Big increase in assaults on public service workers, says UNISON

Friday 23 October 2015

UNISON Scotland is publishing today Violence at Work: A Survey of UNISON employers and Staff in Scotland 2015. It shows an increase of 1,227 assaults compared with 2014.

The total recorded assaults on public sector workers in Scotland in 2015 was 38,279. This compares to 20,000 in 2006.

UNISON report included a survey, to ask what staff had suffered, how they had felt about it, and what action their managers had taken to try to make sure they were safer in the future. Nine out of ten people who responded to this survey were women, and well over half were age between 45 – 60 years old.

UNISON Members told us

• “patient was verbally abusive and looming over me ” 
• “Bitten, being threatened with 'weapons', head butted, kicked, things been thrown at me, verbal abuse, pushed and shoved, cornered with threatening behaviour”
• “Grabbed, attempted strangle, punched, slapped, glasses broken”
• “an irate male jumped onto myself while I was seated at a computer”
• “Screamed and swore at. Items thrown at me. Kicked punched bitten scratched nipped. Hair pulled. Strangled. Pushed, walking sticked wacked across me."
• “Too many incidents to describe.”

UNISON members also told us they felt undervalued, frightened, afraid, disrespected and sick. One summed it up as being “really upset and in tears most nights after work.”                                 

Worryingly many members accepted it as “Fine. It's my job”. Other said they were “mostly sad for the people that  have resorted to violence not great obviously but its my job and sometimes these things happen, we just have to deal with it”

Scott Donohoe chair of UNISON health and safety committee said, “The abuse of staff is intollerable and no one should have to experience it as part of their work.  This level of violence is simply unacceptable. There is no doubt the recording continues to improve, however the problem is clearly growing, rather than decreasing. 

Public service workers have a right to carry out their duties free from fear of attack. Whatever the difficulties faced by some of those who are assaulting staff we need to ensure special measures such as extra training, additional staffing or sanctions should be introduced by managers. We would urge employers to follow guidelines like the ones set out in the Centre for Healthy Working Lives Managing occupational violence in the workplace”.  

ENDS


Notes

• Report http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/safety/
  ViolentAssaultsonPublicServiceStaff_
  UNISONScotlandFollowUpSurvey_Oct2015.pdf
• UNISON is the biggest trade union in Scotland. We are the UK public services union
• Since 2006, UNISON Scotland has carried out an annual survey of assaults to public sector workers by issuing a Freedom of Information (FoI) request to all employers of UNISON members in the public sector.  This year we included a qualitative survey of members this 2015 survey was carried out from August to October 2015
• For the qualitative data we received responses from health service workers, council staff, education and social work, community and voluntary sector,  librarians and parking attendants. 88% of our respondents were female,  over 60% were aged between 45 and 65; 39% had experienced physical violence, 43% had been threatened with violence, 65% had been verbally assaulted.

NHS porter’s workloads and stress go up as their wages go down, claims UNISON report

Wed 17 Dec 2014

NHS Porters are under pressure and their workloads are going up while the value of their wages are going down. The report also concludes that their training is patchy and there are reports of lack of equipment to allow them to do their job properly.

These are the conclusions of a study UNISON has conducted among NHS porters. This report also suggests a growth in zero hour contracts and widespread reports of understaffing.

The report ‘Breaking Point’ was derived from surveys of Porters across the NHS in Scotland. 

Tam Waterson Chair of UNISON Scotland’s Health Committee said, “This study shows that porters like other workers in the NHS are under stress, working harder but seeing the value of their wages go down. It increases pressure on all NHS workers which impacts on the delivery of services for patients. Porters aren’t the glamorous end of the NHS, but they matter and the NHS is a team effort and we need to take their concerns seriously”

ends

Notes to Editor

1. UNISON is the biggest trade union in Scotland, and UNISON is the biggest trade union in NHS Scotland

2. Full report, Breaking Point,  can be read here: http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/publicworks/BreakingPoint_HospitalPorterSurvey_Dec2014.pdf

Supporting stewards working with stress

Conference backed a South Lanarkshire call for research into the impact on the well-being of stewards given the demands placed on them, with a view to putting in place support mechanisms for stewards and members. #uNDC14

The branch's Margaret Gallacher told delegates that stress is the most common cause of long term absence and there is a proven link between lack of job security and poor mental health.

The reality of sickness absence – shocking survey findings revealed by UNISON Scotland

Date: 28 March 2012

Nearly half of public sector workers polled in a recent UNISON Scotland survey said sickness absence policies encourage staff to turn up ill or injured at work.

A quarter of workers (25%) said they had worked in the last month when too ill to do so, while almost two thirds (60%) said they had worked when ill during the past year.

The findings are the result of a UNISON survey which looks at the reality of sickness absence policies in Scotland and provides further evidence to dispel the myth that public sector workers are prone to taking sick leave.

One in seven (14%) of those polled said the sickness absence policy at their work is “unfair” and more than a quarter (26%) said the policy is badly implemented by management.

Of particular concern was the number of staff who reported ineffective stress policies in the workplace. Almost two thirds (60%) reported that the stress policy in their workplace was not effective, while 28% said there was no stress policy at all.

Scott Donohoe, Chair of UNISON’s Scottish Health and Safety Committee said: 

“Given the sort of jobs UNISON members do we should all be concerned that nurses, care workers, school staff and others are going to work when they are too ill to do so. Of even more concern is the evidence of poor sickness absence policies and little effective action on stress.

“From this survey, it appears that many public service employers in Scotland see managing sickness absence as forcing employees back to work as soon as possible, or disciplining those who are off work more regularly than others.”

Dave Watson, Unison’s Scottish Organiser, said: 

“This survey shows that the reality in Scotland is a long way from the ‘sickie culture’ that is often portrayed.

“Absence rates have been falling over time and it is a myth that there are easy savings from new policies that assume that sickness absence is mostly skiving.

“Positive sickness absence policies are important, but there is most to gain from tackling the causes of absence, particularly stress, and helping people return to work.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

1.     The UNISON Scotland survey polled public sector workers, asking them to share their experiences of the sickness absence policies in their workplace.

2.     The TUC report The Truth About Sickness Absence (2010) took the first detailed look at the public sector sickness myths. They found that public sector workers are more likely than private sector colleagues to work when too ill to do so and less likely than private sector staff to take a ‘sickie’ – a short period off sick. While public sector workers take longer periods off work on absence, many work in stressful and dangerous public sector jobs that can cause injury.

3.     Further information can be found online at:

• UNISON’s online briefing ‘The Reality of Sickness Absence’
• UNISON Health and Safety Zone – sickness absence
• HSE sickness absence
• Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives
• CIPD Absence Management Survey

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