Council campaigns to protect pub staff
Councils and health and safety officials in the Midlands have launched a campaign to protect pub staff from verbal and physical attacks at work.
Licensees and being given advice about different ways of reducing the risk of violence and abuse. Ideas include simple changes to the layout of premises, improved lighting and taking part in schemes such as pubwatch.
Council officials and officers from the Health and Safety Executive will visit pubs to offer the advice.
The HSE stressed that licensees have a duty to protect their employees, who "can run a higher risk of work-related violence, ranging from verbal abuse to physical assault".
HSE project manager Ian Andrews said: "Nobody should have to face injury or abuse simply doing their job. We don't want people dreading going in to work, especially when the steps employers can take to improve protection for their staff are so simple.
"It is difficult to quantify the real scale of the problem because many incidents go unreported. But it's important that we learn about them so we can provide advice and target our efforts to assist employers and employees in improving safety."
Pub owners have a legal duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of employees under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. This includes all forms of work-related violence, which covers physical violence and verbal abuse as well as threats and intimidation.
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