Personal Safety Training

Catastrophic Consequences of failing to follow health & safety policies/procedures.

Responsible organisations have duty carried out risk assessments and introduce policies and procedures for the safety of their employees and others.

The death of a young adult with autism which occurred in Nottingham and was the subject of criminal prosecution of a care worker highlighted emphasised the importance of employees being risk assessments and the necessary for staff to be familiar with them.

The incident involved a local authority care worker who received a prison sentence for being in breach of section 7 of the Health & Safety at Work act 1974 which imposes the following duty on employees.

An employee may commit an offence if he contravenes the general duties imposed by    ss.7(a) and 7(b) by failing: to take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and other persons who may be affected by their acts or omissions at work (s.7(a). See link below relating to the relevant legislation below.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/enforce/enforcementguide/investigation/identifying-employees.htm.

The circumstances: An adult with learning difficulties was taken out by a local authority social services care worker for activities which included water sports. The individual participated in the morning activities but did not want to participate in the afternoon sport.

A care plan was in place to address such issues and the care worker was tasked to simply walk the individual around the lake which took about 45 minutes.

Towards the end of this walk the care worker lost sight of the individual. Dog walkers subsequently found this individual in the lake and he was rushed to hospital but pronounced dead on arrival.

The Police, the Health and Safety executive, the Local Authority all carried out an investigation to establish the cause of the death and the findings later presented to the Coroners Court.

The Court findings: The coroner who was a Judge initially concentrated on the organisation responsible for organising the event (Nottingham City Council) and demanded copies of the all the risk assessments, Policies/Procedures and the individuals care plan.

The Judge went through these documents in great detail and sort clarification on numerous issues by the LA’s Health and Safety management.

The care worker was then questioned by the Judge who unlike the LA refused to answer all questioned put to her

The Judge subsequently concluded that the Policies and procedures which had been in place on the day could not be faulted and had these been followed the death of this individual would not have occurred.

The judge recommended that the care worker should be brought before the criminal court and face chargers under the Health & Safety at Work Act.

Normally under criminal law a person is deemed to be innocent until proven guilty however this is not the case under Health & Safety legislation under this legislation a person is guilty unless they can prove their innocence.

By going “No Comment” when questioned by the Judge the defendant had failed to demonstrate a defence.

The care worker was subsequently charged under sec: 7 of the Health & Safety at Work Act and sentenced to four months in prison.

The headlines in the Nottingham evening post read: Jailed for failing to care

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-39056675

For more information about or training go to: www.brooksjordan.co.uk

It’ no surprise that with the current economic climate that people are becoming more and more angry.

Let’s face it we all have a right to be angry at the moment.

Who is not angry with the banks for bringing the world economy to its knees? with our Local Authorities cutting services, and of course we have the expenses scandal and the newspapers taping our phones and invading our privacy.

People have every right to be angry but what they don’t have is a right to be hostile and abusive towards others.

Anger in the workplace:

With the current government cut backs many employees are experiencing increased workloads, are having extra duties placed upon them, their pay frozen or cut all of which can lead to increased stress levels.

Psychologists have identified three different types of personality

Type A: These individuals are aggressive, impatient, competitive, hit the roof if they have to stand in a queue or some-one has the audacity to be a few minutes late for a meeting with them.

These individuals appear to be completely stressed out and rushing around but not really getting very far.

Who remembers the actor John Cleese’s in Fawlty Towers demonstrating a perfect example of the above

Type B: These individuals are the total opposite to the above as they always appear to be calm and relaxed even in a crisis they are able to rationalise the situation and make those around them feel completely at ease.

Again going back to the TV Bobby Ewan in the famous sit com Dallas typified the type 2

constantly staying calm and rational whist battling with his type A brother JR always, Bobby always trying to do what is right and fair for every-one and rarely getting emotional.

Type C: Tend to bottle up their emotions and if challenged will usually total deny that there is anything wrong.

This type is often the most difficult to deal with as they can explode on you without warning.

