When you no longer feel safe in your work environment...

[Startingagainandagain]

Without being too outing, I work in a back-office function for a charity that supports men with complex needs (drug/alcohol addiction, homelessness, mental health).

I am not frontline staff but there have been so many incidents of fights, staff being threatened (including with a knife), drugs being used on office premises that I no longer feel safe there.

I work from home most of the time but sometimes still need to be on site and I am really concerned that the organisation does not have enough security in place, is too relaxed about it (and has a high staff turnover because of it) and that this is just an accident waiting to happen and I really don't want to be in that office anymore.

I am job hunting and as the job market is not great this is taking some time but at the same time this is really affecting me...

What would you do in this situation?

I would email whoever is in charge, outlining exactly why you don't feel safe - give dates, times and incidents - and ask to see their risk assessment and health and safety policies. Then I might contact the Health and Safety Executive to ask for advice which I would then feed back to whoever is in charge.

I would also discuss with my line manager that I am happy to work remotely but WILL NOT be coming into the office until basic safety questions have been addressed.

Definitely outline to management incidents where you've felt unsafe, and what reasonable measures they should be taking to ensure your safety. It's sadly a difficult demographic as I'm sure you know. There will be people turning up under the influence, or having quite distressing and obvious MH episodes.
I hope they can improve things. But maybe you may be better off working for a charity with clients who have slightly less complex needs/issues.

Thanks everyone.

I think what makes it worse is that issues are not being reported/logged by the front line staff and the building security is really poor and management is really not on top of it.

I know that the best solution is to find another job but in the meantime I just feel generally unsafe.

Could you request no lone working when in the office or permanent remote?

More incidents today although I was not in the office. I am actually wondering if I should report this externally as a safeguarding concern but not sure who I should be contacting...charity commission? local authority?

What’s the company policy on reporting incidents?

If there isn’t one there needs to be.

You can contact the Trustees outlining your concerns. You can also contact the Charity Commission. You can speak to ACAS for advice.

They do have policies for everything but I believe they don't have enough staff to keep things safe. There is a high staff turnover and their caseload are too big and there is little security on site. I don't think the trustees would do much but I am going to look at the possibility of whistleblowing and contacting the Charity Commission.

You could potentially report it to the adults section of your local safeguarding partnership - report you have safeguarding concerns for staff and clients and detail why. They may pick this up. I guess the employees are not regulated (ie not social workers, therapists etc) - if so could whistleblow to their regulatory body.

You could potentially report it to the adults section of your local safeguarding partnership - report you have safeguarding concerns for staff and clients and detail why. They may pick this up. I guess the employees are not regulated (ie not social workers, therapists etc) - if so could whistleblow to their regulatory body.

List the incidents, factually & unemotional
Consult your whistleblowing policy - it should tell you how to proceed.

Yes do report to the Charity Commission as well.