LONE WORKER PROTECTION NOTALONE
With more than 80,000 stalking incidents recorded in England and Wales last year, SoloProtect advises employers on what they can do to protect vulnerable lone workers.
National Stalking Awareness Week takes place from 25-29 April 2022. Spearheaded by Suzy Lamplugh Trust, this year’s theme, Bridging the Gap, highlights the invaluable role that stalking advocates play in helping victims to successfully navigate the criminal justice system.
But with the average full-time employee spending 22% of their week at work (2021 ONS statistics), how can employers help to bridge the gap between the vital support a victim may receive from friends and family at home and the support that victims desperately need during working hours.
Unfortunately, visiting someone’s place of work is a leading way for stalking perpetrators to attempt contact with their victims and, more worryingly, Suzy Lamplugh Trust state that 6% of people who contact the National Stalking Helpline are being stalked by a work colleague. Furthermore, a staggering one in every five women and one in every ten men will be on the receiving end of stalking behaviours in their lifetime.
Despite such statistics, stalking in the workplace is very rarely discussed and is sometimes overshadowed, or confused with ‘harassment’. However, when harassment behaviours become frequent and obsessive, such as when a perpetrator seems fixated on their victim and their behaviour is recurring, this would constitute ‘stalking’.
It’s therefore vitally important to shine a light on stalking in the workplace to ensure employers are aware of the issue and are particularly mindful of the threat to those who work alone.
A number of factors can contribute to making lone workers more at risk of stalking. For example, lone workers may be more ‘accessible’ to the perpetrator. This can be particularly true of people who work in the community or at home. As well as this, there may be a perceived lack of ‘back up’ which can make a lone worker seem like an easy target, with fewer consequences for the perpetrator.
Due to the solitary nature of lone work, stalking behaviours are not witnessed by other people, making them harder to document. This can mean the victim suffers for longer as they feel they don’t have enough concrete evidence to report the stalking.
Certain job roles unintentionally facilitate contact with the stalker where witnesses may assume a perfectly innocent exchange, for example in a retail environment. Or working patterns which require staff, such as care workers or cleaners, to visit the same locations at the same time each week can make them easy to track and follow.
Lone workers may also experience feelings of isolation which may be heightened in a stalking scenario. Isolation is a key factor in stress-related illness and can contribute to an increase in the number of sick days taken.
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Consequently, what mechanisms can an employer use to ensure they’re proactive, sensitive, and effective in their approach to assistance?
• Ensure employees know who they can talk to if they have a concern about stalking. This may be specially trained managers or HR personnel. It’s important to ensure that victims feel safe to talk.
• Discuss whether changing working patterns would be possible. This may mean switching times, locations or responsibilities.
• If the victim is a lone worker, could they be paired with a buddy until it’s safe to return to their usual lone working arrangement?
• Revisit risk assessments, building in any additional risks and explaining any control measures. Consider the security of physical workplaces. Could changes be made to make them more secure? This might include adding or updating CCTV, or lighting, rethinking access to buildings, car parks and so on.
• Coordinate with the victim’s friends and family (with their permission) to ensure there are no gaps in support, such as during the commute, and support the victim to involve the necessary authorities.
• Make sure to document all discussions and help the victim to collate any electronic evidence of cyberstalking such as emails, online chats, posts on company social channels etc.
• Point the victim in the direction of additional support such as the National Stalking Helpline.
Unfortunately, some instances of stalking can escalate into something even more serious. Therefore, victims must have the means to discreetly call for help should they need it and to easily record evidence of abuse or aggression. A lone worker safety solution, such as that provided by SoloProtect, can provide this emergency support and the recordings of any alarms raised can help to facilitate legal proceedings.
www.soloprotect.com
www.tomorrowshs.com
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