In conflict resolution training we talk about the pre-attack triggers, Warning & Danger signs and the importance of identifying and responding appropriately to these signals to diffuse and prevent escalation.

Type C’s are often experts at hiding their emotions and don’t need to be triggered as they are already there waiting to move onto the next stage of the assault cycle escalation in many cases this is compounded by the fact that the person they eventually explode on is not the person they are angry with but some innocent bystander who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

How many times have you watched the news on the television about some tragedy involving some-one going on a killing spree shooting neighbours, relatives, colleagues, or total strangers and you hear people who knew them being interviewed saying things like they were perfect neighbours, friends or colleagues very quiet, kept themselves to themselves etc.

Examples of the above include the Hungerford disaster (Michael Ryan), Dunblane Massacre: (Thomas Hamilton), Kimbra Taxi driver (Derrick Bird) and Raoul Moat who taunted Northumberland police prior to taking his own life.

The perfect solution for the workplace is to only employ type B’s if you want to have a safe and enjoyable place to work, but reality is not like that.

I suspect most people reading this like myself have worked with both type A’s & type C’s

These individuals if not checked are a burden to both others and themselves.

Attending a good Conflict Resolution training course will help staff identify types A & C.

Conflict resolution training will also give staff the necessary tool kit they need to identify the triggers, the Warning & Danger signs enabling them to apply the appropriate diffusion strategies.

Types A & C could also benefit from conflict resolution training and benefit further by attending a Stress Management training course

Brooks Jordan Training Services training provide training on both Conflict Resolution, Stress Management and a host of Corporate Management training programmes.

For more information please visit our web site http://www.brooksjordan.co.uk

Consequences of  failing to provide Conflict Management training:

Five things you need to know about handling conflict in the workplace if you want to protect your staff and avoid an expensive prosecution and adverse publicity.

A recent Magistrates Court prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive last month (January 2012) demonstrates the costs for organisations which fail to invest in training aimed at addressing work place violence, refer to article below.

Social care workers exposed to violence and aggression

A social care organisation has been fined for exposing workers to the risk of violence and aggression.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched an investigation at Dimensions (UK) Ltd, a not-for-profit organisation that provides support services for people with learning disabilities, after a support worker was kicked in the eye by a client on 31 December 2009.
The investigation revealed that between March 2009 and December 2010, Dimensions did not have adequate processes in place to control the risk of workers being exposed to violence and aggression.

Dimensions (UK) Ltd, in Reading, was fined a total of £14,000 and ordered to pay £30,000 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

So how can organisations be sure they are compliant with current Health & Safety legislation?

1. To comply with current Health & Safety legislation employers must carry out a Risk Assessment and have Policies & Procedures in place to address potential workplace violence.

2. The risk assessment must be carried out by a competent person. In reality this is usually carried out by individual/individuals who have personal knowledge with the working practices and any potential high risk duties that employees are responsible for carrying out.

3. Policies and Procedures must be put in place with control measures to address the identified issues to reduce risk as far as is practical.

4. If training issues are identified e.g. the need for Personal Safety, Conflict resolution/Management, Breakaway Skills or Physical Intervention Skills training this must be addressed.

5. A system/ procedure for recording Critical Incidents must be put into place.
Continual assessment must take place to establish that the policies and training are having the desired effect in reducing incidents of workplace violence.
Staff must be encouraged to complete a critical incident form for every incident even if the incident appears trivial or it was a near miss.

These reports must be reviewed on a regular basis and further control measures should be put in place if ongoing issues are identified.

Should an incident occur which results a serious to an employee the enforcing government body the Health & Safety Executive will be checking that the above criterion has been adhered to?
Failure to address any of the five above stages will normally result in a prosecution.

As can be seen from the above prosecution failure to invest in Conflict Management training can be costly for an organisation and lead to bad/adverse publicity.

During the trial at Newcastle Magistrates Court particular reference was made to the fact that due to lack of training the employee was not able to recognise the triggers which precede a violent assault and that no control measures had been put into place after previous incidents and near misses.

