Staff not protected at work

by Trisha Hamilton

An annual survey of violence at work by UNISON Scotland has revealed an increase of over 3,000 assaults when compared with last year.

The UNISON report on ‘Violent Assaults on Public Service Staff in Scotland’ was presented to the union’s annual Health and Safety conference in Stirling in October.

The report highlighted that more than 28,000 assaults on staff were recorded for the year 2009-10. The figures were obtained through Freedom of Information requests from employers of UNISON members.

Dave Watson, UNISON’s Scottish Organiser, said: “Any act of violence on a member of staff going about their business of providing vital public services is completely unacceptable. To have over 28,000 in a year is shocking. Employers clearly have to do more to protect their staff.

“It is clear that where rigorous monitoring and active preventative measures are in place, this has resulted in improvements for the health and safety of our members.

“But some employers are clearly failing to monitor violent assaults effectively, and as a result are failing to do enough to protect their staff.”

The conference was attended by more than 70 delegates from all over Scotland.

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