We recognise that jobs which expose people to members of the public, particularly in situations of stress or where there is cash or valuable goods, will always carry some risk, regardless of the steps the employer takes to prevent that risk. Even if employers are doing everything they can to control the problem there will still be some incidents. Part of the overall package of risk management therefore is how the employers deal with the incidents which do occur. There can be little doubt that prompt and sympathetic support to the victims will go a long way to reducing the chances of long term damage. Equally an unsympathetic approach from the employer is likely to do more harm than good.
Prompt support means the right support from line management when an incident happens.
Sympathetic support means being aware to the fact that some individuals may need access to more specialist help which cannot be provided by the organisation itself. Organisations should not assume that managers will automatically know what to do because they may have been in similar situations themselves. Nor should they assume that they can forget about after care once they have put the victim in touch with the local Victim Support group. One good example of useful work which has been done in this area is the CRS, a national Co-op Society. They have also piloted training for all staff on dealing with possible sources of aggression in the highest risk stores which they intend to roll out to other stores as well.