Workplace violence: Employers responsibilities

Violence at work across all sectors has become widespread. The Commercial Victimisation Survey found that 28% of businesses reported criminal victimisation on their premises in 2023, including 8% reporting violent victimisation such as assaults, robberies, and threats. 

The most prevalent offence type experienced by businesses was theft (14%), followed by burglary (including attempts) (8%), vandalism (8%), and assaults or threats against employees or customers (7%). Of the 7% of premises that experienced assaults or threats during the previous 12 months (2023), approximately one-quarter (24%) experienced this offence type at least once a month. Of premises that experienced violence, 73% experienced verbal abuse and threat or intimidation 68%, whilst 21% experienced physical attack without injury and 8% with injury.

A report from the NHS shows the significant impact workplace violence has on its employees, with 13.7% of NHS staff having experienced at least one incident of physical violence in the last 12 months, 27.6% of ambulance staff reported experiencing at least one incident of physical violence from patients, service users, relatives or other members of the public in the last 12 months, and 25.15% of NHS staff experienced at least one incident of harassment, bullying or abuse in the last 12 months from patients/service users, their relatives or other members of the public.

Violence in the workplace can have significant emotional and physical impacts on victims. For premises that experienced violent crime, 6% experienced employees being physically injured, and 7% experienced staff needing time off work following the incident. 

In this article, we will examine the nature of workplace violence and discuss employers’ responsibilities to protect their employees from violence in the workplace.

What is workplace violence?

Workplace violence can be defined as any incident in which a person is verbally and/or physically abused, threatened, or assaulted in circumstances relating to work. Workplace violence covers a broad range of adverse social interactions and behaviours, and is not limited to physical attacks, it can include:

• Verbal abuse including aggressive, forceful tone and/or language
• Abusive language
• Aggressive behaviour 
• Racial slurs
• Bullying and harassment 
• Stalking
• Verbal or written threats
• Threatening behaviour that includes threats to harm or kill
• Physical attacks including hitting, pushing, kicking, punching, using weapons that lead to injury
• Wilful damage to property
• Malicious allegations relating to members of staff
• Persistent and / or unrealistic demands by customers and or service users

Workplace violence towards employees may involve co-workers, managers, customers or service users, students or parents, patients, or members of the public. It also includes insistences of domestic abuse experienced at work, with abusers known to pursue victims to the workplace. 

Violence in the workplace is a serious problem, and every workplace is at risk, although certain sectors experience a higher risk such as but not limited to:

• Healthcare – this includes Doctors, Nurses and other workers in hospitals, clinics, doctor’s surgeries, care homes, etc.
• Emergency Services – this includes Police, Fire service, Paramedics and Ambulance staff, emergency call handlers
• Transport – this includes bus, rail, airline staff, taxi drivers, and other staff at stations and terminals
• Retail – staff across all types of retail including the hospitality sector
• Other Public Sector – this includes social services, education, inspectors such as HSE, etc.

There are particular job roles that may have higher risk factors such as but not limited to:

• Front line staff across a variety of sectors including the emergency services
• Security staff 
• Lone workers across a variety of sectors

Home workers are also at a greater risk to their personal safety. This could relate to cases of domestic violence from a personal relationship.

The reasons for why violence occurs in the workplace are varied, however there are some common themes including but not limited to:

• Customer and/or service user complaints 
• Encountering someone committing theft or criminal damage
• Confronting suspicious behaviour
• A hate crime motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic
• Alcohol and/or substance abuse
• Real or perceived unfair treatment in the workplace
• Workplace stress or pressures
• Overspill of domestic violence into the workplace

In some instances, the violence may not be intentional, such as in cases where a healthcare patient is medicated, psychotic, or otherwise “not in their right mind” when they act out in aggression, whether verbal or physical.

Examples of violence at work

Some types of workplace violence are more easily identifiable, for example, an armed robbery such as a robbery that occurred in Nottingham in 2024. Police were called to Cope Jewellers, in Upper Parliament Street, Nottingham, shortly after 1.45pm on Tuesday 3^rd September after two people entered the store wearing motorcycle helmets and gloves. Glass display cabinets were smashed with a lump hammer before more than £130,000 worth of Rolex, Tudor, and Oris watches were stolen.

An elderly customer was shopping at the time and was pushed by one of the robbers as he attempted to flee the store. In a victim impact statement, the store’s owner said “The incident itself was extremely distressing and nothing compared to this has ever occurred in my store before. Witnessing two men dressed in black wearing motorcycle gear whilst they barricaded the door and smashed the display cabinets with a hammer, was traumatising and I will never forget it.”

Violence from shoplifters is also more easily identifiable as this example from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) shows “I am a Supervisor based in the Bath area. I have covered many stores in this area including Bristol and faced abuse and threatening behaviour on a regular basis. I was recently head-butted by a male after stopping this person from stealing. I was shocked that this had happened, especially because I am a female and he was a male. Things like this just shouldn’t happen.”

