Trained to restrain? Dealing with work-related violence and intruders
Verbal and physical assaults on on-site staff is rising.
We are seeing this rise in the health care sector in particular. Whilst rare, incidents such as these do happen in a residential setting and in the hospitality sector, and it’s rarer still to have on-site staff ready to handle them in the right way.
This blog concerns the last resort of physically restraining an aggressive individual.
Work-related violence — what the HSE says
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines work-related violence as “any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work”. The definition includes verbal abuse or threats in addition to physical attacks.
Whilst some of our security personnel are specifically ‘trained to restrain’, most are not. In common with all, preventing an escalation and the need for physical restraint is at the forefront of our thinking.
The use of force — what does the law say?
It is extremely important that on-site staff understand the law when it comes to using force. Making physical contact with someone prematurely may lead to a charge of common assault, unlawful detention or ABH (actual bodily harm).
The security staff that we train in all sorts of environments are made fully aware of the consequences of getting it wrong, including the possibility of losing their SIA status. The law is the law, hence the right type of training is essential.
Physical intervention
I regularly host a ‘Physical Intervention’ course, at the end of which, on-site staff are trained to contain and if necessary restrain an aggressive individual. Remembering that an aggressive individual may be a ‘client’, I use recognised techniques to protect the dignity of the client wherever possible.
The course aims to understand the causes of aggression, how anger can lead to violence, triggers to avoid and inhibitors to employ, how to understand a dynamic risk assessment, defusing/de-escalating techniques, and more. My Aikido training over decades allows me to provide a particularly practical course, so the theory is tested on willing participants!
Where restraint is necessary, here are my recommendations from the course learnings:
Give clear warning in advance that they will be restrained/ejected from the building if the aggression continues
Apply the minimum force necessary to restrain or eject, so to anyone witnessing, the altercation does not appear to be a ‘fight’ between two individuals. Positional Asphyxia is a catastrophic risk of excessive force, when someone’s position prevents them from breathing adequately
Maintain dialogue with the individual, aiming to calm them down
Ask someone to call the police if necessary, and explain the situation. When the police arrive, be ready to explain the circumstances clearly and concisely
Intruders
It’s worth bringing in the subject of intruders here, most of whom will wish to avoid any sort of confrontation but might become aggressive if caught red-handed.
We recently had a case of an intruder at a non-residential building for which we provide security staff. Through no fault our own staff, an intruder in the building was able to rifle through the company’s possessions and he attempted to leave with a company hard drive. Our security guard did not recognise the man as an employee and begun questioning him. The intruder started off very calm and somewhat convincing however as our member of staff realised he was an illegitimate visitor and had property on his possession that was from the building, the intruder became abusive and violent. Our man was trained to restrain and did so for a long as possible. Most staff would simply need to let the aggressive individual go and provide the police with as much help as possible.
Concluding comments
Unless you have security staff who have been appropriately trained to restrain, your on-site staff should avoid any physical contact with an aggressive individual or intruder. They may be angered by the verbal abuse they are receiving or feel aggrieved on behalf of a client that they have stolen property. Acting on impulse and physically restraining an individual may have dire consequences for either party.
If your (security) staff work in an environment where physical intervention may be necessary, get in touch.