The Risks to Personal Safety from Work Related Violence
The following is a quick reference guide to enable you to assess the risks to personal safety from work related violence faced by your employees as a consequence of their daily work.
The more of the tasks below that are performed by your employees, the greater the potential risk to their personal safety.
Do your employees have TO:
- Have Direct contact with the general public?
- Work alone?
- Work out of normal office hours?
- Travel as part of their working day?
- Work in or travel through high risk geographical areas?
- Deal with people under the influence of alcohol or drugs?
- Deal with people who are in a highly aroused emotional state?
- Conduct one to one interviews?
- Work out in the community?
- Carry expensive equipment when out in the community?
- Wear a uniform when out in the community?
- Transport service users?
- Carry out home visits?
- Encounter aggressive dogs?
- Have direct contact with residential service users?
- Support service users with a diagnosis of Autism, Learning disability, Emotional behavioural Disturbance?
- Deny services or offer bad news to clients/service users?
- Request payment for debts?
- Handle complaints?
- Eject or evict service users from premises?
- Stop or apprehend thieves or shop lifters?
- Administer medical treatment?
What is Work Related Violence?
Working Definitions of Workplace Violence
The Health and Safety Executive:
‘Any incident, in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work’
ENTO National Occupational Standards for Managing Work Related Standards
‘Any incident, in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work, involving an explicit or implicit challenge to their safety, well-being or health’
Examples of work related violence:
- Telephone abuse
- Email Abuse
- Verbal Abuse
- Threats of Violence
- Physical Intimidation
- Bullying and Harassment
- Sexual Harassment
- Physical acts of violence
- Damage to property
- Objects used as weapons
- Knife Attack
- Firearm Attack
- Robbery
- Violence between third parties
- Expected to break up fights
- Objects thrown at employees
- Being help captive by service user
- Dog Attack