Membership , Remit , Minutes of Meetings , Task Groups , Phone Rage Group
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- To advise on the best way to take forward the recommendations in the Report on Work Related Violence in respect of those serving the public and determine the necessary priorities to be implemented to bring about greater awareness of the need to report and map out potential aggression before it occurs.
To use the resources of all participating organisations by working in partnership to deliver an assessment of the level of abuse against workers serving the public and make recommendations on considered and agreed best practice.
To advise SE and Media Group on needs of awareness campaign which will promote the unacceptability of assaults on workers serving the public and link with initiatives being pursued by other departments in the Scottish Executive and other outside bodies with similar aims.
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June 2006
March 2006
December 2005
September 2005
June 2005
March 2005
December 2004
September 2004
July 2004
May 2004
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3 Task Groups covering retail, reporting and working with young people were set up to deliver targeted aims and objectives by Spring 2006. These have now completed their work and details can be found in their respective sections below.
In 2006 a working group to look at dealing with 'Phone Rage' was set up due to the identified need to develop good practice in this area and the discovery of an innovative approach by the Students Loans Company which had brought about reportedly positive results.
Retail Task Group
The issue of the many assaults both verbal and physical made towards retail staff at work has been a problem for some time despite many initiatives to control or eliminate it completely. The retail Task Group included specialists in this field from the Scottish Retail Consortium, the shop workers trade union Usdaw, Retailers against Crime and other organisations and our efforts have been concentrated on getting the message out not only to the public who can behave unacceptably in some circumstances but also to staff themselves as it is clear that many appear to tacitly accept such treatment 'as part of the job'.
We have welcomed the opportunity to provide retail case studies and resources for the campaign and have used every opportunity to disseminate campaign materials and encourage employers to set up robust systems to deal with the issue by encouraging staff to report all instances of abuse whether or not this has been reported to the Police.
Fiona Moriarty, Scottish Retail Consortium
December 2005
April 2005
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The Scottish Trades Union Congress recognises the role that young people play in our society and in the workplace and welcomed the opportunity to Chair the Youth Task Group looking at the impact of physical and verbal abuse on young workers.
All too often, the public eye focuses on young people as the main perpetrators of violence to front line workers with little consideration being given to instances of verbal and physical violence carried out by individuals of all ages or to the fact that young workers in particular can be vulnerable to abuse in the workplace. The work of the Task Group in exploring young workers experiences of verbal and physical abuse has now set a platform from which it hopes that the mainly anecdotal evidence uncovered will go some way to identifying research opportunities which will help to address this issue more comprehensively.
Ian Tasker, STUC
January 2006
September 2005
June 2005
May 2005
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I am delighted to have this opportunity to publicly thank those who took part in the Reporting Task Group to discuss how best to influence the development of consistent and meaningful reporting of instances of verbal and physical abuse in the workplace.
Most large organisations already have this in place and I hope they will take the opportunity of the publication of the results of the work of the Task Group to review their policies and procedures in light of past experiences. Those workplaces who do not yet have robust procedures in place can also take advantage of the experience represented by those on the Task Group and by using a model reporting form adapt this for local circumstances so that we will at last be able to measure the extent of the problem and put measures in place to address it more effectively.
Ian Lavery (Corporate Health and Safety Manager, Glasgow City Council)
Reporting Task Group Report June 2006
August 2005
May 2005
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As part of the campaign the Student Loans Company generously agreed to supply a course for interested parties which would demonstrate their identified successful approach in training staff to deal with phone rage. This had followed lengthy consultation with psychologists and was centred around differentiating between justifiable anger and rage which is always unacceptable as well as the awareness of the ego state of callers. The course took place on 29 August and plans are in place to develop this approach further across relevant sectors. This link provides a summary of the results of the post course evaluation.
November 2006
September 2006
Course of 29 August - Evaluation document
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