Safety guidance for social care staff

In this section...

• guidance for employers
• a guide for individuals
• review of progress
• lone working

Combating violence against adult social care staff and volunteers

Skills for Care has been working with the Department of Health (DH), the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and Local Government Employers (LGE to update the work of the DH's National Task Force on Violence against Social Care staff, originally published in 2001. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) were also consulted on the revisions.

The Health and Safety Executive defines work-related violence as:
            - Any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work

Violence against social care workers (both staff and volunteers) remains a major concern and there is therefore a need for both employers and individuals to ensure effective risk reduction and appropriate responses whenever a violent incident occurs.

Violence can occur in any work environment, including residential and day care settings. In addition, one of the greatest risk areas is where staff and volunteers visit or provide services to people in their own homes. Employers and individuals therefore need to take specific steps to reduce all such risks.

There is now a significant body of experience to support positive approaches to this area of work. This has to be set against an ongoing concern that best practice is not happening consistently across all social care agencies. It is therefore hoped that employers will use the materials and examples in these pages to review their local arrangements and ensure a clear and positive approach throughout their organisations.

A brief review of progress made since 2001 and summary of outstanding issues are also included.

The original taskforce materials, published in 2001, included an employers' self-audit toolkit and a checklist for employees. These are now being replaced with new guidance for employers and new a guide for individuals. Also included are a range of examples of policies and procedures, assessment tools, training frameworks, ways of responding to violent incidents and information for workers. These provide a starting point for others to build on to meet the needs of their own organisations.

Of particular interest is the research associated with the original work. A qualitative research overview was undertaken and, although somewhat dated, remains relevant.

The revised materials have been developed specifically to support developments in adult social care, the modernisation agenda and the personalisation of services. They also reflect the reconfiguration of social care services, with responsibility for parallel developments in children's services now resting with the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DfCSF).