Public service staff face double the amount of violence

Violence against public service workers in Scotland has nearly doubled over the past eight years, with the latest survey showing yet another increase last year.

The UNISON annual survey of violent incidents involving staff delivering services to the public is being presented at the union’s Scottish health and safety conference at Stirling University today.

Presenting the survey, UNISON Scotland organiser Dave Watson is revealing that 37,052 incidents were reported to public service employers last year.

This is 3,363 more than 2012 and almost double the 20,000 reported when the first survey was first conducted in 2006.

He will highlight assaults on council workers, who have suffered four out of five job cuts in Scotland.

They are seeing a year-on-year increase in violent incidents: 15,729 were recorded last year, an increase of 850 on the year before.

Mr Watson will welcome improvements in data recording, but notes that some public bodies are still failing to collate data properly – and if they can’t collate data, they don’t know where to take the necessary action.

“It is entirely unacceptable for staff who serve the public to be assaulted for simply doing their job,” says Mr Watson. “These statistics record reported incidents and are therefore only the tip of the iceberg of misery faced by workers across Scotland’s public services.

“The biggest increase in violent incidents is happening in those services that have suffered staffing cuts.

“Workers are stretched too thinly, dealing with service users who are coping with cuts in the services they rely on. This is a toxic cocktail that is putting hard-pressed workers at greater risk of violent assault.”

That point is reiterated by UNISON Scotland health and safety committee chair Scott Donohoe, who says:
 “To seriously tackle violence against staff we need proper monitoring, backed up by effective workplace measures to minimise the risks.

“We also need better legal protection for workers in the civil and criminal courts.”

Scotland saw 330 convictions under the country’s Emergency Workers Act last year.

But UNISON warns that the limited scope of the act means few violent incidents result in criminal action and says efforts to address this were blocked by the Scottish government when it opposed Hugh Henry MSP’s Protection of Worker’s Bill.

The union also says the UK government is at fault for undermining protection for workers with cuts to the Criminal Injury Compensation scheme.

The UNISON survey and conference come at the end of the European health and safety week, which is highlighting the need for protection at work across Europe.

 

UNISON Scotland Survey of Violence at Work 2014 [PDF]

UNISON Scotland

European Health and Safety Week

UNISON Knoweldge: health and safety issues

UNISON guide and material on stress available from the catalogue

HSE advice on stress