Jim Gannon picks up from the August edition of Professional Security the word by Elizabeth France on research by the Security Industry Authority into violence and abuse against security personnel.
Although the figures outlined give serious reasons for concern in the security industry, my enquiries revealed we are not alone as victims in this scourge against society. The last two decades have witnessed a steady increase in violence towards all employees and this has prompted a number of organisations to issue guidance booklets, to assist employers in dealing with this issue and to help protect their staff.
Health & Safety at Work Act 1974
The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 places a legal obligation upon all employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees. Employers must assess the risks to employees and make arrangements for their health and safety by effective, planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review. The risks covered should, where appropriate, include the need to protect employees from exposure to reasonably foreseeable violence. The Health & Safety Executive has produced an excellent ‘Guide for Employers’ booklet which is available free from www.hse.gov.uk.
Retail statistics
When one starts to examine the background to preventing violence against retail staff it is interesting to note that no separate stats are kept about violence against staff in the retail industry but The British Retail Consortium (BRC) annual crime surveys have shown a steady growth in incidents of violence and abuse towards their staff. In the latest Home Office commercial victimisation survey 20pc of retailers reported that they had been victims of violence.
Definition of violence
The definition of violence used by HSE is: any incident in which a person is abused, threatened, or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work. This wide definition is intended to make it clear that staff do not have to tolerate assault, verbal abuse, threats, intimidation or any other type of abuse as a part of their employment.
Where do employers stand?
Violence against staff in services and in the public and private sectors is a serious issue for employers. Keeping staff safe and providing them with proper training to help them manage conflict more effectively is now important for managers and staff. This is not something that employers should ignore as the consequences could be dire. In retail the four main causes prompting violence, threats, intimidation and abuse are customer thieves, customer disputes, robbery and payment disputes. Other factors affecting not only retail but the public and private sectors are incidents when dealing with someone who is mentally ill, those suffering from the effects of alcohol and drugs and rowdy youths or gangs.
Guide
The National Association of Business Crime Partnerships (NABCP) offer a good practice guide for retailers using their by line ‘By Business for Business’. Its content is very informative and can be obtained at www.businesscrime.org.uk
SIA research
Referring back to the SIA research document as reviewed by Elizabeth France in August, the SIA say they have developed a strategy to reduce violence associated with private security, be this violence directed towards security operatives whilst they are doing their jobs or violence by security operatives themselves. This strategy aims to identify those measures which will help to reduce violence and associated deaths and injuries, in the night time economy and elsewhere. As a result, violence reduction has become a top priority in their Corporate Plan for 2015/16 and beyond.
The SIA also states that the issues that contribute to violence are complex and they cannot provide a solution by ourselves. Some stem from issues to do with society itself, a perceived lack of respect for authorities by some and a propensity to use violence on a frequent basis of a minority within society. However, the SIA says it and others can make a difference. The SIA says it will play its part alongside partners, using its influence and our powers to enable and to support the private security industry in reducing violence.
Its aim is to improve public protection by reducing the risks from violence in the night time economy.
It says that it will work with the industry and with partners to:
•promote voluntary harm reduction measures;
•intervene directly or through referrals to third parties to target high risk individuals, businesses and venues;
•prevent harm by setting standards for individuals and businesses that drive violence reduction; and
•Inform change in the industry by gathering and using information effectively to underpin our interventions and those of partner agencies.
Better understanding
The Security Industry Authority and their partners view violence as a significant problem. However, the evidence base upon which to form these views has been patchy. So, an important early action in the implementation of the violence reduction strategy has been to commission some external research, to provide this evidence base. The SIA engaged a specialist research company, CRD, to assess the nature and extent of violence in relation to their regulatory regime and to establish what can be done to reduce it.
The recommendations include what can be done by the SIA and what can be done by others, but it is clear from the findings that multi-organisation responses and bodies working together is a prominent feature of the way forward. Further SIA-commissioned research into equality and diversity issues associated with the private security industry has reached conclusions which overlap with these. They will consider the findings of both reports.
Survey summary
Independent research was conducted on their behalf earlier this year and comprised of three parts: a review of existing literature; a qualitative study involving interviews and focus groups with 81 people working in, or with a direct interest in, violence; an online survey with 891 working in the private security industry.
Almost all security staff participating in the survey reported that they had been victims of violence in the workplace. Workplace violence occurred in and around venues and services in the night time economy and in public places and retail environments, with seemingly no regional variations. Interviewing revealed that operatives considered themselves expected to deal with significant levels of violence as part of their role.
The police officers interviewed regarded violence as a serious problem. They expressed a largely positive view of operatives’ attempts to manage violence, and saw the private security industry as a key partner that had become more professional.
Venue owners in the night time economy acknowledged the problem of violence, but were less willing to tackle the problem and tended to play down the issue.
Licensing authorities were willing to use their powers to impose premises conditions relating to security.
Overall impressions of the SIA were largely positive: most saw the SIA as having played a part in improving standards in the private security industry. Licensing was believed to have played a major part in improving the quality and standing of security staff, particularly door supervisors.
The general belief was that the SIA could be more involved in promoting measures to reduce violence, though some respondents, especially security staff, were unsure how this could reach them.
Recording of violence appeared to be patchy at best; there is no single source of data giving an accurate picture of how the security industry is affected by violence. Some police forces, security companies and venue managers kept information on violent incidents, primarily for their own purposes. There were examples of good practice but only limited sharing of data.
Training was regarded as highly important in equipping security staff with the skills to do their work safely. The requirement to do training to acquire an SIA licence was widely seen as sound in principle, although concerns emerged about the breadth of topics covered, inconsistent standards between training providers, and the lack of refresher training.
Recommendations
A number of measures were suggested as ways of preventing and reducing violence, falling into three broad categories:
1.strategic measures relating to the planning of environments (especially for the night time economy)
2.design and management of venues and premises, including retail and public places
3.tactics and equipment used by security staff and venues.
Of the suggestions for equipment, there was some interest in breathalysers and ID scanning in particular. There was also support for other tactical measures such as taxi marshalling, extended use of CCTV, better venue management, improved relationships between venues and security staff, and better training for security staff and bar staff.
Multi-agency working came across consistently as a key approach in addressing violence: there were numerous examples of locations where this has had an impact; and many in the security industry and the authorities regarded it as a central component of addressing violence.
Overview
The SIA research document is a comprehensive one giving them a great deal of information to work with. This no doubt will take time to effectively make a difference to where we find ourselves. Violence and abuse in the National Health Service against their personnel, opens up another wide spectrum of research and information which is being actioned. Of course we should not overlook the violence and abuse levelled at the police, fire and ambulance services, which clearly shows the deterioration of public attitudes toward those people employed to actually serve the public. It is a sad world we live in, where we have to legislate simply to make people respect each other’s presence in the free society we enjoy in the UK.
