An incident that happened at work, what are my rights?

[mountainboo]

I'm a library assistant and recently I was working alone one afternoon when a young male who was acting extremley suspicious started ranting to himself and then suddenly without warning tried to pick a fight with a customer who was with his partner and 2 babies. He became very abusive and threatening and shouted obsene things to him. It was completely unproked and the 'victim' shall we say, is a regular customer, who is a little simple, he didn't say a word. I then called the police as I thought he was going to pull a knife out or something. As he saw me calling for the police he shouted at me. Bearing in mind I am pregnant, I was petrified. Anyway, this male soon left and a PCSO reprimanded him, however he was loitering outside the library when I finished work, which I logged with the police. The Social services are apparantly involved and I guess that means mental health? My question is, we have absolutely no security system in place, no risk assessment in place, no CCTV, and I am regularly left on my own for periods of an hour or more. The 'Librarian' or Manager has simply said he will log it. I am not prepared to work alone anymore, am I within my rights to say that under no circumstances will I now work alone? They are very short staffed and trying to save money.

[johnny37]

Sounds like you have a case. It is the employers responsibility to ensure that you are working in a safe environment, which you clearly are not. Talk to your union immediately

[Twenty20]

You should raise this as a grievance with your manager. Put in in writing. If its clearly stated that you have a grievance they will have to look into it and hopefully do something.

[johnny37]

It occurs to me that there will be someone in your organisation whose job it is to be aware of health and safety issues, even down to indiviual buildings or offices. Their title is Health and Safety Rep. There will be one for your library. Find out who it is (your HR department or manager should know) and discuss your issues with them. It is their job to take you seriously and the employer can be held liable if sufficient steps are not taken.

[plowter]

Your employer has a legal duty (under Health & Safety legislation) to ensure you have a safe workplace and are not exposed to risk. Therefore they have to carry out a risk assessment on dangers in the wrokplace.

As johnny37 says there should be a H&S rep and there should be a H&S poster displayed giving details of the H&S rep. For more details see Health & Safety Executive website.

As a result of that risk assessment there should be clear procedures in place to explain what to do in an emergency, what to do when subject to threats or violence and to ensure an appropriate number of staff.

You should use the formal grievance procedure, as Twenty20 says. The grievance would be that you no longer feel safe in the workplace, that there is insufficient staff cover, that there has been no risk assessment carried out and that there are no procedures set out on what to do in such incidents.

[mountainboo]

Thanks for all your input everybody, some valuable advice there. I will do that right away. With ref to the union, can I still contact them even though I am not actually a member?

[johnny37]

They should deal with the issue as it also affects their members. However, they wont represent you in any claims, disputes, etc that might arise. Im my experience they would be quite happy to sign you up before doing so.

[thugulike]

Contact Unison and join. They will help but will not provide a barrister if you bring a case within 13 weeks of joining. This cannot happen in your case so join. Your council must have a Lone Working Policy and should provide a Risk Assessment. Put your concerns in writing and ask for a written response. Good Luck

[wolf63]

It is unacceptable that you should be in the library on your own for any period of time. What if there was a fire - would you be able to get the customers out.

If you work for a local authority there will certainly be rules set down which state how many staff should be present at any one time.

I hope that you get something sorted out for the future.