Less violence at work, claims Government

The Home Office said that the latest figures from the British Crime Survey (BCS) had shown that the number of people suffering from violence at work had fallen by 27% since 1999.

At least 376,000 people suffered from at least one act of violence last year according to the survey - which asks a broad section of the public about its experience of crime. The study also revealed that alcohol triggered around a third of violent incidents at work.

Frontline staff, such as health care workers and police officers, are the most at risk from violence according to the Government, whereas science and technology workers are the safest.

Today's report from the Home Office, entitled "Violence at work: Findings from the 2002/2003 British Crime Survey", claimed that the risk of being a victim of actual or threatened violence at work was "low" - with 1.7% of working adults falling victim to one or more attacks in 2002/03.

Violence at work was defined by the report as "all assaults or threats, which occurred while the victim was working, that were perpetrated by members of the public."

The main findings

There were an estimated 849,000 incidents of violence at work in the 2002/03 BCS, comprising 431,000 assaults and 418,000 threats. The number of incidents of violence at work has fallen by 35% from the peak of 1,310,000 in 1995 to the current level, said the report.

The survey revealed around four-fifths of incidents involved just male offenders, who were responsible for 80% of assaults and 77% of threats at work. In terms of age of offenders, 41% of physical assaults were made by persons aged 25 to 39, and 30% involved offenders aged 16 to 24.

Victims of actual or threatened violence at work said that the offender was under the influence of alcohol in a third (31%) of incidents, and that the offender was under the influence of drugs in a fifth (21%) of incidents.

The majority of violent incidents against working adults involved offenders who the victim did not know before the incident (61%).

Fear of crime

The survey also found that overall levels of concern about violence at work were low. Just 3% said they were very worried about being assaulted by a member of the public while at work.

However concern varied widely according to occupation, with 36% of health and welfare professionals either "very" or "fairly" worried about assaults at work, compared with just 3% of science and technology professionals.

Despite the overall low level of concern, 22% of workers who had contact with members of the public thought it very or fairly likely that they would be threatened at work in the next year. Ten per cent of workers with face-to-face contact with the public thought it very or fairly likely that they would be assaulted.

The study revealed that 0.5% of workers believed that their concern over workplace violence had a "great deal" of impact on their health, while 2% said that it affected their health "quite a bit".

Sixty-seven per cent of workers who had face-to-face contact with the public said they had not received any form of training in how to deal with violent or threatening behaviour.

Employers' responsibility

Home Office Minister Hazel Blears said the Government was "encouraged" by the fact that violence rates were falling, but added that such attacks remained "unacceptable".

She pointed out that the Government had provided £15 million over three years to help small retailers tackle violence and improve crime prevention, and that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had published guidelines for employers on how to help protect their staff from violence while at work.

The Minister said: "Employers have a responsibility to ensure that their staff are trained to deal with workplace violence and offer support and advice to employees who have been victims of crime and ensure that violence at work is dealt with effectively."

The latest British Crime Survey findings go against official recorded crime figures, which last week showed that overall violent crime in England and Wales had risen by 14% during the third quarter of 2003.

There were 289,500 violent crimes in England and Wales from July to September compared with 253,000 in the same period the previous year. Results from interviewees in the British Crime Survey suggested that overall violent crime fell 3% in the 12 months to September.

Officials suggested that the rise in violent crime was partly due to the continuing impact of changes in the way police record offences.

Binge drinking culture

Criminal damage increased by 7% under recorded crime data, while recorded robberies fell by 2% compared with the same quarter in 2002, recorded house burglaries fell by 3% and thefts from vehicles fell 8%. Recorded crime levels in general were described as "stable" by Home Office statisticians.

Last week in the Commons, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten said: "The rise in violent crime is surely a sign that the binge drinking culture is getting out of hand. While reductions in other crimes are welcome, it is violence which breeds fear and undermines our sense of community.

"Labour promised in 1998 to produce an alcohol strategy. The price of that policy still being on the drawing board is clear from today's figures."

However, today Hazel Blears for the Home Office commented: "Crime is stable and the chance of being a victim is at its lowest level in more than 20 years. Of course crime, especially violence, wherever it occurs, is unacceptable.

"I am, however, very encouraged by the figures published today which show that violence at work is continuing to fall, and the risk of being a victim of this type of crime has fallen by 39 per cent since 1997."

Angie Bell