Suzy’s Charter has been launched by the personal safety charity, the Suzy Lamplugh Trust. It describes the Charter as a framework that can help organisations become fully compliant with personal safety policy and protocols.
For the eight points to the Charter and to download a copy, visit https://www.suzylamplugh.org/national-personal-safety-day-2019-launch-of-suzys-charter-for-workplace-safety. It covers embedding of a workplace personal safety culture; risk assessment, and depending on the assessment the offer of a personal safety alarm; reporting procedures, and training; a way for staff to covertly raise an alarm.
The charity says that it brought together employers, employees and unions such as the GMB, to achieve a solution oriented approach to tacking aggression and violence in the workplace. Suky Bhaker, Acting CEO of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, said: “It is unacceptable that anyone should face violence and aggression in any form whilst at work. We hope this Charter will help employees and employers create safer workplaces and we would encourage all organisations to work through the Charter a step at a time to make these important changes. Suzy Lamplugh Trust are ready to assist any organisation in the implementation of Suzy’s Charter.”
The Trust makes the point that besides loss of productivity, insurance claims, administrative and legal costs and health and rehabilitation costs, loss of quality-of-life to the individual can be even more damaging, with impacts on health and wellbeing, loss of confidence and inability to return to work. The charity quotes one incident faced by a security member of staff: “I challenged a shoplifter in the store car park and he pulled a knife on me and held it to my throat. I was the security colleague on duty and I wasn’t issued with a radio or a personal attack alarm. I now suffer from PTSD, anxiety and depression.”
James Lowman, Chief Executive of the trade body the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) said: “Convenience retailers are committed to ensuring the safety of their staff and have invested millions in crime prevention measures to protect their store and colleagues. We are proud to have collaborated on the development of the Charter, which will be a useful tool for retailers when thinking about the steps they can take to minimise risks and ensure that their staff feel safe and supported. Retailers cannot tackle the problem of violence and abuse alone, they need to be supported by intervention from the Government, police and the justice system to tackle the root causes of offending, ensure that appropriate deterrents are in place and that perpetrators are brought to justice.”
ST20
Arad Parsi of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust is talking about lone worker protection at the first Security TWENTY event of 2020, ST20 Birmingham, at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole NEC Hotel on Thursday, February 20. It’s free to attend, register at https://professionalsecurity.co.uk/security-events-and-conferences/security-twenty-home/birmingham/.
