The Outstanding Security Performance Awards (OSPAs) have launched their latest – the Workplace Violence Reduction Awards (WVRAs). The WVRAs are sponsored by the conflict reduction training company Maybo and (like other awards notably the OSPAs) are set up with industry associations and groups.
The founder of the OSPA, criminologist Prof Martin Gill of Perpetuity Research, said: ‘Reducing harm and the risk of victimisation in workplace settings have become highly skilled areas with enormous implications for all organisations, their employees and other stakeholders. We are delighted to be launching these new awards to recognise those outstanding performers; this is an area where being excellent really matters.’
Bill Fox, Chairman of Maybo added: ‘These awards recognise people and organisations that stand out through their commitment and achievements in reducing workplace violence, thereby improving the safety and wellbeing of their employees and the people they support and/or interact with.’
Entry to the WRVAs has opened on August 28 and runs to January 28, 2025. Nominations are invited in these categories, for outstanding leadership, training initiative, partnership initiative, de-escalation skills, and safe settings or spaces. More details and enter online via https://www.thewvras.com/.
After the recent anti-immigrant rioting around the UK, the acting chair of the rank and file police body, the Police Federation, Tiff Lynch, called for ‘better equipment and tactical options’. She said: “Far too many officers found themselves on the front lines, armed only with shields, as they were bombarded with bricks and other dangerous projectiles. This is unacceptable. As part of a thorough debrief, there must be a review of the tools and equipment available to disperse rioters and give you greater protection.”
London campaign
Meanwhile Transport for London (TfL) has launched a campaign against violence and aggression against staff on the capital’s buses and trains.
TfL reports an increase in all incidents of work-related violence and aggression, whether verbal abuse, threats, hate and aggression. In 2023-24 it had 10,493 reports of work-related violence and aggression, compared to 9,989 in 2022-23, an increase of five per cent. TfL noted that the statistical rise may be due to staff feeling more encouraged to report such incidents. From April 1 to June 22, 197 physical incidents were reported by directly employed TfL staff, a 20 per cent reduction compared to the 248 total for the same period last year. TfL points to the adoption of body worn video (BWV) cameras by ‘customer facing’ staff, deployment of Transport Support Enforcement Officers and roll-out of conflict management training for ‘customer-facing operational teams’ working in what the authorities term high-risk locations for work-related violence and aggression across London Underground, buses and river services.
Siwan Hayward, TfL’s Director of Security, Policing and Enforcement, said: “Everyone has the right to work without fear of being assaulted, abused or threatened. We take work-related violence and aggression extremely seriously and will always encourage staff to report any instance of abuse whether physical or non-physical. This means that preventative measures can be taken and the strongest penalties brought against offenders. This new campaign aims to send a strong message to offenders that staff abuse won’t be tolerated on our services and that you will be caught and face serious consequences. We are committed to doing all we can to protect our colleagues and keep them safe, and to eradicate work-related violence and aggression.”
TfL stated that revenue disputes are a precursor to about half of all reported work-related violence and aggression incidents towards front line staff. Similarly, police seek to differentiate a rise in increase in reports of verbal and physical violence against shop staff with the actual problem. Police acknowledge that most shoplifting offences are committed by those who are stealing to fund substance misuse, such as drugs and alcohol; and organised criminal groups also steal items in bulk, such as designer clothes, to sell for profit. If staff challenge thieves, or query those who look under-age who are seeking to buy cigarettes or alcohol, they can get attacked, threatened, or intimidated.
Shoplifting has long been a major flashpoint for violence and abuse against shop workers, Paddy Lillis, the General Secretary of the retail workers’ trade union Usdaw, said. The case for a separate criminal offence for abusing or assaulting a retail worker – as in Scotland, and as promised for England and Wales in the King’s Speech in July – is clear, he said. Usdaw’s survey showed that physical assaults are at an all-time high, he added. He said: “We fear retail crime is in danger of becoming normalised if action is not taken. A separate criminal offence will ensure greater visibility and awareness of the scale of the problem, prioritisation and resourcing from the police, certainty from courts and will send a clear message to members of the public that abuse and attacks against retail workers are wholly unacceptable.” He welcomed an announced such law for Northern Ireland.
Prisons
The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has called for PAVA incapacitant spray to be issued to staff who work in Youth Custody Prisons; the spray is already rolled out in the closed adult male estate. Mark Fairhurst, POA National Chair said: “We cannot continue to ignore the excessive levels of violence staff on the frontline face when dealing with young prisoners. Age is no excuse for violent behaviour. We are now witnessing an escalation in life threatening incidents that proves we are dealing with a more violent cohort of prisoners despite record low levels of incarceration for this age group. Doing nothing is not an option. My members deserve to be protected at work and that is why we are calling for the roll out of PAVA incapacitant spray. This will not only act as a deterrent but will afford staff the tactical option to quell violence in order to protect themselves and those in their care. I am putting this Government on notice that if they fail to heed our warnings the next headline will include a tragedy within our youth custody prisons.”
Among recent official inspections of prisons, an unannounced visit to HMP Wandsworth in south London found ‘chaos on the wings’, confusing for staff and prisoners alike. The inspectors pointed to a ‘cycle of disruptive behaviour, violence, self-harm and drug misuse’; and noted that ‘basic procedures to maintain order and control were not followed’. For example, ‘staff could not account for the whereabouts of their prisoners’. Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, said: “The level of chaos we found at Wandsworth was deeply shocking. The prison population crisis has undoubtedly compounded the pressures on the jail, but the appalling conditions at Wandsworth did not appear overnight and are the result of sustained decline permitted to happen in plain view of leaders in the jail, HMPPS [Prison and Probation Service] and the MoJ [Ministry of Justice] whose own systems clearly identified the prison as struggling.” The inspectors’ report spoke of – as at many prisons – overcrowding, and illicit drugs readily available. “Overall rates of violence, including serious assaults, had increased since the last inspection and were higher than most similar prisons. In our survey, 69 per cent of prisoners said they had felt unsafe at Wandsworth. Over half (51pc) of prisoners surveyed said it was easy to get illicit drugs and the smell of cannabis was everywhere. Although leaders had identified this issue as presenting the highest level of security risk, they had suspended drug testing between August 2023 and January 2024.”
Photo by Mark Rowe, campaign poster by rail operator EMR at Derby station, urging passengers to ‘be kind’ to staff.
