Over the last fortnight we have seen many of our members contact Napo to express their anger and frustration about recent Health and Safety incidents within the Probation estate. Napo's view is that the responsibility for ensuring the safety of their workforce lies with the employer and that senior HMPPS management must reassure Probation staff that their wellbeing is being taken seriously.
This is why Napo has demanded that the Probation Joint National Council be convened at the earliest opportunity. We have asked for HMPPS Health and Safety experts to also be on hand, and our hope is that it will be possible to reach a collective position that will produce practical steps to immediately improve safety standards that reflect the ‘changed world’ that our members are now working in.
There are legal obligations on both employers and employees within the workplace. Employers have a duty to provide a safe and healthy working environment for their employees by:
- conducting risk assessments,
- implementing safety measures,
- providing training,
- ensuring that equipment is safe to use.
It is an employee's responsibility to follow the safety procedures put in place and report any hazards they encounter.
What can you do?
- Members must log each violent/aggressive/abusive incident or ‘near-miss’ that they experience or witness, as well as any building/security issues they're aware of, through Sphera asap (including making further reports if the issue isn't resolved in a timely manner by the employer) - Guide for Reporting Health and Safety | Napo
- It is a legal requirement for any such incident or ‘near-miss’ scenario be recorded, so there should be no repercussions on anyone for doing so, and it is only by being made aware of incidents that resources can be put in place to reduce the risk of further instances recurring.
- Members need to keep their Branches updated, especially H&S Reps, so these issues can be addressed with the employer, including by Branch Reps in local/regional H&S Committees.
- Branch H&S Reps can seek central support as required, including outside of their Branch Executive if needed, for instance by attending Napo’s monthly H&S Forum and maintaining contact with their Branch Link Official/Officer, if cases need escalation through to the national joint H&S Subcommittee (between national employer and trade union representatives). You can contact your Napo Link Official and Officer via your Branch Executive member to let us know of issues in your area (anonymity guaranteed)
- Members who can do so are asked to consider undertaking H&S Reps training and go on to act as H&S Reps for their Branch. Our next training event for H and S Reps is from the 29th September to the 1st October 2025 (delivered online), please email training@napo.org.uk to register your interest.
- Employers must provide appropriate workload relief to those individuals and Napo will ensure that they receive appropriate training, support and accreditation so that they can carry out the important role on behalf of member’s and work with management to create safer workplaces.
- Please ensure that you are following the policy when undertaking home visits and in lone working situations, including the wearing of personal safety devices. If you have examples where these policies have not been adequate, please share these with your branch reps. We are involved in ongoing discussions about the reliability of lone working devices particularly in areas where the signals are weaker and further advice has just been issued by the employer about checking their effectiveness and battery life regularly.
If ever you feel vulnerable in your work environment please speak to your line manager or one of your Napo reps and record it on Sphera. If it isn't recorded, the employer can claim that it hasn't happened.
The Employment Rights Act says that it will be unlawful to subject an employee to a detriment, or to dismiss them, for refusing to work in circumstances where they ‘reasonably believe’ they are facing a serious and imminent danger or where they take appropriate steps to protect themselves or others.
Section 44 of the Act states that a worker has the right not to be subjected to any detriment where they leave work, or refuse to return to work, in circumstances where the worker reasonably believes there to be ‘serious and imminent’ danger, which they could not reasonably avoid. This includes sessional and part time workers, and people contracted to the workplace. The protection also applies where the worker takes appropriate steps to protect themselves or others from serious and imminent danger. Whether the steps are appropriate will depend on all the circumstances, including particularly the employee’s knowledge and the facilities and advice that were available to them.
Under section 100 of the Act any dismissal in these circumstances will be automatically unfair. This right only applies to employees. The usual two-year qualifying condition does not apply to unfair dismissal claims, so any employee can claim regardless of how long they have been employed.
The law offers this protection to those who refuse to work because they believe there is ‘serious and imminent’ danger, and Napo will use the law robustly to defend our members. But as a word of caution, it should be noted that a tribunal would need to consider all the circumstances in a case, such as:
- whether the worker’s belief was reasonable
- the extent of the danger
- whether it could be avoided
- the extent to which the employer was following official guidance.
Napo will be issuing more information about our extensive work on Health and Safety at National level and how we are taking up the general issue of keeping the workforce safe for everyone.
Carole Doherty, Tony Perkins and Ian Lawrence