Incidents of aggression and violence to staff are causing major concerns within North Ayrshire Council services.

Now a working group has been set up to look into the issue.

The annual health and safety report revealed that, in 2021, there were 798 reportable incidents and non-reportable incidents. In 2021-22, there were 1,508 and in 2022-23 some 1,567.

The local authority has a legal duty to report certain incidents to the Health and Safety Executive as per the requirements of the Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR).

During the three-year period, the place directorate has reported the highest number of RIDDOR incidents with 34, followed by communities and education with 26 and the health and social care partnership (HSCP) with 21.

However, the  HSCP is showing a distinctive trend downwards over the last three years.

A detailed three-year breakdown of incidents within the HSCP (excluding aggression and violence) shows that 2020-21 returned 76 incidents; 2021/22 returned 96 and 2022-23 returned 47.

The incident type showing the highest numbers across the three-year period is ‘slip trip and fall’ with 243 incidents; struck against/struck by with 217; use of work equipment 66 and manual handling 56.

Vehicle incidents are down by two compared to last year and down by 14 compared to 2020-21.

RIDDOR incidents are on a downward trend, reduced by three compared to last year and down by six on the previous year.

The majority of RIDDOR incidents within HSCP are in relation to direct assistance / personal care with service users whose needs are becoming more varied and complex.

Over the three-year period, communities and education recorded the most incidents with a total of 3,041. The HSCP returned 586 and Place 242. These totals include aggression and violence incidents.

In 2020/21, within communities and& education, there was a significant reduction
in the number of incidents, however, this covers the period of school closures through the Covid 19 lockdown.

A working group, including trade unions and corporate health and safety, is being set up to look at ways of reducing the incidence of aggression and violence incidents, with a relationship-based approach as the focus for improvement.

It will consider a report into the corporate health and safety group every three months.

Audrey Sutton, executive director of communities, said: “We can all agree that Covid had a considerable impact on pupils and young people and staff.

“A new working group has been set up and was starting this week. It’s a combination of trade union and colleagues, of school staff, central staff and elected members for which we are very grateful.

“The purpose of the group will be to review the existing policies and decide what we feel will be more appropriate policies.

“This gives an opportunity to restore the priority that relationships play within health and safety. We want to make sure that positive relationships with young people, the new processes and new policies will all feed into that shared understanding on behalf of staff and pupils in terms of what we want to do.

“The procedural review will be embedded within professional learning for staff, teaching and non-teaching within our establishments and we hope from that there will be a much clearer understanding of how to report incidents.”