The general consensus amongst people is that the training given to an individual can all to often be the difference between life and death.
Unfortunately there are many incidents where the lack of professional training has resulted in the fatality of one or more innocent human beings.
The tremendous costs attached to incidents where people are seriously injured or worse
as a result of bad training has to be carefully balanced against the trauma suffered by the
victim and their families.
A BBC Panorama investigation found that violence against NHS staff affected 75,000 NHS
employees at a cost to the health service of more than £100 million, despite the
government launching a zero tolerance policy on attacks against staff.
The total cost to the NHS is equivalent to the salaries of 4,500 nurses, Moreover,
Panorama found that less than two per cent of all attacks resulted in prosecutions.
Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing
(RCN), said: “It is completely unacceptable that so many physical assaults on nurses and
other NHS staff took place in the past year”.
Of course this is just a snap shot of a huge problem that affects the lives of millions of
people working in a wide variety of industries where at some point in their daily routine
they are working alone and are in a potentially dangerous situation and therefore are
open to all forms of verbal and physical abuse.
CPDT (Corporate Progressive Development Training) spent several years researching the
training services industry, and found that many of the training resources available to
individuals are either very unrealistic or are delivered in a inappropriate way that
disengages the participant within the training course.
Gary Payne, Senior Tutor for CPDT said “So many important skills are being taught by
inexperienced tutors that have no realistic understanding of the material they are
delivering, it is no wonder that so many people receive poor training in the vital skills to
keep them safe”
CPDT provide a suite of training packages designed to provide the participant with the
relevant skill set to improve their performance at work and save their lives.
find out more a t www.cpdtrainingco.com
Saturday, 21 May 2011
Personal Safety for Lone Workers
This year alone headlines included ‘Dundee Nurse’s After Dark Fear’, ‘Violence Life of hospital Staff’ and ‘Attack in NHS Hospital Every Three Minutes’ to name just a few.
Nigel Dean, Head of health Sector Development, Telefónica O2 UK Limited, stated in October 2008: “81% of Lone Workers are concerned about violence or aggression, whilst 56% of those in the NHS, Local Government and Housing Associations have experienced aggression at least once in their careers”.
The UK's health & safety Laboratory (HSL) developed 18 case studies, approached over 400 organisations across a range of different professions, sent detailed questionnaires to all and conducted countless interviews. The outcome of these widely respected case studies is of great relevance to the importance of effective personal safety training. In their case studies the HSL outlined a number of key risks:
Alcohol and drug use, by clients and members of the public with whom the lone worker comes into contact.
Certain geographical locations known to have a higher risk of violence.
Working late evening carried an increased risk of violence because there were generally either fewer people around and there was a higher risk of facing individuals under the influence of class A drugs and alcohol.
Lone workers holding position of power or authority over customers or clients.
Other members of the public, youths, animals and situations encountered whilst carrying out operational duties.
The consequences of violence or aggression at work have also been well documented. The effects on the individual lone worker can include stress, anxiety, fear and depression, often resulting from having to deal with persistent verbal abuse.
For several reasons, not a lot can be said with certainty about the effect of obligatory personal safety training and how it may it contribute to reduce injuries and fatalities on lone workers. Firstly, such studies must be completed over a longer span of time than the few years that have passed since safety training became obligatory. Secondly, fatality and injury rates must be normalised against comparable data on the number of lone workers, with respect to workdays, hours on the move, time of operational duty and location.
However, there is every reason to believe that personal safety training has positive effects on lone workers safety and the rates of injuries and fatalities, although, for many reasons, this is difficult to prove with concrete figures. Personal safety training is without a shadow of a doubt one of the most effective ways of reducing the risk of violent and aggressive incidents occurring in the workplace. All employees should be administered, not only training for the physical hazards of their jobs, but the emotional ones as well. There is a reason companies have a Human Resource (HR) department. Take advantage of all of the recommended HR training, such as Violence in the Workplace and Conflict Management.
Training of this kind is an investment in the personal safety of lone worker, will save cost in the long run and above all prevent depression, stress, lack of confidence and many other issues within the workforce
When planning a personal safety trainining event for your lone workers, enforcement team or other frontline employees, it should be ensured that the invited trainer or instructor allows time for all delegates to share any previous experiences with physical or verbal aggressors and consider potential future situations of risk to ensure maximum learning benefit for the lone workers themselves. CPDT are one of the very few companies providing such realistic personal safety training courses.
visit www.cpdtrainingco.com or visit the shop at http://shop.cpdtrainingco.com
Nigel Dean, Head of health Sector Development, Telefónica O2 UK Limited, stated in October 2008: “81% of Lone Workers are concerned about violence or aggression, whilst 56% of those in the NHS, Local Government and Housing Associations have experienced aggression at least once in their careers”.
The UK's health & safety Laboratory (HSL) developed 18 case studies, approached over 400 organisations across a range of different professions, sent detailed questionnaires to all and conducted countless interviews. The outcome of these widely respected case studies is of great relevance to the importance of effective personal safety training. In their case studies the HSL outlined a number of key risks:
Alcohol and drug use, by clients and members of the public with whom the lone worker comes into contact.
Certain geographical locations known to have a higher risk of violence.
Working late evening carried an increased risk of violence because there were generally either fewer people around and there was a higher risk of facing individuals under the influence of class A drugs and alcohol.
Lone workers holding position of power or authority over customers or clients.
Other members of the public, youths, animals and situations encountered whilst carrying out operational duties.
The consequences of violence or aggression at work have also been well documented. The effects on the individual lone worker can include stress, anxiety, fear and depression, often resulting from having to deal with persistent verbal abuse.
For several reasons, not a lot can be said with certainty about the effect of obligatory personal safety training and how it may it contribute to reduce injuries and fatalities on lone workers. Firstly, such studies must be completed over a longer span of time than the few years that have passed since safety training became obligatory. Secondly, fatality and injury rates must be normalised against comparable data on the number of lone workers, with respect to workdays, hours on the move, time of operational duty and location.
However, there is every reason to believe that personal safety training has positive effects on lone workers safety and the rates of injuries and fatalities, although, for many reasons, this is difficult to prove with concrete figures. Personal safety training is without a shadow of a doubt one of the most effective ways of reducing the risk of violent and aggressive incidents occurring in the workplace. All employees should be administered, not only training for the physical hazards of their jobs, but the emotional ones as well. There is a reason companies have a Human Resource (HR) department. Take advantage of all of the recommended HR training, such as Violence in the Workplace and Conflict Management.
Training of this kind is an investment in the personal safety of lone worker, will save cost in the long run and above all prevent depression, stress, lack of confidence and many other issues within the workforce
When planning a personal safety trainining event for your lone workers, enforcement team or other frontline employees, it should be ensured that the invited trainer or instructor allows time for all delegates to share any previous experiences with physical or verbal aggressors and consider potential future situations of risk to ensure maximum learning benefit for the lone workers themselves. CPDT are one of the very few companies providing such realistic personal safety training courses.
visit www.cpdtrainingco.com or visit the shop at http://shop.cpdtrainingco.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)