STUC and Scottish Government Project on Preventing Workplace Violence Highlighted at UK Hazards Conference

24th July 2008

Linda Shanahan from the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives and Ian Tasker from the STUC presented two workshops on preventing workplace violence to the 2008 UK Hazards Conference at Keele University 19th to 20th July 2008.

Linda is currently seconded to the Scottish Centre from Fife Fire and Rescue through the STUC to develop and take forward work aimed at protecting workers from assault in the workplace.

In 2004 the STUC in partnership with the previous Scottish administration produced a document Protecting Public Service Workers When the Customer Isn’t Right.

This document, initially focussing on reporting of incidents involving young workers retail outlets, set the foundation for positive collaboration between the trade union movement in Scotland and the Scottish Government to raise awareness of the extent of the problem and how to help unions workers and employers address the issue.

One of the most successful aspects of the campaign has been the media profile with poster and television advertising funded by the Scottish Government ensuring the message that physical and verbal attacks on public service workers is unacceptable was widely communicated across Scotland.

Further information for employers and workers can be found on the violence at work pages on the InfoScotland web site.

The emphasis of the work has primarily focused on prevention, ensuring trade union and employers and trade unions identify opportunities to work together to identify and address issues within their own working environments.

Our research shows that many groups are particularly vulnerable and, sadly for our society, some groups are deemed to be deserving of abuse in the course of their work.

For many in the call centre industry verbal abuse was seen as part of the job and the Student Loan Company offered to work with the Scottish Government and the STUC to develop a resource pack for employers and their workers.

This resource pack explains how to recognise the difference between anger and rage, its impact of individuals and organisations, training available to manage phone rage, how to develop a workplace policy and set up reporting procedures.

The resource pack is available online through the Healthy Working Lives website or copies of the cd-rom based version can be obtained by sending address details along with the number required to itasker@stuc.org.uk .

However, not all employers are as cooperative or willing to share best practice and the Hazards workshops heard of the work being undertaken by Community to force employers in the betting industry to take the health and safety of their workers seriously. Community commissioned an industry specific poster based on the Scottish Government model to launch their “Bookies Rights” campaign.

The work already completed was enthusiastically welcomed by the delegates who attended the workshops and there was a desire to see this project extended to cover workplaces in England and Wales. Most of those attending are trade union representatives and were extremely positive on the examples provided and how this had been achieved in collaboration between the Government, STUC, individual trade unions, employers and other stakeholders.

The full Hazards presentation delivered in two workshops can be downloaded here .

For further information on the work carried out to protect workers against physical and verbal abuse please contact Linda Shanahan, at the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives linda.shanahan@nhs.net .