Do you know your responsibilities for Staff Safety under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007?

 

As a public or voluntary sector employer, your organisation already has a duty of care to prevent injury to staff – this new legislation makes organisations accountable for the death of staff in service – managers may now be held personally responsible.

• Have you reviewed your policy and practice to ensure that staff are kept safe, especially when working out of the office?Have you ensured that your staff have been trained in safe working practices?   If not, your organisation may be at risk of serious criminal charges     

• If you would like to know more, what you can do about it, and how we can help you please continue reading

 

Employer responsibilities under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007:  Staff Safety for Professionals working in Public and Voluntary sector organisations who deal directly with the general public 

Why this legislation?

Injuries to and even murder of public and voluntary sector professional staff are unfortunately only too common. These staff report regular verbal and physical abuse from their service users and the public, and many have suffered serious physical injury in the course of their work. These risks have been recognised by the government, and the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 came into force in April 2008. This act means that those managers and organisations who disregard the safety of their staff at work, with fatal consequences, are vulnerable to very serious criminal charges. An organisation will be guilty of the new offence if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a death and amounts to a gross breach of duty of care to the deceased. This includes the role of senior level management: inappropriate delegation of responsibility for health and safety will not be a defence in law. Clearly public and voluntary sector organisations will need to respond to this risk. In doing so they will also show staff that they regard their safety as important, and a key element in supporting them to carry out their tasks effectively. 

What should organisations do?

Firstly they should review their health and safety practice and procedures, particularly in relation to lone working, and other groups of staff who put themselves at risk of conflict in the course of their work. Regrettably this applies to many public and voluntary sector staff including

• Care and domiciliary support staff
• GPs, health visitors and other medical support specialists
• Mental health workers
• Community support workersYouth workers
• Emergency services
• Social workers and support staff
• Housing officers
• Trading standards officers
• And many more

 

Secondly they should provide training for their staff in safety awareness, safe practice, conflict management and in some cases, safe physical defence techniques. 

How can etc help?

etc has successfully provided staff safety training programmes to public and voluntary organisations for many years. We have supported these organisations in developing policies and strategies to develop safe practice, which have been rewarded by a reduction in incidents and improved confidence and morale.  Our trainers are highly qualified, very experienced and understand the issues affecting professionals in their work in the community. They have themselves worked as public sector professionals and trainers, or have a background in training police officers in personal safety. We teach conflict management and safety awareness skills which are immediately absorbed, and our physical breakaway techniques are simple but effective, and do not require martial arts knowledge or high levels of fitness. We can also work with management teams to improve practice and strategies for protecting staff. This work may entail an audit of current practice, developing plans for improvement, and systems for monitoring progress. 

Costs

Clearly, employing high quality trainers and management consultants we cannot offer a bargain basement service. However we do offer exceptional value for money in terms of the training experience and effectiveness in practice. We can offer group training in employers premises, or work with individuals from a range of organisations in our own facilities. Management consultancy is negotiated on an individual basis, but includes a free initial discussion and appraisal. 

For further information or discussion contact us