1.8.8 Violence against Staff Policy

SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER

This policy covers the prevention of violence and aggression towards Children's Social Care staff by service users and members of the public, and outlines the response to any incidents of violence or aggression that do occur.

This chapter was updated in January 2011 to include guidance on reporting incidents of verbal and physical abuse (See Section 6, Reporting incidents of verbal and physical abuse)

RELEVANT LEGISLATION AND GUIDANCE

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992

London Child Protection Procedures

1. Introduction

Violence and aggression at work is defined by the Health and Safety Executive as any incident in which an employee is abused, threatened, or assaulted in circumstances arising out of the course of their employment. This violence and aggression may include:

physical assault
threatening words or behaviour
serious or persistent harassment
verbal abuse

This policy outlines ways to prevent violence or aggression towards Children's Social Care staff by service users, their families, or members of the public. It also outlines Bromley CSC's response to possible or actual violent behaviour perpetrated on any CSC staff member by service users, their families, or members of the public. (Incidents of violence or aggression by or between employees will be covered under disciplinary procedures.)

2. Policy Aims and Objectives

Bromley CSC is opposed to violence and aggression in any form. Policy and practice will seek to minimise the potential risks of violence and aggression to employees and staff will be supported if they experience any possible or actual violence in the course of their work.

Bromley CSC recognises that employees may be reluctant, for a variety of reasons, to report incidents of violent or aggressive behaviour. Bromley CSC emphasises that the reporting of incidents of violence and aggression at work will be viewed positively as a method of assessing the extent of violence and the risks to employees. It will not be taken to imply a failure by the employee concerned or of other employees or of any other person responsible for the management of the workplace concerned.

Bromley CSC considers employees to be responsible in their turn for taking reasonable care of themselves and others. Employees are responsible for cooperating with their employer with regards to health and safety procedures, and for adhering to the control measures identified within the risk assessment for particular activities.

Bromley CSC aims:

To support good practice guidelines for staff in the prevention and management of aggression and violence.
To ensure that staff are made aware of the good practice guidelines and their responsibility to follow these guidelines.
To ensure that incidents of violence or aggression are reported in order that high risk areas are identified and appropriate responses can be developed.
To achieve a level of understanding and awareness among managers and employees of the effects of violence and aggression.
To offer appropriate support to employees who are involved in violent or aggressive incidents and develop awareness that employees who are victims of a violent or aggressive act may suffer from emotional and psychological trauma in addition to physical injuries.

3. Legislative Framework

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and good employment practice give employers a responsibility to provide, as far as is reasonably practicable, conditions of working that are conducive to the prevention of and safe management of violence. The Act also places a responsibility on employees to take reasonable care of their own health and safety and that of their colleagues. This includes complying with their employer's heath and safety measures.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 gives employers a duty to assess risk to employees and to devise, where possible, measure that provide a safe system of work and a safe workplace for employees.

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases, and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) gives employers a duty to notify their enforcing authority in the event of an accident at work to any employee resulting in death, major injury, or incapacity for normal work for three or more days. This includes any act of non-consensual violence perpetrated on a person at work.

4. Roles and Responsibilities

The Central Safety Unit is responsible for:

Ensuring appropriate support for staff exposed to aggression and violence
Collating incident reports and distributing statistics to the organisation

Senior and line managers are responsible for:

Making sure that risk assessments are carried out and reviewed regularly
Keeping a record of service users or associates with known history of violent behaviour (this information must be kept confidential in accord with the Date Protection Act)
Making sure that appropriate support is given to staff involved in any incident of violence and aggression.

Employees are responsible for:

Following rules and procedures designed for safe working
Taking reasonable care of themselves and other people who may be affected by their actions
Reporting any concerns about potentially violent situations or the environment in which they work
Taking part in any training designed to meet the requirements of the policy

5. Preventing Violence and Aggression Towards Staff

5.1 Risk Assessment

Under Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, there is a statutory requirement to assess work related risk to staff. This includes violence and/or aggression by service users or members of the public towards staff undertaking home visits or other lone working activities. The objective of risk management is to reduce the likelihood of incidents occurring that could have significant consequences for staff.

