Why Training is Important
For most organisations it remains a difficult task to establish the cost of work related violence to the organisation although it would be safe to say that when employees within your organisation face work related violence then the consequences of that violence will be evident both in human and financial costs.
Given the high incidence statistics, the social and economical costs of Work Related Violence are not surpassingly substantial. The National Audit Office Report (NAO 2003:4) offered a ‘crude estimate’ that the direct cost of violence to the NHS ‘is likely to be at least £69 million per annum.’ This total takes no account of staff replacement costs, treatments costs and compensation claims.
The Health and Safety Laboratory approached over 400 organisations of various sizes and across a range of different occupational sectors in England, Wales and Scotland to conduct case studies in work related violence and lone working. A summary of some of the key findings are listed below.
Consequences of violence
- Effects on the individual
- Stress, anxiety, fear and depression. Also resulting from having to deal with persistent verbal abuse.
- Stress-related health problems. Often leading to long-term sick leave.
- Psychological problems. For example, employees may sometimes feel partly to blame for violent incidents, or feel they have failed in some way.
- Low morale and loss of confidence. This can affect an employees’ ability to do some or all of their job.
- Physical harm and injury. Leading to sick leave.
Consequent impacts on the organisation
- Staff retention and recruitment problems. For example, hearing about violent incidents may make the job less attractive to potential recruits; and experienced staff may leave a job if they no longer feel safe or able to cope.
- Sick leave. This can result from stress-related health problems or a physical injury following a violent incident.
- Low productivity. High levels of sick leave; staff refusal to do certain jobs, high insurance premiums and compensation claims; and breakdown in client-professional relationship – can all have a detrimental impact on an organisation’s productivity and profitability.
- Impact on the self-employed. Self-employed people could ultimately lose their livelihood and be faced with limited work choices.
The benefits of violence prevention measures
All of the organisations reported many benefits from having measures in place to tackle work-related violence. These included:
- Improved staff confidence in dealing with violent incidents;
- Staff feel more safe and secure when going about their jobs;
- Staff feel supported and valued by their organisation
- A reduction in violent incidents, and in some cases zero incidents being reported;
- Improvement in working relationships and communication between staff;
- Improvement in the standard of customer service;
- Reduced staff turnover;
- Improved productivity and profitability due to less staff sick leave,
- Improvements in staff efficiency and output, lower recruitment costs,
- Improved company image etc.
Cost effectiveness
Many organisations agreed that it was difficult to quantify the costs of violence prevention measures and took the view that ‘you cannot put a price on safety’.
While only a small number had carried out an evaluation of their violence measures, all were able to express a view about their cost effectiveness. Interestingly, some found an increase in the number of reported incidents following the introduction of violence measures. This can happen when new measures are introduced because it tends to increase the level of awareness among staff. The benefits outweigh the costs. All believed that the benefits of the measures outweighed the costs incurred.
Reduction in the number of incidents reported. Several organisations said that they either had no reported incidents of physical violence or that the number of incidents had recently decreased. However incidents of verbal abuse often went unreported.
A non-confrontational approach costs nothing. Behaving in a polite, helpful and non-aggressive manner does not cost anything.
Systems or equipment used for other business purposes. Many of the violence prevention measures in place were also essential for other aspects of the business, and therefore were cost effective for the organisation.
Some equipment incurs minimal cost. For some organisations, the cost of equipment and other material, (e.g. leaflets/guidance) is minimal compared to the overall income of the organisation.
Improvement in customer/client service. Staff feel more happy and confident in their work, knowing they have proper support and systems in place to help them deal with potential violence and abuse, and they are therefore more likely to provide a better service to customers and clients.
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or email damian@betaris.co.uk