Abuse and violence that occurs in the healthcare sector can be more difficult to anticipate, whilst the vast majority of patients and the public show nothing but respect and thanks for the skilled care they receive, the minority who perpetrate verbal abuse and physical assaults against hospital employees are often under stress or under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Those situations are not excusable but are often more difficult to prevent.

The BBC has reported that more than 1,700 physical assaults have been recorded on hospital staff in Kent and Sussex in a single year. Hannah (not her real name), a nurse who has been abused at work, said: “This patient was lashing out [at] any staff that was just trying to help them. They were spitting at the staff and it was very difficult.” Dr Peter Carter, a former interim chair of two hospital trusts in Kent, said: “This is a sad and tragic state of affairs, to think that nurses, doctors, receptionists, porters have been subject to serious incidents of violence in the very place where they are working to try to help people.” 

Other incidents of violence in the workplace appear to come as a complete surprise. An interaction between for example retail staff and customers can suddenly turn into an incident as can been seen from the following example from the British Retail Consortium that occurred during the COVID pandemic: 

“As a female customer approached the till with goods in her arms, I said hello and asked her to pop her goods down and step back to the line. She said why and I explained just to give us both safe space as she did not have a mask on. She shouted, “The reason I do not have a mask on is because I am not well”. I said that is fine that is why we have the procedures in place. She then stated she was being discriminated against and being treated like a leper.

She asked to speak to the manager. All along she was shouting, she called me an argumentative little s**t and other names and insults. She was also shouting that she was going to get me sacked today and that I thought I was better than everyone else just because I worked in a shop. She told me I should get on and scan her shopping, but I said I would wait for my manager who was on her way. She could not read my name badge so when she shouted “what is your name so I can get you fired today” I said she could ask my manager for it.

As my manager arrived at the till she was still irate and then told me I could not touch her stuff or serve her so I left the shop floor while a colleague took over. There were more nasty insults that came from her but while I am still shaking from her horrible behaviour, I cannot remember the exact words.”

Bullying in the workplace has become a prevalent source of workplace violence. New research by lawyers Wright Hassall on 1,026 employees in the UK found that 50% of people have either been bullied at work or witnessed it (47.80% of men and 59% of women), and that worryingly, over half of UK employees (57%) think that shouting at work doesn’t count as bullying.

Rude or aggressive behaviour at work is often tolerated by workers and managers, but it can lead to people feeling unsafe. Overt rudeness such as arguing, raised voices, abusive supervision or loss of temper experienced at work often comes from co-workers, subordinates and/or managers. Experiencing rudeness and aggressive behaviours can affect a person’s wellbeing as well as their productivity at work as they spend time thinking about the abuse, or avoiding the perpetrator, some even taking it out on others around them. 

Domestic violence may happen behind closed doors but it has far reaching consequences and is known to have an impact on the working lives of those living with an abusive partner. As well as affecting the safety of the worker experiencing the abuse, domestic violence may also affect the safety of other employees, especially if their abuser is employed in the same workplace.

For example, Harvey Nichols beauty consultant Clare Bernal had briefly dated store security guard Michael Pech, but after months of stalking, he shot her dead in front of staff and customers whilst she was at work. Abusive partners turning up at the workplace or stalking their partner outside their workplace, not only poses a risk for the person themselves, but also for others at that place of work.

As we have seen, workplace violence can take many forms and can be perpetrated by a variety of people. Below are real life examples of workplace violence, the first perpetrated by a member of staff against a customer and the second a customer’s violence towards a member of staff. Both cases resulted in action being taken against the perpetrators, and in the first case, the employer was found to be vicariously liable, which is a rule of law that imposes strict liability on employers for the wrongdoings of their employees.

Staff workplace violence

Amjid Khan was employed at a Morrison’s petrol station to attend to customers and respond to their inquiries. The attack happened after customer Ahmed Mohamud asked Khan whether it would be possible to print some documents from a USB stick that he was carrying. Court documents say he asked this as a “favour”, and Mr Khan responded by being abusive and using a racial slur. Mr Mohamud was not abusive in return, but the documents say Mr Khan followed him to his car, shouted more abuse, punched him twice in the head then leapt on him and subjected him to a “brutal attack involving punches and kicks while Mr Mohamud was curled up on the petrol station forecourt”.

Morrisons dismissed Amjid Khan for gross misconduct. As Amjid Khan’s employer at the time of the assault, Morrison’s were sued by the family of Ahmed Mohamud for vicarious liability in the Supreme Court. The court found that the defendants (Morrisons) are liable for the assault committed by Mr Khan. The ruling gave no detail of any criminal proceedings which might have resulted from the incident.

Customer violence towards employees

Essex police reported the following case of customer violence towards an employee in 2024. Over a period of nine months, Aaron Talbot, 47, stole more than £1,700 of meat, detergents, and coffee from the two shops. On one occasion, he assaulted a member of staff who tried to stop him, Colchester city magistrates heard on 13 November 2024. Sentencing Talbot magistrates told him he was not allowed to enter the two Co-op stores for the next 12 months.