Sources: Workplace Law  http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2012/coi-ne-00812.htm

Here at Brooks Jordan training services we are finding that more and more organisations are now sending their staff on Personal Safety, Conflict Management and Physical Intervention training courses even before they actually take up their current employment duties which will obviously give them and their staff much greater protection.

This is actually mandatory now in many organisations e.g. the Security Industry.
Prior to commencing employment as a door supervisor or event steward employees will need to attend an accredited level 2 award (City & Guilds 1884 Conflict Resolution or equivalent).

For more information about training in Workplace Violence. Personal Safety, & Conflict Management visit our web site: www.brooksjordan.co.uk

There are many causes of workplace conflict & there are few organisations that do not experience this at some time or other.

Causes include poor management, individual anger management problems, stress possibly due to a bad working environment or problems at home this list is not exhaustive.

Below is an example of the tragic consequences of stress/conflict in the workplace not being addressed.

Teacher arrested on suspicion of attempted murder
Pupil allegedly hit with a dumbbell.

Teacher Peter Harvey not guilty over dumbbell assault on pupil
A teacher who beat a boy’s head with a dumbbell while shouting “die, die, die” walked free from court yesterday after being cleared of attempted murder because he was mentally unwell and had been tormented by the pupil.
In a case that raised doubts about whether there was sufficient help available for stressed teachers struggling with disruptive children, Peter Harvey, 50, was cleared after the jury deliberated for little more than an hour. He was also cleared of grievous bodily harm with intent.
You can read the full story here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/09/teacher-arrested-mansfield
Peter Harvey did not go into work on that particular day with the intention of attacking a pupil with a set of dumbbells that would be totally illogical, but when adrenalin kicks in logic goes out the window.
For an assault such as this to take place a person first needs to be triggered
Road rage is a good example of this the trigger normally being someone cutting you up.
This sends a message to the brain that danger is imminent and chemicals are released at the speed of Concorde as we enter into the flight or fight mode.
Peter Harvey did not need to be triggered on that particular day he was already triggered from previous encounters with certain pupils who had been constantly baiting him and he was entering the next stage on the “Assault Cycle” Escalation which led to the Crisis stage where the attack took place.
Could Conflict Resolution/Management training have prevent this
One of the elements contained in conflict resolution training is Non verbal communication, we can-not not communicate identifying the early Warning and Danger signs are the key to prevention in cases such as this.
Stress is a major contributor to conflict and conflict increases at particular times of the year.
We have just got to the end of another year and listening to the news as I was writing this article I was saddened to hear that there had been at least one death each and every day through the festive session in the UK alone that was caused through some kind of conflict.
The world would be a better/safer place to live if conflict was identified (in others & self) and dealt with in the early stages and this can only be achieved with training.
Brooks Jordan work with schools throughout the UK to provide Conflict Resolution to teenagers to prepare them for the challengers they will encounter as they move into the adult world and we wonder is it not now the time to have this training as part of the national curriculum .

For information about the training provided by Brooks Jordan please go to: www.brooksjordan.co.uk

Or contact Chris email address: chris@brooksjordan.co.uk or telephone on 01623 407793

What is Conflict Resolution or as it is sometimes called Conflict Management training?

Conflict Resolution/Management training courses often cover a wide area.

The training usually contains elements of Personal Safety/Lone Working and managing difficult/potentially violent individuals.

Conflict Resolution training can also include Disengagement, Breakaway Skills and even Physical Intervention training, e.g. the new door supervisors training course now includes both Breakaway Skills training & Physical Intervention training which are nationally accredited and fully endorsed by both the SIA and Skills for Security.

However the security industry, the medical profession and law enforcement agencies all agree that Physical Intervention should always be the last resort and only considered when all other options have failed.

The starting point prior to training in conflict resolution is to find out what issues the contracting organisation is experiencing and the initial assessment should include a full training needs analysis.

This will allow the course designers to prepared relevant work related scenarios for delegates to work with during the training.

Communication skills need to be explored and delegates need to be able to use the relevant Communication skill tools to practice diffusion techniques when working through their work related scenarios.

