The second reason is for staff safety. They want to protect their staff and make sure that no trouble makers cause a problem or bring harm to their staff. The third and final reason is to see what is going on under their roof. They are responsible for the people in their shop and as such have a duty to keep them safe from fires or safety hazards.
So if these reasons apply in a supermarket then surely they would apply to most workplaces? You don't want to put your staff or yourself at risk so getting CCTV seems like a good idea.....even for a taxi. Thats right the digital CCTV recording system that has been developed especially for taxis is now being recommended by hoards of councils across the country because they feel that taxi drivers are safer with it installed in their cabs than not. These systems don't cost a fortune and they can even help you to make money because there is an option to use the monitor as advertising space. People will happily watch anything while in the back of a taxi and if they are in a taxi on their way to a club and they see an advert for a certain drink, the chances are thy are going to buy that drink when they get there. This makes your advertising space very valuable and people will pay highly to get their ads in the back of your cab.
For most drivers, their taxi is their livelihood so why should you feel threatened in your own workplace. Some people are intimidating without even knowing it (especially those who have had a little too much to drink) so its comforting to know that if anything should happen, you have the evidence to have them prosecuted. Digital CCTV recording systems are the way forward to maybe you should think about having one installed in your cab. What have you got to lose?