Frontline workers, especially lone workers, are particularly exposed to this risk. While on average, around 1.2% of staff within a given industry will experience violence in the workplace, this number can double in customer/client facing fields. Per the HSE, 2.7% of health and social care workers, 2.4% of transport drivers and 2.2% of salespeople are victims of hostility at work. Prevention and detection measures are only as valuable as the data that informs them; however, many fields are seeing their frontline staff dramatically underreport incidents.

For security and safety teams to better protect their staff and the public, more must be done to help victims report altercations with confidence. 

What causes an incident to go unreported?

There are several key barriers, both procedural and psychological, that can make a frontline staff member not want to report an incident of violence. They can vary between occupations, but among the most common and consistent explanations are: 

1. That the worker believes violence, or exposure to violence, is simply a part of the job 

2. That the worker fears they will be blamed in some way for the incident

3. That they do not know how to report or record incidents

4. That they lack faith in the reporting process, and do not believe anything will come of them speaking up

5. That they do not wish to harm the reputation of their employer

This phenomenon has been studied in healthcare, for example, with nurses from over 19 different countries listing similar reasons behind their reluctance to report patient- and visitor-perpetrated workplace violence.

This rationale can be seen in occupational injury and illness, with one paper noting that several intersectional factors, such as a worker’s sociodemographic profile and their psychosocial work environment, can create barriers that make them much less likely to file a report. 

Taken together, this research points towards two key areas for improvement: reporting must be made easier, and encouraged within workplace culture. 

Removing friction from the reporting process

The HSE recommends that reporting systems are quick, intuitive and accessible. Any extraneous, time-consuming steps can deter a worker’s willingness to interrupt their responsibilities, as they may feel an urge to return to normalcy and routine following a particularly stressful confrontation. 

Depending on what security measures are in place, the initial report can be made shorter and simpler. Body-worn cameras can provide an objective account of a fast-moving incident that the worker might not have properly processed, reducing the need to reconstruct timelines and recall exact details while recovering from stress.

Footage can support a report, but the employee still needs a streamlined way to start the process and fill in the gaps, which is why HSE suggests mobile or online portals that emphasise user-friendliness. Some ways of achieving this include clear guidance on what information is required and where they should enter it, defined categories for incidents and avoiding duplication. 

Cameras are only one method of violence reduction, and work best when paired with streamlined reporting channels and staff training on communication and de-escalation. 

Close the feedback loop 

Workers need to trust that their report will lead to action if employers want to encourage participation at all. This can be achieved through transparency at each stage of the process, where investigators communicate throughout the review and make clear what will be changed as a result. 

Even if no immediate action can be taken, simply acknowledging the report and sharing a timeline of what measures will be available and when can help reshape workplace culture surrounding reporting. 

Reporting as an early warning system

Accurate reporting provides security teams and managers with the information they need to identify hotspots and particularly vulnerable processes. Small events and near-misses can form as significant a part of overall operational visibility as large-scale incidents, and by ensuring employees know how to speak up and feel encouraged to do so, this data can be put to good use.

Workplaces with a culture that supports reporting understand that higher numbers of incidents and investigations are a positive sign. It means employees trust the process and feel confident in their employer’s ability to make positive changes for the good of frontline staff.