Suitable and sufficient risk assessments must be in place and shared with all employees whose position puts them at risk of violence from service users or members of the public. Risk assessments can be carried out on a service user, on a task or activity, or on a site. Thus a risk assessment can be either "generic", where it applies to an activity undertaken by a number of different members of staff, or it can be tailored to a particular individual, activity, or site.

Managers should carry out risk assessments on all situations that carry a known risk of violence (see Appendix 4 - Lone Working Staff Safety Checklists) and it should be considered whether additional control measures may improve safety (please use Appendix 2 - Record of Risk Assessment).

When carrying out the risk assessment, managers and social workers should consider the following:

What is the hazard?
Who is at risk?
What is the likelihood of the hazard occurring?
What might be the consequences of the hazard occurring?
Can it be completely avoided?
If it cannot be avoided, how can its impact be minimised?
What control measures can be introduced?
Have staff been educated about the hazard and given appropriate training?
Is the hazard being regularly monitored and reviewed?

Risk assessments should be reviewed on a yearly basis or when there has been a change in circumstances e.g. an incident..

Once risks have been identified, suitable control measures should be implemented to reduce levels of risk to as low as reasonably practicable.

Risk assessments on individual service users

A risk assessment must be completed on a service user by the social worker and their line manager where:

There are known concerns
Following an incident

The risk assessment should describe the incident/behaviours giving cause for concern, along with dates, possible triggers, and the outcome.

The social worker should discuss concerns with other professionals involved with the family, including any previous social worker. The team manager and social worker should ensure that any incidents of concern involving workers from any agency have been entered on the chronology. The service user may already have a "consult file" flag on their record (see Section 5.2).

The social worker should discuss risks and agree a plan with their line manager before carrying out the initial visit. The plan should be recorded on the service user's case record.

The manager and social worker should ensure that the social worker is aware of how to defuse certain situations (e.g. talk quietly and calmly - see Appendix 4 - Lone Working Staff Safety Checklists). They should consider whether it is appropriate to take someone else on the visit; they should consider whether the visit should be carried out with the police.

Reviews of risk assessments on individual service users

Possible triggers for reviewing risk assessments on individual clients include:

Applications to the court for an Emergency Protection Order, Interim Care Order, etc.
A Section 47 investigation
If a child becomes looked after
During the time leading up to and from a Child Protection Conference
In relation to contact arrangements
An adult being asked to leave the household
Violent or other similar incidents in the home
The sharing or reports with other agencies

5.2 "Consult File" Flag for Service Users who Post a Risk of Violence to Staff

Where a service user is known to have a history of violence or aggression towards staff members, the Group Manager is responsible for creating and maintaining a "Consult File" flag on CareFirst. Where staff believe a client may be violent, such concerns cannot be registered.

A senior nominated person in the organisation should be responsible for making all decisions on whether to flag a file. When making a decision, the person should take into account:

The nature of the threat
The degree of violence used or threatened
Whether or not the incident indicates a credible risk of violence to staff

The Group Manager should normally inform individuals who have been identified as being potentially violent soon after the decision has been made to add the marker to their record. The Group Manager should write the service user a letter setting out:

The nature of the threat or incident that led to the marker
That their records will show the marker
Who you may share this information with
When you will remove the marker or review the decision to add the marker

There may be extreme cases where the Division believes that informing the individual would in itself create a substantial risk of violent reaction from them. In these cases, it may not be sensible to inform the individual of the marker.

The wording of the flag has been changed from "Consult File - Potentially Violent Situation" to "Consult File". This change is necessary for reasons of confidentiality.

When accessing the CareFirst system for client information, any user accessing records at the Customer level will automatically see a "Consult File" warning when a file has been flagged. All workers must consult the CareFirst system before interviewing a client. This will identify any areas where caution may be required.

Below is the procedure for flagging a file with a "Consult File" flag on CareFirst.

