- Conference
- 2009 Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 9 December 2008
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
The Health and Safety Executive defines violence at work as any incident in which an employee / staff member is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work. But it’s also important to note that threats and verbal abuse can lead to physical violence and will contribute to the levels of stress for our members. Physical attacks damage our members’ health through anxiety or stress. Work related violence can also take place within the community and to and from work.
Many NHS Employers still do not have robust risk assessments in place to protect our members and on many occasons try to use capability policies to terminate the employment of the staff member. Temporary injury / permanent injury allowance is becoming the best kept secret in the NHS with more employees not being informed of their rights to claim TIA when injured at work. Our members should be supported by NHS employers when injured at work and not expected to be assaulted when coming to work.
We call upon Conference to
1.Ensure that NHS employers accept that violence at work by patients is a health and safety issue by developing policies in partnership on management and prevention to prevent violence to staff.
2.Call on all NHS employers to have clear robust risk assessment for lone workers and other staff groups and ensure risks assessments are under constant review.
3.Ensure UNISON becomes involve in making sure that Health Employers communicate better with our members on the right to claim temporary injury allowance and permanent injury allowance when injured at work.