Shocking Details of Violence Against East Riding Officials

Friday, 18 August 2023 08:59

By Joe Gerrard, LDRS

A worker blinded after an assault and others who were burnt and cut are among the hundreds of attacks on East Riding Council staff in recent years.

A concussion and fractures were also among the injuries 1,263 East Riding Council staff assaulted from October 2018 to July this year sustained, a freedom of information request showed.

Assaults on council workers peaked last year with a total of 421 recorded, more than half of them on female education and school staff including teachers.

A council spokesperson said the authority had a zero tolerance policy against abuse and had robust processes in place to make sure they stay safe.

Council data showed 557 of the 1,263 staff assaulted were left with at least superficial injuries, compared to the 399 who sustained none.

Two workers have been burnt since October 2018, one of them earlier this year.

A total of 154 were left with bruises, 45 had lacerations and open wounds, one was blinded and another got concussion and internal injuries.

Six staff suffered fractures while 16 had multiple injuries and 38 had strains and sprains.

A further 97 sustained other known and unknown injuries, the details of which were not specified.

Figures showed a total of 201 staff have been assaulted so far this year, with 49 hurt in January alone.

Almost three quarters of those assaulted, 135, were female education and schools staff.

The number of male school staff assaulted up to July this year was 20, the second largest total of any department.

A total of 18 culture and customer services staff were assaulted, along with 12 from adult specialist services, eight from housing, transport and public protection and three from streetscene.

Female education and school staff have been workers with the most assaults every year, except the last three months of 2018 when it was women in business management and commissioning.

High numbers of women working in business management and commissioning, adult specialist services, streetscene and culture and customer services were also victims of assaults.

The majority of the 1,263 council staff assaulted across all departments and years were women.

The 421 assaults in 2022 compare to 94 in the last three months of 2018, 184 in 2019, 173 in 2020 and 190 in 2021.

The council’s spokesperson said the authority had taken a number of measures to try and combat assaults.

The spokesperson said:

“East Riding of Yorkshire Council is committed to ensuring that the council is and remains a safe place to work.

“Body cameras were introduced for our civil enforcement team in 2018, the team were the first in East Yorkshire to be equipped with the new technology to prevent abuse and reduce incidents.

“We have a zero tolerance policy against abuse on our staff and have robust processes in place to ensure their safety.”