1.	An Incident Report Form - AR3 (Appendix 1 - Incident, Report Form) must have been completed after an incident of violence or aggression and sent to the Central Safety Unit.
2.	The Group Manager must complete a risk assessment on the client to be flagged (use Appendix 2 - Record of Risk Assessment) and fill out Appendix 3 - Risk Assessment Flag, Potentially Violent Service User. The Risk Assessment Flag form should be placed on the front of the inside cover of the client's paper file and a high-visibility sticker placed on the outside cover of the file as a warning.
3.	The types of 'violence' that should be entered are categorised below: Actual: Violence has taken place Threat: A threat has been made either in person, by letter or by telephone Intimidation: Staff felt intimidated by either the environment or by clients Other agency warning: Staff have been advised by another local authority or agency that the client has a potential for violence.
4.	The Information Manager will run 6-monthly reports for Group Managers to review each record flagged. It is important that the Appendix 2 - Record of Risk Assessment and Appendix 3 - Risk Assessment Flag, Potentially Violent Service User are kept updated to substantiate leaving the 'flag' in place, if required.
5.	The 'flag' will be removed from the record if there is no response from the Group Manager to the review report.
6.	It is imperative that all violent incidents are reported to enable a file to continue to be 'flagged' for the future safety and protection of all staff.
7.	Information about flagged files may be shared on a "need to know" basis with other relevant agencies/parties, e.g. housing officers.
8.	Staff must consult the CareFirst system for advice on control or preventative measures before interviewing any client who has been flagged.

5.3 Information Sharing

There must be sharing of information between departments and outside agencies to ensure that staff are not put at risk by not having the information they need to make reasoned judgments on safety.

Certain legislation and guidelines are in place to manage the balance between protecting the need of staff to have access to sufficient information to make reasoned judgements on their safety and protecting the rights of service users to privacy.

There has been some concerns that systems such as CareFirst could contravene data protection legislation. It should be recognised that for violent acts, the Data Protection Act is overruled by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998: section 115 of the Act provides legal power for any person to legally disclose information to a chief police officer, policy authority, probation service, local authority or health authority (or persons acting on their behalf), when there is thought to be substantial chance of violence occurring.

Information disclosed should be accurate, relevant, kept securely, and not held longer than is necessary. It is essential to distinguish between rumour and fact. If any information is recorded which is "hearsay", then this should be clearly stated.

Bear in mind that the individual had a legal right of access to receive a copy of the data held about them.

5.4 Impact of Violence on Work With the Family

The 2006 London Child Protection Procedures has a chapter (10) entitled "Working with Uncooperative Families", which suggests that violence and aggression is best understood as an extreme of uncooperative behaviour, that serves to avoid becoming involved with professionals. It suggests that the more uncooperative a family member is, the more likely that the cause is psychological. This chapter is useful to read in full, as it provides a framework for minimising the impact of violence on work with the family.

This chapter suggests that workers should try to understand the reasons for the violent or aggressive behaviour and think about the impact on themselves, on the child/young person, and on multi-agency work.

The chapter suggests that the worker may find it difficult to admit how bad being the target of violence or aggression makes them feel and might lead them to either:

Change their behaviour to avoid conflict, which may blind them or desensitise them to the impact and risks to themselves and to the child/young person;

or
Distort the level of threat and develop a "fight" response, which may increase the tension between them and the family

The impact on multi-agency work may be to split the members of the team around the child, leading to a breakdown in interagency collaboration.

The chapter suggests that it in order to minimise the impact of violence on the work, the worker should try to develop a warm but formal relationship with the family. The work should always maintain a clear focus, on how to achieve the best outcomes for the child/young person. The worker should confront uncooperative behaviour within this context of improving the chances of a favourable outcome for the child/young person.

The chapter suggests that the worker should draw up a written contract with the family. The contract should be very clear about how the worker experiences the family, that the behaviour is unacceptable, and that the worker is factoring it into their risk assessment with regard to the child/young person.

The worker should also ensure there is regular discussion of the issue with the other agencies involved and that a clear agreement is developed detailing each professional's role. This agreement should be made known to all agencies and to the family.

The worker should discuss the issue regularly in supervision.