Delegates also need to able to identify different types of conflict that they may experience which can be divided into three broad areas as follows.

• Conflict in the work place: e.g. conflict with colleagues, management, work place bullying etc.
• Conflict with service users: individuals whom the engage with outside their own organisation.
• Conflict within ourselves: Anger management issues.

All three elements can often be found in one organisation and if not managed this can have a devastating effect on staff morale and in the worst case scenario even bring down an entire organisation.

There are many reasons for conflict in the work place and the conflict needs to be identified and dealt with swiftly before it escalates into something far more serious.

Training in this area is far more difficult than in the other two categories.

The training needs analysis will often identify numerous training issues and different training needs, e.g. one to one training (anger management issues), Individual group work, and whole group participation.

The training will need to be delivered by highly qualified and experienced trainers.

Qualifications should include a general teacher/trainer qualification (Ptlls) or an equivalent qualification. A qualification in communication skills, e.g. NLP or TA (ideally both), and finally a recognised Conflict Resolution qualification such as the level 3 award in Conflict management.

Trainers need also to have personal experience of dealing with conflict and ideally have considerable counselling skills.

In my January 2012 blog I will be identifying the causers of workplace conflict and how to address these to create a better working environment for staff and management alike.

For information about conflict resolution training go to our web site: www.brooksjordan.co.uk or email Chris @brooksjordan.co.uk

Brooks Jordan is working with St Bede’s School in East Sussex to deliver personal safety training to students preparing to leave school for a gap year or to go to university.

When St Bede’s first approached Brooks Jordan they asked for breakaway skills training for their year 11 pupils but after the first booking, Senior Tutor Coranne Laws booked an additional date with managing violence & aggression trainers Chris Jordan and his team of experts for sixth formers.  Coranne commented,

‘We booked Brooks Jordan as part of a scheduled Personal Safety Day for year 11 students with the aim of preparing our students for the potential risks associated with the greater freedom and autonomy they begin to experience as they move into adulthood. We were looking to provide our students with some practical advice and techniques to enable them to avoid and manage possible threats to their personal safety when in the community, particularly in the evenings.’

Coranne went on to explain why St Bede’s had found Brooks Jordan’s training so useful;

‘The year 11 sessions were very successful, student feedback was positive and supervising staff supported the view that the Brooks Jordan sessions were excellent. Students were taught to understand aggressive body language and how to use their own body language to de-escalate potentially aggressive situations. Following this success we decided to book them again to train year 13 students, this time focusing specifically on preparing students for moving away to University. The trainers shared their knowledge of crimes commonly committed against students and gave advice to enable them to avoid common pitfalls.

Our 6^th formers appreciated the opportunity to discuss strategies and techniques and found the chance to practice breakaway techniques both enjoyable and empowering.’

Director Chris Jordan commented:

‘The training is about raising awareness, getting young people to consider potential risks and to plan ahead.  It’s also about looking out for each other when socialising – what might be regarded in police parlance as ‘target hardening.’

We’re delighted that St Bede’s School has chosen Brooks Jordan to deliver personal safety training to its pupils. The school is pleased with our work and we look forward to working with them for many years to come.

Teachers are to receive self-defence lessons to protect themselves from violent pupils
Teachers will be taught techniques to restrain violent pupils safely and also how to defuse threatening situations.
The aim is to protect teachers and cut the growing number of staff accused of assaulting pupils.
Teachers from primary, secondary and special schools will be trained in the techniques and will pass them onto colleagues.
Schools in Powys, Mid Wales will be the first to try out the special training.
False accusations of assault have blighted the careers of many teachers.
Read full story @: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-64702/Teachers-given-self-defence-lessons.html#ixzz1ASj0mNUx

See recent case in Nottinghamshire
Teacher arrested on suspicion of attempted murder
• Pupil allegedly hit with weight from set of scales
• Science master questioned over two other incidents

