Violence at Work
The Health and Safety Executive define work-related violence as: ‘Any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work’.
According to the British Crime Survey there were around 849,000 incidents of violence at work in England and Wales in 2002/2003. These events have an impact on the victim’s mental as well as physical health. In addition they have a high cost for business through staff sickness absence and turnover as well as higher insurance premiums, possible risk of litigation etc.
In a recent HSE survey all of the organisations canvassed reported many benefits from having measures in place to tackle work-related violence. These included:
- Improved staff confidence in dealing with violent incidents
- Staff feeling more safe and secure when going about their jobs, as well as feeling supported and valued by their organisation
- A reduction in violent incidents
- An 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.
How can RoSPA help?
RoSPA can assist organisations evaluate and as appropriate enhance their management of violence at work practices by providing a consultant to carry out a comprehensive audit of both the organisation’s procedural arrangements against current best practice and the degree to which these standards are achieved in practice.
A full and comprehensive report will be produced that will describe the current situation and include a draft action plan of how current arrangements can be enhanced. Subsequent to receipt of the audit report and adoption of a remedial action plan, RoSPA’s consultant can, if required, support its systematic implementation as well as verifying by audit that objectives have been met;
For more information on Management of Violence and Aggression at Work Consultancy Services please email: consultancy@rospa.com or telephone: 0121 248 2034.
Associated Services Available from RoSPA:
Related Training Courses
RoSPA’s management of lone working consultancy service
As lone workers are often more vulnerable to violence or aggression RoSPA complementary lone working consultancy service could well provide further assistance.
Managing Stress and Violence Course
Note that all RoSPA's occupational health and safety courses can be held on an in-compoany basis as well as at RoSPA training venues.
Resources
RoSPA also provide a range of Violence at Work resources such as posters, leaflets and publication to help you improve your organisation's safety culture.
COSHH and Dangerous Substances
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RoSPA is a registered charity: Registered Charity No: 207823 Patron: Her Majesty the Queen RoSPA Head Office: Edgbaston Park, 353 Bristol Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B5 7ST, UK |
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