5.5 Monitoring

Heads of Service should establish monitoring arrangements that will ensure that trends in reported incidents of violence to employees at work are identified and appropriate responses considered. If a violent or aggressive incident occurs, risk assessments will be reviewed immediately to take into account the circumstances surrounding the incident, to prevent or minimise the risk of a further occurrence.

Where specific action is taken to eliminate or reduce the risk of violence to staff, the success of this action shall be monitored and evaluated. The monitoring arrangements, in addition to those legally required, shall include submitting regular reports to the Central Safety Unit.

The Central Safety Unit will submit an annual report on the number and nature of reported incidents of violence or aggression at work to the appropriate Safety Committees, as part of the general monitoring arrangements.

5.6 Multi-agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA)

The police and the probation service have a statutory responsibility to establish, in consultation with the partner agencies, Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) under sections 67 and 68 of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000. The purpose of MAPPA meetings is to work in partnership by:

Sharing information about those considered to pose a significant risk to public safety with LBB staff who come into contact with them through provision of service
Agreeing appropriate inter-agency criteria for consideration at the MAPPA
Developing and monitoring effective risk management plans to minimize risk from sex offenders and other individuals who pose a significant risk to children and other vulnerable individuals.
The Jigsaw Unit at Bromley Police Station maintains the register of relevant offenders and convene a six weekly MAPPA meeting. These meeting normally involve representatives from the Police, probation service, health and mental health authorities, education, housing, Youth Offending Team, and social care services.

For further information on the MAPPA scheme, please contact Pearl Earle in Quality Assurance, tel no. 020 8461 7807.

5.7 Training

The Learning and Development Team (020 8313-4692) can advise on courses available. Specific training courses are available to all staff to increase the range of skills and options available to them if faced with threats of violence or actual violence. Areas of training include:

Dealing with verbal aggression
Understanding body language
Reducing tension and recognising danger signs
Skills in predicting potentially violent situations and assessing risk
Skills in preventing the escalation of potentially violent situations
Valid responses or actions when violence does occur

6. Reporting incidents of verbal and physical abuse

A form for the reporting of incidents of verbal or physical abuse, within CYP, called the AR4 form was developed in November 2010. The aim is to encourage and simplify reporting and to help the department analyse areas of high risk and to reduce such risks in the future. A review of the effectiveness of the new procedure will be carried out at the end of April 2011. This is particularly important in the area of Children's Social Care where there has been very little reporting of these types of incidents.

All CYP employees excluding school staff but including temporary/agency staff and contractors working on our premises or delivering our services should use this form.
The AR4 form must be completed as soon as possible after the accident/incident and passed to your Line Manager.
Your Line Manager will review the incident report and determine whether any further information or an AR3 form is required.
Managers are required to take any necessary remedial action as soon as possible. and to send a copy of the form to:

Central Safety Unit
East Wing (E21)
Civic Centre
Stockwell Close
Bromley BR1 3UH

E-mail to central.safety@bromley.gov.uk
Any physical or verbal incident that is discriminatory in nature, should be detailed on the existing AR3 form
If you require any further advice on the use of either form, please call the Central Safety Unit on 0208 313 4386 / 7584.
Detailed advice on accident reporting is also available on OneBromley.
You can complete either a manual or an electronic form. Remember to save it to your folders before you send it on.

7. Response to a Violent Incident

7.1 Immediate Response

The worker involved in the incident should report it to their line manager as soon as possible after the incident has occurred. The manager should immediately ensure the worker is safe and receives any necessary medical treatment. The manager should explore with the worker whether the police need to be informed.

The worker should be given as much chance to talk about the incident as they need. The line manager should identify with the worker who initially they wish to talk to - for example a friend or family member or a colleague.

7.2 Reporting and Recording Procedures

Within one hour of the worker reporting the incident, the line manager should inform the relevant Head of Service. The Head of Service should then notify the Assistant Director for Children's Social Care, also within one hour of the worker reporting the incident.