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/09/teacher-arrested-mansfield
Teacher Peter Harvey not guilty over dumbbell assault on pupil
A teacher who beat a boy’s head with a dumbbell while shouting “die, die, die” walked free from court yesterday after being cleared of attempted murder because he was mentally unwell and had been tormented by the pupil.
In a case that raised doubts about whether there was sufficient help available for stressed teachers struggling with disruptive children, Peter Harvey, 50, was cleared after the jury deliberated for little more than an hour. He was also cleared of grievous bodily harm with intent.
Read full story@http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article7111814.ece
For more information about Self-defence training for schools visit: www.brooksjordan.co.uk

Employers are by required by Health & Safety legislation and other supporting legislation to assess the risk of violence as they would any other workplace related potential hazard. This is the beginning or staring point of an objective process that includes control measures; included in this is training.
As well as assessing the risk regarding violence in the context of health and safety,
organisations must assess risk in the context of the services provided and consider all relevant related legislation and guidelines. The threat of violence must be mitigated as far as possible

There are two main types of risk assessment to assess the risk of violence
(1) Pre-Planned (2) unplanned normally referred to as Dynamic Risk Assessment

(1) Planned Assessment (carried out prior to duties being performed)
A planned assessment should be undertaken and reviewed at set intervals in accordance with the organisations policies on risk assessments by designated individuals. It is important that employers clearly set out who is responsible and what level of assessment is required, how and when these should be carried out.

Recording systems and tools need to be identified to support the process and they
must be effective in identifying and distributing key information to management and all relevant staff in relation to the risks of violence and where necessary should be evidence based.

Any need for further improvements, control measures or risk assessments should be recorded and the necessary time schedules for this recorded.
It is also essential to analyse reported incidents including any near misses, and to identify common events and how often they occur.

Planned (static) risk assessments, must include the following:

 All Incident reports including near misses and threats & trends
 Policies/procedures and role expectations
 Environmental/situational risk factors
 Tasks activities & any high risk duties performed by the staff etc
 The Root causes behind the event and any other relevant information
 Service user and any other bystanders considerations.

One of the UK’s top Health & Safety litigation barristers uses just 4 questions when deciding if there is a case to answer:

(1) Could the risk have been foreseen ?
(2) Where policies & Procedure put in place ?
(3) Were training needs identified and carried out ?
(4) Did the staff respond as they had been trained too ?

If a negative answer is given to any of the above then someone is liable and litigation will follow.

Dynamic risk assessment (carried out whilst performing duties)

A situations can develop suddenly usually by unexpected circumstances and an accurate dynamic situational risk assessment may have to be conducted on the spot.
Staff in these circumstances need to act in a way that they could legally & morally justify
They will need to make an immediate assessment of the situation and may have to employ escape tactics.
This is why good personal safety training is important staff should have been trained and provided with the necessary tools to make a safe retreat.
Research as established that when violence as occurred it was established that it was the individual staff members response that escalated the situation.

Example of a pre-planned & dynamic risk assessment

An health visitor is requested to make an home visit on an elderly lady (Lone working situation)

A planned risk assessment is carried out which identifies the following:

The lady is in her eighties and lives alone in a respectable rural county village
A check with on the critical incident register identifies no previous issues related to this property so this is rated as a low risk situation.

However the member of staff later visits the lady and the door is answered by a young untidy looking man who reluctantly lets the health visitor in.

The elderly lady identifies the young man as her nephew who is just visiting and goes on to say she had not seen him for many years prior to him turning up without any warning.

The heath visitor having been trained in personal safety & conflict resolution recognises the Warning signs being demonstrated by the young man and carries out a dynamic risk assessment.

The health worker has also been trained in breakaway skills and knows the importance of keeping her exits routes clear, maintaining a good reaction gap, and being pre-pared to use a pre- programmed response if the situation changers, e.g she starts to witness Danger signs

The pre-programmed response could be some-thing as simple as making an excuse to return to her vehicle for example claiming she need to go and get a benefit form from the car.

The use of any physical breakaway skills should only be used as a last result when all other forms of diffusion have been applied and failed.

