Violence at Work (UK)

Every workplace is at risk of violence

The potential for violence to happen will exist in every single workplace (even where parties do not actually meet in person e.g. Telesales canvassers being verbally abused by people they contact and harrassment of an employee by a stranger they've never met).

The nature of the "violence" and the way abuse takes place will vary

Violence can manifest in a wide variety of different forms - physical and non physical - and incidents can happen at any time.

All kinds of violence have the potential to result in serious harm to the victim

Every single violent incident has the potential to end in a person's death.

Whether intentional or not - physical force used in an abusive (or defensive) way will always bring a possibility of a loss of life. (Just pushing someone, for example, could cause them to lose their balance and bash their head/ break their neck falling on a hard surface. And, all forms of non physical kinds of violence can lead to victims taking the decision to kill themselves. (Bullying is a contributory factor in an alarming number of suicides.)

Responsibility for minimising the risks is clearly defined

UK Health and Safety legislation governs standards of protection against violence in a workplace, and it defines in clear, unambiguous terms the obligations and legal expectations of duty holders.

Common, Civil, Criminal and Human Rights Laws also helps inhibit the commission of violence related offences through threat of prosecution, fines and/ or imprisonment.

The law provides for victims of violence to recover compensation from the party or parties responsible for damages sustained

One way in which the laws help to achieve the aim of preventing violence is by providing a legal mechanism for victims to recover compensation from the party or parties responsible for damages sustained.

And, developments in the law have meant that accountability - and liability - for adverse outcomes can now be very easily established

There is a whole raft of different laws that are relevant to violence at work. All of them share the same objective - which can be summarised as:

"To protect and preserve the Queen's peace, and to prevent individuals and legal entities (corporations) from taking any course of action that would be to the prejudice of anyone's health, safety, or welfare or, which might cause damage to property or, which might result in deprivation or infringements of anyone's Human Rights."

The reason why so many laws have been created is so as to be able to add definition and clarification of the duties and expectations of duty holders in particular circumstances . In other words to "pin down accountability and make it easier to establish liability".

The Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 were introduced to reduce ambiguities (loopholes) that were found to exist in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. In 1999, the Regulations were refined even further, and the way the Regulations are now drafted leaves very little, if any, scope for misinterpretation - and no excuse for non compliance.

So, whereas in the past proving negligence and accountability on the part of an employer (or an employee) used to be difficult, refinements in the legislation have made it much, much easier to establish blame - and liability.

Litigation is more likely now than ever before

For employers who disregard their legal obligations the risk of shortcomings in safety arrangements being exposed has been rising year on year for the last decade.

The refinements in the legislation (referred to above) signalled the advent of the "no success no fee" legal firms who saw exploiting the generally disorganised approach to safety taken by the majority of employers as an easy way to the top of the earnings tree - whilst at the same time also helping people who had been victimised to gain redress.

And, not unsurprisingly, the opportunity to sue without risk has led to increasing numbers of people pursuing this course of action - propagating the 'Compensation Culture' we live in today. (The number of "Slippery Floor" signs you see around these days is testimony to the effect of the focussed litigation that has been taking place!)

When it happens, at your workplace will the precautions that have been taken stand the test?

The bottom line is the escalation in the rising incidence (and levels) of aggression and violence in society generally, together with the increasing likelihood of litigation in the event of an injury happening, make it much more certain that an organisation's safety measures - and the actions of employees will sooner rather than later become the subject of scrutiny during a legally based investigation.

Violence can happen in any business at any time

The law on violence at work makes it a responsibility of all employees - and not just employers - to help prevent harm happening to anyone. In other words employees as well as employers can be held legally responsible for what happens in a workplace.