MPs warn workplace violence is “out of control”

A new report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Safety and Health says abuse, threats and assaults are now a routine part of working life in sectors including transport, retail, prisons and education. 

Ian Lavery MP, chair of the APPG, said: “Workers are being punched, spat at and threatened simply for doing their jobs, and too often nothing happens. This is a crisis, and the Government is not doing enough to stop it.” 

The Group is calling for immediate action, including: 

• Legal protection for all public-facing workers  

• An end to unsafe lone working and a review of sectoral minimum staffing levels  

• More funding for policing and health and safety enforcement  

• Urgent action on overcrowded prisons and underfunded schools  

The Group heard evidence from representatives in multiple sectors, including one bus driver who was held at gun point, and a representative of the Prison Officers’ Association who spoke of the “moral failure” of a rising number of attacks on prison staff leaving multiple workers hospitalised on a weekly basis. The report also calls for a rethink on the ban on prison officers’ right to strike. 

The report warns that current approaches are failing workers, leaving them to manage violence themselves instead of preventing it.