Within 2 days of the incident occurring, the worker and their manager should complete Parts A and B of form AR3 (see Appendix 1 - Incident, Report Form). The worker and manager should then jointly discuss what further steps should be taken; for example:

Whether the worker needs some time off work
The worker's options in terms of legal redress, compensation
Whether the worker wishes to transfer on a temporary or permanent basis to another post
Whether the worker wishes to receive counselling

In the vast majority of cases, the manager should try to respond to the worker in a positive and supportive way even if it appears the worker might have contributed to the incident to some extent. In the extremely unlikely event that the worker's account indicates serious misconduct on their own part, the manager should end the interview and offer the employee normal rights under the disciplinary procedures.

Within 3 days of the incident occurring, the line manager should complete Part C of form AR3, then send it to the Central Safety Unit and pass a copy to their Head of Service.

All incidents should be reported to Legal Services, who can offer advice on how to proceed. In certain circumstances the Council may be able to consider taking out an injunction against an offender.

Police

The Council may report an incident to the police on the recommendation of Legal Services, in consultation with the worker concerned and their line manager. The worker may also report the incident to the police directly.

The details of any police officers and/or witnesses attending the scene should be noted. These details can assist the Legal Department officers in gathering all available evidence for the consideration of a prosecution by the Council.

If the Council has reported the incident to the police and the worker involved in the incident has to attend a police station to give a written statement, (s)he should be accompanied by their line manager.

7.3 Support to the Worker Involved in the Incident

Common reactions to having been the victim of violence include:

feelings of disillusionment, insecurity, worthlessness
irritability
taking out one's anger on others
wanting to change jobs
blaming oneself for the incident
loss of motivation

Managers and supervisors should be sensitive to the worker's need to talk about the incident and should take care to avoid any impression that this is not acceptable or expected. The worker should be given the opportunity to talk about the incident as much as they feel they need to. The LBB Counselling Service is available to staff who require additional personal support. Referral would usually be via the line manager; however, staff may contact OHU directly if they wish. The Occupational Health Unit (OHU) can be contacted on 020 8313-4383 for further advice.

The worker should be given formal verbal or written acknowledgment of the incident by someone at management level.

7.4 Time off Work

If the worker needs to take time off work as a result of the incident, this will normally be treated as an industrial injury, i.e., it may not count against normal sick pay entitlement. The normal reporting procedure in relation to sickness absence must be observed. Further advice on this matter is available from the HR department. The Central Safety Unit should also be informed if a member of staff is absent from work for more than three days (including weekends) due to an incident at work, as this will have to be reported to the HSE under RIDDOR. The Central Safety Unit will do this on your behalf but an AR3 must be completed.

6.5 Communication With Other Services Involved With Family

The manager should ensure that all other services involved with the family are notified of any incident involving threatening or violent behaviour towards a staff member.

Please see Section 5.3

7.6 Debriefing

The manager should ensure that members of staff are fully briefed and given sufficient information concerning the incident and its implications. These members of staff could include: other team members, duty workers, staff off duty at the time of the incident, and any other staff likely to come into contact with the perpetrator. They could also include members of staff from other agencies involved with the client. The member of staff involved in the incident may or may not want to be present at such a debriefing.

The process of debriefing may have two functions: to communicate the details of what happened and to provide emotional support. Emotional debriefing aims to recognise potential stress, acknowledge it as a normal response, and provide a supportive and structured setting to allow people to cope more effectively.

The debriefing should occur within 48 hours. It may be useful to:

discuss feelings about the incident and its consequences
address the implications of the incident for future practice
identify training needs
discuss any necessary redistribution of work
reconsider the workplace procedures and recommend specific issues to be addressed in the next review.

It may be appropriate for a written report to be prepared for staff to study, drawing attention to particular issues of significance.

7.7 Investigation of Incident

The investigation of violent incidents helps to safeguard against future occurrences and to determine what remedial/follow-up action should be taken.

Managers should take time to thoroughly investigate:

Significant incidents or near-misses, however rare
Minor incidents and near misses that occur on a frequent basis.

Within the investigative process, managers may need to:

Visit the scene promptly
Record physical details including relevant observation
Gather available information
Consider whether the incident requires an independent person to investigate. If so, contact the Central Safety Unit for advice
Interview all persons involved
Review existing or complete initial risk assessment
Draft report

This investigation should be done jointly with other partnership organisations if appropriate.

