Managing violence on the railways - the inspection method
Author(s): Claire Dickinson and Jeremy Bevan                                                    Country: United Kingdom
Is the intervention sector specific?	Yes
Is the intervention usable with different enterprise sizes?	Yes
Is the intervention equally applicable to both genders?	Yes
Is the intervention based on theory?	No
Can the intervention approach be adapted/ tailored?	Yes
Does the intervention promote CSR and how?	This method encourages management to take better care of employees' safety on the UK railways
Does the intervention promote social dialogue and how?	Inspections were carried out by inspectors and the deficiencies identified were resolved through active discussions in the workplace.
Overview (including risk assessment and law – legal requirements etc.):   The inspections-intervention was part of Health and Safety Executive's 3-year programme on work-related violence. A series of targeted inspections were made on the UK railways. Inspectors considered arrangements and measures for managing and preventing work-related violence in train operating companies. Inspections considered risk assessments, reporting measures and investigation reports; and evaluated the preventive, protective and response measures in place. The deficiencies identified were resolved.   In the railways, experience of violence is an everyday experience for some employees, especially verbal abuse. Inspections-interventions were targeted to include individuals in jobs where risk for violence was the greatest. Incident statistics of the companies were used to identify the key worker groups at risk.
Implementation: Three case situations were in focus: 1) the company’s response to violence being repeatedly directed towards a particular group or individual, all of whom were contractors, 2) recurring violence at one location, and 3) violence directed towards train operating company employees. A checklist for preventing and addressing work-related violence was used. Discussions about violence problems in focus group sessions were conducted.
Practical applications: The method has been used in the UK railways.
Innovative aspects:   Use of mixed methods to ensure the development of good quality guidance.
Evaluation (including process issues, outcomes and sustainability): Semi-structured interviews with operational staff, their supervisors and managers were conducted. Additionally, a review and evaluation of the train operating company policy, arrangements, procedures, measures and processes for measurement and auditing performance was conducted. Different measures to protect employees from violence were planned. Each train operating company’s complete safety case was considered including policy.
Benefits (including cost effectiveness):   Improvements were sought in: ·         the arrangements for contractors, ·         more actions to ensure verbal abuse reporting, ·         more training to avoid confrontation ·         the need to arrange refresher training, ·         more initiatives with safety representatives, ·         understanding what measures have impact, ·         site-specific risk-assessments: that are usable, updated and reflect the reality, ·         the update of the quality of control measures.   A number of deficiencies were identified as a result, the most serious of which concerned the arrangements and measures in place for contract staff employed in checking tickets or in security activities.   It was also seen vital to ensure that train operating companies are: (a) fully aware of the size of violence problems, (b) using reporting systems that are flexible to ensure that maximum data are captured with minimum effort, and (c) using risk assessments that are suitable and sufficient, and incorporate local factors such as lone working.
References: Dickinson, C. & Bevan, J. (2005). Managing violence on the railways. Applied Ergonomics, 36 (6), 729-738.
Comments:   In the article there is a check list for good practice