Employers' failure to deal with violence at work could risk legal action - UNISON

[UNISON Scotland Community & Voluntary sector e-group]

UNISON, Scotland's public service union, has issued guidelines to its
branches detailing a number of different ways that staff can use the
law to prevent assaults, convict offenders and sue employers for
compensation. In a presentation to Scotland's Voluntary Sector staff
tomorrow (Tuesday 27 November), UNISON's Scottish Organiser, Dave
Watson will outline four different legal options for staff faced with
violence in the workplace.

Dave Watson said
"Regrettably, research by UNISON shows that many employers are
failing to effectively address the problem of violence at work.
Therefore we need to look at other measures we can take to protect
members. We have identified a number of legal avenues that staff can
use to pursue criminal prosecutions against assailants - for assault
or for harassment; to sue either employers, or indeed assailants, for
civil damages; or best of all to use health and safety legislation to
ensure proper risk assessments are done by employers and measures are
implemented to prevent attacks.
"While, compensation and prosecution claims don't by themselves
prevent the violence, there is considerable evidence that the threat
of claims has reduced the incidence of abuse. Most notably, publicity
about recent actions on behalf of traffic wardens against abusive BMW
drivers in England has led to a remarkable reduction in abuse!"

The conference is being run by the Scottish Government and is free to
those involved in the voluntary sector. It features contributions from
practitioners and highlights resources available to protect staff in
the workplace. It is part of the successful partnership between the
STUC and the Government to raise awareness of verbal and physical
abuse in the workplace.

Dave said
"While there is no concrete evidence that the risks in the Community
and Voluntary Sector(CVS) are worse than elsewhere, there is evidence
of underreporting in the care sector - which is a major employer for
the CVS. And elsewhere in the public services the trend of incidents
is increasing - not decreasing."

Note - the advice is on the UNISON scotland website at

http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/briefings/violencelegal.html