7.8 Response to Perpetrator

An incident of threatening or violent behaviour towards a staff member can range in seriousness from minor to severe. In response to incidents that do not warrant reporting to the police, the manager should notify the perpetrator of what is considered unacceptable behaviour and its possible consequences (prosecution and/or withdrawal of services).

If the behaviour continues, the Group Manager will give the perpetrator a written warning with details of the policy on the possibility of prosecution and/or withdrawal of services. This warning will be signed by the Director of Children and Young People Services.

If the unacceptable behaviour persists, as a last resort services may have to be withheld. The implications of this in terms of any statutory duty to continue to deliver services would need to be considered, possibly in conjunction with other services involved.

7.9 Review of Risk Assessments

A factual record of the event and follow-up actions should be made on the service user's file. Consideration should be given to flagging the service user's file on CareFirst.

Please see Section 5.1 and Section 5.2.

7.10 Return to Duty

Where an employee has been absent from work following a reported violent incident, it is a managerial responsibility to ensure that the employee is well enough to return to work and to determine how best to support the employees' healing process.

If attendance at work is continued, or on return from absence, the employee's workloads should be reduced for a while or the return to work staggered.

Prior to the employee returning to work, the line manager, in consultation with HR, shall consider:

Whether it would be appropriate to refer the employee to Occupational Health either prior to or immediately following his/her return to work
Whether the employee should be temporarily transferred to other duties
Whether it would be appropriate for the employee to return initially on a part-time basis
Whether refresher training is required as part of returning to work
Whether there should be a temporary restriction in the range of duties being undertaken by the employee
Whether duties/tasks could be redesigned to help reduce the likelihood of an incident reoccurring

If any such measures are undertaken, they should where possible be fully discussed and agreed with the employee.

The appropriate managers should ensure that employees returning to work under these circumstances are provided with adequate support and assistance during the specified settling-in period.

Under no circumstances should the employee incur any loss of contractual earnings during the period they are away from work or have recently returned to work with increased support/restricted duties.

Should an employee request a transfer to other duties, such a request should be considered sympathetically taking into account all the circumstances.

7.11 Legal Action

Where the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decide to take criminal proceedings, the employee will not need to take any further action unless they wish to pursue compensation for any loss they have suffered. In that case, they should ask that the prosecutor to apply for a compensation order on their behalf.

If the CPS decides not to prosecute a person who has assaulted a member of staff, it is possible that the Council may bring a prosecution, or that the employee could take forward their own independent prosecution. The employee may also take their own proceedings in the Civil Courts for compensation and/or an injunction. In both cases, the Council can cooperate in proceedings where possible but cannot act on behalf of the employee or provide advice. The employee would need to contact a solicitor to conduct any proceedings on their behalf.

7.12 Compensation

The worker involved in the incident may be able to apply to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. The application should be made within a year of the circumstances giving rise to the injury. Forms and guidance are available from CABs and law centres, or directly from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, Tay House, 300 Bath Street, Glasgow, Tel 0141 331 2726.

If the violent incident was perpetrated by the driver of a vehicle, compensation may be available from the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB). Further details of the conditions and the requirements can be obtained from a solicitor.

8. Useful Contacts

Central Safety Unit
020 8313-4386
020 8461-7584

Legal
020 8313-4447

Employee Relations
020 8313-4387

Insurance
020 8313-4298

Occupational Health Unit
020 8313-4383

Bromley Area Police
01689 891 1212

Victim Support (National Office)
020 7735-9166

Appendix 1 - Incident, Report Form (AR3)

Click here to view Incident, Report Form (AR3)

Appendix 2 - Record of Risk Assessment

Click here to view Record of Risk Assessment

Appendix 3 - Risk Assessment Flag, Potentially Violent Service User

Click here to view Risk Assessment Flag, Potentially Violent Service User

Appendix 4 - Lone Working Staff Safety Checklists

Click here to view Lone Working Staff Safety Checklists

Appendix 5 - Verbal and Physical Incident Report Form (AR4)

Click here to view the Verbal and Physical Incident Report Form (AR4)

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