Managing work-related violence in licensed and retail premises

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Title – Managing work-related violence in licensed and retail premises
Source – HSE
Date – 10th December 2008

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) have released this very useful leaflet aimed at helping people reduce

Workplace Violence, especially within the Licensed Retail Sector and the retail sector generally. We have made a pdf of this leaflet available through our website and recommend it to all our clients. If you are unable to access it, please Contact Us and we will be happy to arrange to provide you with a copy.

This document helps you to assess, through a risk assessment, any risk your staff face through violence in their workplace, what level of risk they face and what you can do to reduce it. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 defines employers legal obligation to protect employees welfare, including protecting them from workplace violence. Workplace violence is defined by the HSE as:

‘Any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work’.

This definition is one that many employees who work in any way with the general public will recognise.

Too many employees are made to think that workplace violence is just ‘part of the job’ and too many employers are prepared to accept this view and turn a blind eye to the problem. It is not until the underlying consequences of workplace violence are really understood and the business case made for identifying it and putting measures into place to resolve it, that many employers stand up and take note. Workplace violence results in absenteeism, high staff turn-over, low productivity, customer dissatisfaction, poor customer service, unnecessary cost to business and in the worst cases prosecution.

The HSE document provides a straight forward method of assessing the level of risk faced by employees and some of the solutions. Summarised these solutions include; Work environment (eg. premises design and layout); Working practises; Training; Legal options; Partnerships working and special schemes.

Beyond The Blue can help you in all of these areas, through our training programmes and Consultancy Service. Assessing risk is the first step in this process and it can be that to gain a clear view of the risks faced it is more effective to get opinion from people who understand workplace violence and who are unfamiliar with your business. Many employers and employees are too close to their business to gain an impartial and all inclusive perspective on the problems faced by their employees; assumptions can cloud the potential for clear risk assessment. We can provide you with this assessment, as well as providing you with the solutions. Our Conflict Management & Resolution courses (CMR) are tailored to meet your specific needs, those of your business and your employees. By performing a Training Needs Analysis we design courses aimed at providing you with conflict resolution techniques as well as specific solution to your particular challenges.

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