Post critical incident debrief & review

All near miss incidents provide valuable learning enabling staff & management to evaluate the risk assessments control measures.
Staff should be encouraged to see every situation as a leaning experience (e.g No such thing as failure only feedback)
This particularly important in incidents involving conflict resolution and diffusions techniques e.g How could we do this better next time ?

Conclusion•

An effective work related violence risk assessment is the key factor to a successful violence prevention strategy

 Planned risk assessments are the main starting position s and are necessary for the establishing good/effective control measures
 Certain duties and job specific activities carry inherent risks should be identified within the risk assessment process to reduce the risk of violence
 Dynamic risk assessment training will help staff to respond appropriately to a developing situation and minimise the risk of escalation into violence etc
 Incidents and near misses need to be professionally monitored & assessed to ensure personal support and identify any further training needs
 Enquiries need to concentrate on the Root cause
 An effective training programme needs to be put in place incorporating all available risk assessment data and should be continually monitored

Why good professional physical intervention skills training is so important

Shoplifter begged for mercy as guard ‘choked him to death.

A shopping centre security guard killed a shoplifter trying to stop him escaping with a bottle of perfume.

Aaron Bishop, 23, turned blue and pleaded ‘please help me’ as he was choked by Sam Bawden, 25, according to witnesses.

Horrified shoppers begged him to let go of Mr Bishop, a former Guardsman at Windsor, but Bawden maintained a firm grip around the throat and when police arrived, Mr Bishop was dead.’

‘Four security guards tried to restrain him after he took the bottle of Joop! from the Debenhams store at the busy Quadrant Shopping Centre in Swansea.
Prosecutor Patrick Harrington QC said; ‘Mr Bishop was seen on CCTV to steal a bottle of Joop! perfume. It was priced at £35 but the cost proved very high indeed.

Bawden, of Neath, South Wales, denies manslaughter in July last year…
The case continues at Swansea Crown Court.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1313952/Security-man-killed-shoplifter-Guard-choked-death-35-perfume.html#ixzz10qCPEXI4

The above tragic news report just goes to highlight the importance of understanding the dangers involved in physical intervention.

As an experienced martial artist who as trained up to black belt standard in Judo and other martial arts I understand just how effective a properly executed strangle hold can be, but also recognise just as lethal this can be.

Many things can go wrong when applying physical intervention techniques (often known as Control & Restraint) which is why training should be of the utmost importance for employers who are likely to have to employees who may need to use  physical controlling techniques such as those working in the security industry.

The Police and Medical profession trainers have for many years known the dangers associated with physical restraint and there have been many incidents of defendants & patients losing their lives whilst restraint techniques were being applied.

Strangulation is a band technique now in any accredited Physical Intervention training course, but there are numerous other potential life threatening issues such as positional asphyxia.

This occurs when pressure is put on an individual’s chest whist attempting to pin them down to the floor etc

This restricts the intake of air causing the individual to panic which is often wrongly interpreted as fighting back and there have been many tragic incidents of this in police custody suites & Psychiatric wards.

The SIA have now recognised that training in physical interventions is important and have introduced this as a new module to be undertaken by anyone now wishing to gain employment in high level security work e.g. a door supervisor in the UK.

As with the other modules that have to be taken delegates will have to demonstrate their competence in this area to receive their pass accreditation.

Hopefully this training will give those individuals now joining this industry the necessary tools they need to carry out the job without putting others or themselves at risk.

Sadly though this would not have prevented the death of Aaron Bishop or the criminal proceedings being brought against Sam Bawden as this training is currently only compulsory for those individuals who are now seeking to obtain the SIA badge and there are no current plans for this to be extended to those already licenced.

