Everyone deserves to feel safe in the workplace but, for many, that’s sadly not the case. Alarmingly, a landmark study conducted into perceptions of personal safety at work found that 6.8 million employees worry about their safety on a weekly basis. Disturbingly, many employers underestimate the level of concern, or are unaware of it completely.
In the healthcare sector specifically, one in four employees worry about their safety at least once every week. And, while safety concerns are rife across all industries, health and care workers are 94% more likely to worry about their safety than those in white-collar jobs.
59% of health and care workers are concerned about the dangers of entering the home of a member of the public, a common social care job requirement that poses additional risk.
Only very recently, two companies were fined a combined total of more than £400,000 after staff working at a South Wales mental health hospital were subjected to violent attacks by patients over a three-year period.
HSE Principal Inspector, Anne Marie Orrells, has pointed out that care providers should have adequate arrangements to effectively plan and organise preventative measures to prevent violence towards staff and other patients.
But is that happening across the board?
The reality is that public-facing industries such as healthcare are facing increased aggression from frustrated and angry patients and their families. 74% of health and care workers, including doctors, nurses, carers, and social workers, are concerned about aggressive behaviour from patients, while 44% say they have received verbal or physical abuse from a member of the public.
This growing sense of feeling, and being, unsafe is naturally having a negative impact on job satisfaction. Results show that those who experience a negative work-related event are less satisfied in every aspect of their role, not just pay but also career development, wellbeing and safety. It’s simple, if people don’t feel safe, they aren’t happy – it’s a basic need, a human right if you will.
So, employers are also feeling the impact. Unsurprisingly, negative experiences involving safety issues often contribute to decisions to leave a job. In fact, one in four have left a job due to a safety concern in the last five years. This is bad news for businesses and policy makers across the UK currently facing a recruitment and retention challenge in many front-line care roles.
Reviewing safety concerns and putting solutions in place to improve protection increases job satisfaction, employer brand and staff retention. We need to shift the dial on the importance of social care employee personal safety by supporting owners and operators to act in the best way possible and we’re calling on employers and the Government to work together.
The 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act made it a minimum legal requirement for employers to actively protect the health, safety and welfare of their staff. This legislation was further bolstered by The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations Act of 1999, which requires employers to carry out assessments to mitigate any health and safety risks.
The reasonableness of a protective measure can be determined by considering the potential risk of harm to the employee compared to the cost and practicality of putting the safety measure in place.
Compliant employers follow the rules. But it’s the smartest employers that take the extra step, realising that healthy, happy, motivated, and focused staff who feel safe and appreciated can improve overall business performance. They understand that achieving this may require going beyond existing basic compliance.
Working with an increasing number of businesses across all work sectors, including social care, who are taking action to protect their employees both in and out of the workplace, 24/7, Crimestoppers has partnered with Peoplesafe, to encourage people to ‘Step Up. Stay Safe.’ – calling on all UK employers to act. Some care providers already have, and are going beyond, the basic legal duty of care to provide reassurance to employees in and outside of working hours. It’s just one way to demonstrate a desire and willingness to support their wellbeing. But only by providing greater protection and peace of mind through recognised standards across the board, do I believe we can make a genuine difference.
Find out how you can step up to keep your staff safer at https://crimestoppers-uk.org/news-campaigns/campaigns/step-up-stay-safe