This Guidance Note gives practical information about managing violence at work.
A sample risk assessment template has been included in Appendix 1 and a sample policy template in Appendix 2. If you wish to use these templates to construct your own documents, you must ensure that all references to Alcumus SafeContractor certification have been removed and the final documents are clearly incorporated into your existing safety management system. The policy should explain your company’s specific intent and arrangements.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines work-related violence as:
Any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work.
This can include verbal abuse or threats as well as physical attacks.
Those most at risk of harm include anyone involved in the following:
Employers have a legal duty to protect their staff from foreseeable violence at work and should establish an effective strategy to protect both employees and customers from violence in the workplace.
Impact on your staff:
Impact on your business:
Employers need to adopt a risk management strategy, which enables them to check to see if there is a problem in the workplace, if there is a problem, to decide which action to take, take the action and then check the control measures have been successful.
All potential hazards need to be examined. Employers may not be aware where there is a problem, so it is important to talk to employees as well as looking at incident records. A checklist is available at the end of this document in order to assist the employer in identifying if there is potential for violence at work.
The British Crime Survey shows these occupations most at risk of assault (NB, average risk = 1.2%):
This follows the familiar procedure however it focuses on a single hazard. Don’t forget that exposure to verbal abuse is included in the definition of violence. A generic form can be utilised, please refer to the risk assessment section in the document library. However, a separate checklist and specific risk assessment form can be found at the end of this document should you wish to utilise them.
If violence is a problem, employers must decide what action to take by:
There are many different ways of reducing the risk of violence, which can be separated in to the following areas:
Where the threat of violence is real, introduce a policy that can be written into the overall health and safety policy statement. Ensure employees are aware of it and the procedures to follow in the event of a violent incident. For example, the NHS has adopted a policy of nontolerance of violence against its staff.
Cases where the NHS has taken legal or other action include the following:
Employers should appoint an individual with appropriate authority to have overall responsibility for developing an integrated policy, ensuring it is implemented, and then overseeing it. The policy should outline the arrangements in place for dealing with violent incidents, both verbal and physical and should be made available to all employees. From time to time the policy will need to be reviewed to ensure that it remains valid and useful.
An example policy is contained in the document library – Violence at work Policy. It is only an example and should be used with caution and amended to your particular circumstances.