Protecting the protectors
- Rehana Azam
- Apr 26, 2018
- 2 min read
“I have letters that state this [violence] is part of the job and we should expect it. It’s only a matter of time before one of my colleagues or I are murdered or very seriously injured.”
GMB ambulance worker
Ahead of Workers’ Memorial Day this Saturday, we must hold true to the rallying cry: “Remember the dead, fight for the living.”
MPs have the chance to fight for our emergency service workers tomorrow.
Our members in ambulance services are increasingly under attack. GMB research shows that recorded assaults against ambulance workers are up 34% since 2012/13; recorded sexual assaults are up 211%.
The Protect the Protectors Bill – brought forward by MPs Holly Lynch and Chris Bryant – seeks to create a new offence of assaulting an emergency worker, and require courts to treat attacking an emergency worker as an aggravating factor for sentencing purposes.
GMB has worked hard to ensure cross-party support for the Bill, and our members will be watching from the public gallery tomorrow.
There is, however, a serious problem with the new legislation. It does not cover sexual assaults. GMB in Yorkshire and North Derbyshire and other Regions have campaigned strongly on this issue. Especially in the era of the Me Too movement, excluding sexual assaults is totally unjustifiable. A number of our members have been targeted by offenders because they are ambulance workers.
As one GMB member, who was assaulted by a known offender, said: “It was a clever game played by someone who had done all this before.”
An amendment is being moved tomorrow. MPs of all parties must vote to include sexual offences in the Bill.
Passing the Protect the Protectors Bill will be an important first step, but much more remains to be done.
Risk flagging systems must be upgraded so staff are always warned if they are in danger. Trusts must be significantly improve their support to staff and their working relationships with local police forces and the Crown Prosecution Service. All ambulance workers should have a clear right to refuse to attend a potentially violent incident until police back-up can be secured.
Ultimately, many of the reasons for increased violence can be traced back to funding cuts – including to police forces and care in the community services.
GMB has this week published a full report on violence against ambulance workers that makes detailed recommendations to employers and the Government. We will continue campaigning to secure the passage of the Protect the Protectors Bill and beyond.
Read the full GMB report, In harm’s way: Confronting violence against ambulance staff (pdf) http://www.gmb.org.uk/in-harms-way.pdf