<

Lock Up Your Daughters* – (And Other Unrealistic Suggestions for 21st Century Living)
Any parent will tell you their greatest concern is for the safety of their children. Conscientious parents wouldn’t dream of letting younger children cross the road without teaching them how to cross safely – so why is it so hard to provide the same life skills when teenagers start to socialise independently?
The answer may be that teenagers simply don’t want to listen to over protective parents. Or perhaps parents don’t feel able to provide the right advice – after all the world is now a very different place to how it was even thirty years ago. For these reasons schools are now starting to buy in life skills training for teenagers about to make their way in the world for the first time.
Life Skills Training
So what does the training cover? For pupils of Silverdale School, a beacon language academy in Sheffield, this training has been on offer for over ten years. The programme covers managing personal safety awareness, risks to be aware of when visiting, local public houses, night clubs, taking taxis, and generally going out and about alone in an unfamiliar city – a common experience for students heading off to university for the first time. Students new to an unfamiliar town experiencing independence for the first time often find it exciting to visit backstreet pubs where they will be unfamiliar with the area, its reputation or, once inebriated may even have difficulty finding their way home. This can pose its own risks as students new to and unfamiliar with an area may be easily identified by local thugs who see them as easy targets.
So here are a few of the simple tips taught by Brooks Jordan –
When you go clubbing/partying
• If possible try to go out as a group of friends or at least arrange for someone to be your nightclub buddy for the night.
• Arrange to regroup at the end of the evening to travel home together.
• If an individual wants to go home separately make sure the rest of the group know where that person is going and who with.
• If someone you don’t know offers to buy you a drink, make sure you watch the drink being served and handed to you.
• It is also best to drink bottled beers straight from the bottle. However undignified this may seem, it makes it much more difficult for someone to drop something in to a bottle than a wide necked glass (Date Rape drugs etc ). Although this practice can cause other problems e.g Wails decease
• Don’t leave your drinks unattended – leave someone you can trust to watch over them or finish your drink before leaving it.
• Watch out for each other – if one of your group seems suddenly disorientated or appears to be drunk without having had too much to drink, speak to one of the bar staff or club security team quickly and ask for help. It is now a legal requirement for door staff to be trained to identify and deal with someone who may have been given a date rape drug.
• Women out partying should also pay attention to their environment both the area – student accommodation can often be located in rougher neighbourhoods – and also the venue itself. In particular women should avoid drinking too much and should remain aware of their surroundings at all times. Being aware of warning/danger signs alerting you to potential dangers is far more difficult if you are under the influence of drink or drugs.

Personal Safety when travelling.
Getting Home
• Make sure you have the number of a trusted taxi company handy
• Order the taxi as if you were ordering it for someone else (find a quiet spot to do this)
• For example – ‘I’d like a taxi for my sister please’ ‘Yes – travelling from Upper Parliament Street Nottingham to High Street Beeston’. ‘ What time shall I tell her to expect you?’….. ‘How long will it take her to get here?’ ‘What’s the name of the driver?’
• This gives the impression that there is someone at home expecting you to get home, knows what time this will be and the name of the driver and the taxi firm if you don’t arrive at the agreed time.
• When the taxi arrives make it sound as if you’re just receiving a phone call – ‘Yes I’m on my way home now – yes it’s just arrived’. ‘The driver?’ (To the driver) ‘Sorry its my sister/ Mum/ Auntie just wanting to make sure I’ve got the right taxi can I just tell them what you’re name is and what time they can expect me home?’
• Back to the phone ‘ Yes of course its a proper taxi his number is (read out the drivers number or the registration plate number).
• If you don’t have a nightclub buddy to take this call and there isn’t anyone at home waiting for you then still ring an answer machine and leave this conversation as a message on the machine. It serves the same purpose – no driver intent on abducting you will risk it if they think they’re likely to get caught. There are easier victims out there after all.
• When travelling on other forms of public transport such as buses or trains, avoid taking the window seat as anyone taking the aisle seat next to you will block you in. Sitting in the aisle seat will give you a far better chance of getting out if something untoward happens.
If you think these tips are useful and know someone who might want Street Survival training then contact us here for details of training in your area. If you mange a youth group or are in teaching and want more details for your club school or society then contact us to get further details of our Street Survival Skills Training for Teenagers or for more advice on Personal Safety Go to : www.brookskordan.co.uk
*Young men between the ages of 16 and 26 are the most vulnerable group in society as statistically they come off worst as victims of violent street attacks. [This may or may not surprise you and will be covered in more depth in next month’s blog.]