VIOLENCE against public service workers in Scotland has nearly doubled in the last eight years, according to new research by union leaders.
More than 37,050 incidents were reported to the public service trade union Unison by bosses last year, a rise of 3,363. The figure is almost twice the 20,000 reported when the first survey was conducted in 2006.
Its Scottish Organiser, Dave Watson, branded the figures unacceptable and said the problem was compounded by a "toxic cocktail" caused by cuts to both workforces and the services they administer.
He will present the Violence At Work survey results to Unison Scotland's health and safety conference at Stirling University today.
More than two-fifths of the attacks were on council staff, with another year-on-year increase of 850 incidents to a total of 15,729.
The union has welcomed improvements in data recording, but it said some public bodies are still failing to collate data properly. He said that, if they cannot collate data, they cannot know where to take the necessary action.
Mr Watson said: "It is entirely unacceptable for staff who serve the public to be assaulted for simply doing their job.
"These statistics record reported incidents and are therefore only the tip of the iceberg of misery faced by workers across Scotland's public services".
"The biggest increase in violent incidents is happening in those services that have suffered staffing cuts. Workers are stretched too thinly, dealing with service users who are coping with cuts in the services they rely on. This is a toxic cocktail that is putting hard pressed workers at greater risk of violent assault."
There were 330 convictions under the Emergency Workers Act last year, and the union said that tougher legislation was needed.
It also hit out at the Scottish Government for blocking new measures contained in the Protection of Workers Bill.
Scott Donohoe, chairman of Unison Scotland's health and safety committee, added: "To seriously tackle violence against staff we need proper monitoring, backed up by effective workplace measures to minimise the risks.
"We also need better legal protection for workers in the civil and criminal courts."
In 2006, Unison identified more than 20,000 violent incidents that against NHS and local government workers, a figure it described at the time as "unacceptable".
In the latest survey, it said that better reporting of the alleged crimes may be responsible for the rise, but added it was clear "the problem is not going away".
The document said the union's attempts to raise awareness of the problem was being hampered by many councils.
It said: "Many local authorities still do not collate adequate statistics on violence and cannot, therefore, have a strategy for combating the level of assaults on their workers.
"Overall monitoring of figures within an authority cannot take place if the statistics are kept in departmental silos."
The union has also criticised the Scottish Government for its opposition to Labour MSP Hugh Henry's Protection of Workers Bill, and the UK Government, which it said has undermined protection for workers with cuts to the criminal injury compensation scheme.
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