Conflict Management

Conflict Management - Useful Information

Workplace Violence

Violence in the workplace is a serious concern to many employees throughout the UK. A recent trial, which saw police officers appointed to provide a permanent presence in hospitals, was just one high profile example of a working environment which has turned to extreme measures to protect its employees from regular violence.

With over 800,000 incidents of violence in the workplace reported in England and Wales each year (the trend has been in slight decline since 1991), the Health & Safety Executive refer to the situation as being 'at a worrying level'.

Violence towards employees be it harassment, aggression or physical violence, harms businesses through loss of productivity, increased employee absenteeism, high staff turnover and in extreme cases can be one of the key factors in businesses failing. Even in established organisations such as the NHS, the effects of violence in the workplace produces a sense of demoralisation and can de-motivate even this most dedicated of workforces.

A survey highlighted that 1 in every 22 NHS workers had experienced some level of violence in the workplace within the year 2005 alone. That is a total of 60,385 reported assaults by patients or their relatives, on the doctors, nurses and support staff that are there to help them and protect them from further harm.

The Health & Safety Executive definition of violence is:

"Any incident, in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work."

For employers who recognise that aggression and violence is affecting their employees, the response can often seem like a 'catch 22'. Increase the physical security, place barriers between your employees and the customers and the threat of violence may reduce; but the feeling of imprisonment your employees feel and the sense of distrust generated amongst your customers, can have equally negative consequences.

The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 states:

"Employers have a legal duty of care to ensure, so far as is reasonably practical, the health and safety and welfare at work of their employees."

At Beyond The Blue, we believe that empowering your employees is the most positive approach. Our Conflict Management & Resolution Course (CMR) is designed specifically to meet the needs of your workplace and will allow your employees to go about their work with a renewed sense of confidence in their ability to defuse conflict before / when it arises, rather than waiting for it to escalate and then having to call for assistance.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) regularly provide guidance on assessing the risks from workplace violence and suitable solutions for different working environments. Our Consultancy Service - Solutions to Workplace Violence can help you meet your statutory requirements and conduct a risk assessment for your business. Our approach is to look beyond the obvious and provide innovative and effective solutions. However the one thing all the experts agree on, is that training should be the foundation of any solution to workplace violence.

Information provided by the HSE which we recommend to our clients includes:

Managing work-related violence in licensed and retail premises (pdf document) - October 2008
A Safer Place to Work - Protecting NHS Hospital and Ambulance Staff from Violence and Aggression (pdf document) - March 2003

There are working environments where the risks are such that conflict management skills alone may not be sufficient to protect employees, customers and the business from workplace violence. Some working environments require employees to be able to restrain or escort and remove aggressive or violent persons. For these our Physical Intervention Course (PI) provides break-away and disengagement personal safety techniques; these allow your employees to remove themselves from the situation, creating time and space and to call in help from suitably qualified colleagues, security staff or the police. Where employees would as part of their role or job description be expected to restrain, escort or remove an individual, our physical intervention techniques allow them to do so in a professional low-impact way without the use of force or out-dated pain-compliance techniques.

Many employers consider physical intervention training a step too far. Some believe it sends a negative message about the working environment or justifies the use of force. However where employees face a real threat of violence in their workplace this reluctance can actually be more damaging than the threat itself. Our Physical Intervention - The Risks page deals with this issue in more depth and provides the opinion of many sector experts including; the BIIAB, Security Industry Authority, Police, HSE, The Law Society and the NHS Trust.

The emphasis of our training is always on avoiding conflict. Most people have no interest in physically restraining or disabling an aggressive party and their only objective is to resolve the problem and protect themselves and others from harm.

The Health & Safety Executive recommends:

"Train your employees so that they can spot the early signs of aggression and either avoid it or cope with it.

Make sure they fully understand any systems you have set up for their protection.

Provide employees with any information they might need to identify clients with a history of violence or to anticipate factors which might make violence more likely."

Many sectors face workplace violence to one degree or another. Empowering employees goes a long way to protecting them, your customers and your business from the worst effects of this unnecessary burden. Workplace violence is estimated to cost business throughout the UK hundreds of millions of pounds every year.

We provide a number of different training solutions to help our clients deal effectively with the level of violence that they face in their particular workplace. These include;

If you are already aware which course would best suit your requirements, further specific information is available on each course in the 'Course FAQs' section. This provides the answers to the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on all our courses aimed at providing solutions to Workplace Violence including;

Beyond The Blue also provides clients with solutions to workplace violence through our Consultancy Service - Solutions to Workplace Violence.

For more details on our Course Dates and Fees please visit the Bookings & Fees section of our website, Contact Us or call us on 0845 602 55 95 to book your place.

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Other useful pages in this section of our website include:

• Conflict Management (Home Page) • Training Courses • Frequently Asked Questions • Physical Intervention - The Risks • Incentives & Discounts • Download a Leaflet •

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