Today, on Workers’ Memorial Day, we pause to remember those who have lost their lives, been injured, or made unthinkable sacrifices simply for doing their jobs. Across Probation the wider justice sector, and many occupations across society, this day carries a particular weight.
Every day, our members work on the frontline, in probation offices, courts, approved premises, prisons, UPW, Programmes, and community settings, often managing risk, navigating complex human situations, and making difficult decisions that protect the public. This work is not without cost. It requires resilience, professionalism, and a level of emotional labour that is too often overlooked.
Today is about recognition.
- Recognition of the colleague who continues to show up despite unsafe workloads.
- Recognition of those who have experienced violence, threats, or trauma in the course of their duties.
- Recognition of those whose lives have been permanently changed, and those we have sadly lost.
But Workers’ Memorial Day is not only about remembrance. It is also a call to action.
As a union, Napo will continue to:
- Challenge unsafe working conditions
- Hold employers to account where risks are foreseeable and preventable
- Push for meaningful investment in staff safety, training, and wellbeing
- Ensure that lessons are learned, not repeated.
- Maintain our dialogue with employers wherever Napo is represented though the appropriate forums
Safety at work is not a privilege. It is a fundamental right.
To our members: your work matters. Your safety matters. And today, we stand with you, not just in remembrance for those who have lost their lives, but in solidarity and determination to secure safer workplaces for the living, now and in the future.
Napo pays tribute to victims at a Parliamentary event
General Secretary Ian Lawrence attended the House of Lords this morning at an event hosted by Ian Lavery MP to celebrate International Workers Memorial Day. Here the audience listened to speakers whose loved ones have lost their lives directly because of their profession either through suicide, industrial disease, or murder. These were tragic and distressing testimonies by their friends and families which revealed the failure of successive Governments to enact legislation to better protect workers, but also the disgraceful absence of effective monitoring of the circumstances which led to these stories and those experienced by multitudes of victims at their workplace.
TUC Assistant Secretary Kate Bell in her contribution revealed the appalling results from a recent survey amongst workers where a staggering 8 out 10 respondents said they had revealed actual our threatened violence at the workplace. It was also notable to hear that the Health and Safety Executive has suffered a 50% reduction in staffing and financial resources over the last 10 years.
Probation staff in the front line
A serious assault outside a probation premises in West London last Friday resulted in a Residential Worker suffering knife wounds as they went to report for their shift. Whilst this incident is the subject of an active police and internal investigation to establish the facts, we were pleased to hear that the staff member was released from Hospital the same evening after treatment. We are sure that all our members will join us in sending our best wishes and whatever support we can to the victim.
This was the third knife attack on a probation worker within the last 9 months and is a vivid reminder, if one was needed, of the dangers faced by our members in and outside of their workplaces. It’s why it is always important that every Health and Safety incident or threat of violence is brought to the attention of your manager and recorded on SPHERA so that trends can be monitored and, where appropriate, perpetrators identified.
3 responses
So the 3rd stabbing in less than a year and all we get are lockers. I have yet to have anyone use a locker as they tend to not have bags unless coming from prison. We need security staff with wands. Courts and job centres have them why not us?
I support this campaign.
As a hostel manager in the 80s I recall single cover as a permanent feature. An lone female assistant warden on duty in the late evening was threatened by a resident who had smashed up his room and threatened her with a shard of glass. She had attended a training course the week previously on ‘Difficult, Disturbing and Dangerous’. She thereby had the confidence to manage the moment successfully. If by the skin of her teeth.
Training for all front line staff as well as managers is fundamental to making a challenging job more manageable. Yet while the human factor is essential this is not substitute for the hard environment as well. The general public see probation as a soft touch. The physical, mental, and emotional resilience that is required and provided every day should be a core aspect of all NAPO’s campaigning. It is a tough, tough job where our staff give the best of themselves to bring out the best from people who are otherwise discarded by society.
Thank you.
My thoughts are with the victims of any employer exercising such poor behaviour.