The trend of physical and verbal assaults on rail industry staff is up, but Richard Garland of international rail consultancy Interfleet Technology, believes that the industry can reverse this trend with simple, strategic changes.
Conflict avoidance specialist Richard who is a principal consultant at Interfleet, claims that rail and other transport industry staff could significantly reduce the number of assaults on staff and create a much more effective, positive reporting culture by implementing conflict avoidance measures.
What they say
He says: “A great deal of attention is focused on ensuring that the staff are cared for following verbal and physical assaults, and whilst this is obviously essential, in my opinion, much more focus should be placed on avoiding these incidents in the first place. Transport companies should look to establish management, staff, British Transport Police (BTP) and union representative working groups to handle high profile attacks to show offenders (and employees) that they will not tolerate this behaviour, and will secure prosecutions wherever possible. Another level of this improved co-operative and communicative approach is to encourage staff forums to establish emotive issues and target quick wins.
“Simplified reporting procedures should be created to establish the true number of conflictincidents, as presently there is evidence that people are put off reporting due to time constraints and perceived ‘red tape’. This inertia could also be countered through a review of conflict avoidance training, with staff and management recognising the importance of effective incident reporting as well as re-emphasising actual conflict avoidance techniques.
“There should also be increased involvement from the BTP in day-to-day issues with effective ‘reporting back’ mechanisms employed to show any progress with arrests and prosecutions – demonstrating to employees that reporting leads to positive results.
“Finally, detailed analysis of previous incidents should be undertaken to highlight hotspots and vulnerable groups or individuals. To complement this activity, tools such as personal attack alarms and two way radios and even DNA swab kits should be issued.
“The implementation of these measures will not only help reduce incidents of conflict, but help to improve staff morale and peace of mind, which can in turn lead to reduced absenteeism, happier staff offering a better customer service and employees working more confidently and visibly – leading to greater revenue collection.”
Another key preventative measure is the installation of CCTV, he adds. If potential offenders know of its presence, they will think twice before instigating any attack and in the event of an incident, CCTV can provide key evidence for successful prosecutions and can also aid general passenger security.”
Contact
You can ring Richard Garland on 07736 900 287.