Talbot had previously admitted 12 thefts from the Five Fields Court store between 18 November 2023 and 8 August 2024, as well as a further five thefts from the shop in Hawthorn Avenue between 11 & 22 August 2024. He had also pleaded guilty to assault by beating during his last theft on 22 August. Magistrates sentenced Talbot to a total of 40 weeks in jail – two weeks, consecutive, for each count of shop theft and a further six weeks, consecutive, for the assault.

The jail term was suspended for a year. He was ordered to attend a drug rehabilitation course for six months, to undertake 30 days of rehabilitation activity, and to pay £300 compensation to the Co-op, and another £100 to his assault victim.

Employer responsibilities

Employers must be aware of their duty of care towards employees. All employers are under a duty to take reasonable care and reasonable steps to ensure the safety of their employees at work. Duty of care covers everything from feeling safe at work, and prevention of injury, to preventing and protecting employees from unnecessary risk of harm from violence, abuse and/or harassment, and providing advice on health and wellbeing. These measures are required by law.

At present, there is no individual law that defines or relates specifically to work-related violence, however, all employers have a legal duty of care to prevent workplace violence under current legislation such as:

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HASWA) – this Act states that employers have a legal duty to protect every employee under their care. This duty requires employers to take reasonable measures that assure employees’ health and safety during work, such as carrying out risk assessments to identify hazards that employees could face whilst working in public areas.

A Private Member’s Bill, the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (Amendment) Bill, introduced by Liz Saville Roberts of Plaid Cymru in 2024, aims to amend the existing HASWA to include more robust measures against violence and harassment in the workplace. The Bill seeks to place a legal requirement on employers to take proactive steps to prevent violence and harassment.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (MHSWR) – this outlines legal obligations on managing workplace hazards. This includes minimising risks that could lead to workplace violence including setting up emergency procedures and providing information and training to employees.

Reporting of Injuries, Diseases, and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) – under these Regulations, employers, certain self-employed people and those in control of work premises must report certain workplace injuries, dangerous occurrences, and occupational diseases to HSE including incidents of violence in the workplace.

The Equality Act 2010 – This Act protects people from discrimination harassment and victimisation in the workplace and in wider society. These can come in the form of verbal abuse, written threats, and physical attacks.

The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 – This introduced a new offence, so companies and organisations can be found guilty of corporate manslaughter as a result of serious management failures resulting in a gross breach of a duty of care.

The Employment Rights Bill – this Bill is currently being finalised and is not anticipated to become law before 2026, however, it is expected that it will introduce an obligation on employers to not permit harassment of their employees by third parties such as customers and or service users.

Handling violence at work

The risk of work-related violence is often foreseeable, it can be assessed, minimised or prevented and employers have clear legal duties to do this. Where the risk of violence is identified it must be eliminated or reduced to the lowest level possible. Under the MHSW Regulations, employers must assess health and safety risks to identify what steps they need to take to reduce them. The risk of violence must be assessed in the same way as any other hazard. Where the assessment shows a possibility of violence or harm occurring, employers must take action to remove or minimise that risk. 

Certain situations in the workplace may trigger violence or aggressive outbursts, such as delays or hold-ups, lack of information, etc. so pre-empting these trigger points and having strategies in place to deal with these situations before they can get out of hand will help empower employees to manage volatile situations. It is also important that employers communicate a zero-tolerance narrative to warn people upfront that abusive and violent behaviour is unacceptable and is not tolerated. It should also be made clear to employees that they should not put themselves at risk to protect cash or property. 

Employers may decide following their risk assessment to introduce safety measures such as CCTV, alarm systems, keypad entrances, security screens etc. They may also need to reassess working arrangements for employees, particularly for lone and remote workers, taking into account the risk of violence when setting staffing levels, or altering working hours or shifts. 

Employers should have clear and workable policies and procedures in place for dealing with potential or actual violent clients, patients, service users, members of the public and /or employees Employment codes of conduct should clearly state that abusive, aggressive or intimidating behaviours are not tolerated in the workplace and that any instances will amount to misconduct. Employers should also introduce a robust reporting system specifically for violent incidents in the workplace. 

All employees should be provided with training on how to manage and de-escalate potentially violent situations in the workplace and also training on how to stay safe at work. Workplace violence training is often about how to handle a violent episode as it is occurring, but also offering employees training in effective, empathic communication can help to prevent situations before they start.

Final Thoughts 

Addressing and preventing workplace violence requires a proactive approach by employers in order to create safer work environments and to ensure that all incidents are dealt with swiftly and effectively.

Failure by employers to take reasonable care to prevent reasonably foreseeable risks of violence in the workplace to employees will amount to a breach of an employer’s duties, resulting in the employer being liable for negligence. An employer will be negligent if it does not take reasonable steps to eliminate a risk that it knows or ought to know is a real risk.