The claimant was a support worker for the respondent and worked with young people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. On one occasion she was attacked in the staffroom by one student who had particularly challenging behaviour and suffered a broken finger. Matters escalated as the student being drawing illustrations of the claimant being shot with guns and some staff members heard him say that he ‘wanted her dead’.

She raised concerns with management about the lack of a review or updated risk assessment; but no action was taken. She suffered another attack months later in the staffroom and made a formal grievance and requested that the student be removed. The grievance was rejected and the claimant tendered her resignation claiming constructive dismissal. The tribunal held that, as well as two other breaches, this amounted to a ‘failure to provide a safe place of work’ and constituted a fundamental breach of her terms and conditions of employment.

Practical Lessons

The duty to provide a safe place of work is an implied term of every employment contract and the employer here demonstrated a clear disinterest to the claimant’s concerns which were actually quite serious. The tribunal stressed that the action required from the respondent was quite a simple one: enforcing a rule whereby students were not allowed into the staffroom. The tribunal also stressed that the employer should have made an effort to speak directly to the claimant after each incident, to ascertain what steps could be taken to assist her.

Generally, an employer can better protect itself by consulting the affected employee and involving them directly in what steps are necessary to ensure the workplace can be made as safe as possible based on their concerns and past experiences.