Gopi Thota

Safety At Work

 

Violence in the workplace covers a wide range of behaviour, from threats and verbalabuse to intimidation and physical assault.It may also include sexual or racial harassment. It can be carried out by customers, suppliersor colleagues.

 

Your employer has a legal duty to protect you from violence and abuse while you are at work and should have a policy for dealing with the risk of violence to staff.

 

You can help reduce your personal risk by planning strategies to deal with difficult situations before they happen.

 

• Check which areas of your organisation’s policy on preventing work-related violence are relevant to you and your work. •

 

Make sure you know which procedures to follow if a violent incident happens.

 

• Be aware of risk factors and the possible causes of violence arising from the work you are doing.

 

• If you work alone or away from your workplace, try to make sure someone knows where you are going and when you expect to come back.

 

• You may feel safer carrying a mobile phone, personal alarm or pager.

 

If you are in a situation that could turn violent:

• try to stay calm;

• be aware of your own body language and that of the other person;

• try to keep a safe distance and avoid physical contact if possible;

• if you cannot calm the situation down, call for help or look for opportunities to move away; and

• report all incidents to your employer.

 

Contact the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which publishes guidance for employers on how to prevent and control violence at work (HSE and local authority inspectors are also responsible for inspecting and enforcing health and safety in workplaces)