Conflict Management

Conflict Management, Assault Avoidance and  Safe De-escalation Training

Violence in the workplace is a fact of life.

Staff across all sections of the workforce face it daily. That can mean verbal or written threats, such as shouting, swearing or sending abusive emails.

It can be threatening behaviour, such as shaking fists, destroying property or throwing objects at workers without the intention of scaring them or causing injury.

Worst-case scenarios see people punching, head-butting, pushing, slapping, kicking or assaulting workers, In some situations, with weapons. Road workers whom we have trained have even had vehicles driven at them.

No matter the reason, all forms of workplace violence are unacceptable and illegal. Organisations and management also have a legal duty to protect staff from workplace violence.

Figures from the UK Health and Safety Executive show there were an estimated 688,000 incidents of Violence towards people at work in 2019-20

Violence and abuse against people working in retail have almost doubled to pre-pandemic levels. The latest figures from the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) Crime Survey reveal that incidents, including racial and sexual abuse, physical assault, and threats with weapons, rose from the pre-Covid high of over 450 per day in 2019/20 to over 850 per day in 2021/22.

SALVAS is dedicated to ensuring you and your staff can deal confidently with conflict situations during work.

Best of all, we provide practical training to ensure you can defuse, calm and de-escalate them before they turn violent.

We provide training in everything from reading body language to using practised communication techniques to calm a potential troublemaker down, as well as using your open hands and body positioning to put over messages, which help signal non-aggression and defend when the need arises.

Staff become confident in their public-facing roles only after they’re made aware of their legal rights and responsibilities and when they know that management understands its responsibilities, too.

At SALVAS, we will be happy to tailor courses to meet the specific needs of your business or service, bringing a wealth of operational understanding and experience in delivering practical training. That will empower staff and management to provide better service to the public by keeping staff and customers safe and protecting the business’s reputation.

We’ll also show you why all instances of workplace violence should be reported to management using an accessible, efficient and searchable reporting system. 

After an incident, lessons need to be learned, procedures changed, and, if necessary, severe incidents reported to the police.

It’s essential to record and report any incident which involves racial, disability or gender-based prejudice, which no member of staff should be expected to endure.

The organisation should keep a proper record of any incident, and staff should receive training in Incident reporting systems.

Workplace Personal Safety, Conflict Management and Safe De-escalation Training 

Salvas will work with you to help you and your staff safely manage conflict situations.

Training is designed based on your organisation’s needs.

From initial advice on managing all aspects of workplace violence through skills workshops and refreshers, we will help you equip your organisation with the tools to ensure a safe workplace for everyone.

Person face-to-face training Workshops.

Classroom-based workshops are delivered face-to-face, ideally in the work setting.

In an engaging one-day workshop, people utilise quality interactive worksheets, small group facilitation exercises, walk-through scenario-based training (NOT role play), and practical instruction to ensure delegates learn how to safely manage conflict situations in their workplace.

During a typical one-day workshop, you will learn.

Risks, Rights and Responsibilities 

• Defining work-related Violence
• Identifying and Planning to reduce threats and vulnerabilities
• Rights and responsibilities of staff 

Understanding Human Behaviour

• Common causes of risk behaviours – Being Trauma Aware
• Instinctive reactions to emotional or threatening situations
• Potential triggers in self and others
• Being Trauma informed when dealing with emotional people
• Levels of escalation

Positive Interactions and Choices

• Meeting people’s needs and expectations
• Influencing positive outcomes
• Overcoming barriers to communication

Dynamic Risk Assessment and Decision Making 

• Dynamic Risk assessment model
• Risk identification
• Informed decision-making

Skills for Preventing Escalation

• Positive, non-aggressive approaches to people, places and situations
• Safer positioning and teamwork skills
• Strategies to defuse, calm and resolve

Personal Safety and Post-incident

• Responding to behaviours of concern
• Heightened risk indicators
• Exit strategies in higher-risk situations
• Supporting those affected by work-related Violence – The Immediate needs check

Lone and Solo Working 

• Risks and vulnerabilities of lone-working
• Risk reduction measures we can take to prepare for working alone
• Reducing risk when travelling alone
• Reduce risk when arriving at a premises

Half-day awareness workshops are ideal for those non-public-facing staff deemed at lower risk and require an understanding of personal safety and conflict management.

Are you interested in this training?

Get in touch now!

Glasgow: +44 (0) 141 611 9610

London: +44 (0) 203 727 5040

Email: info@salvas.co.uk

Why Choose SALVAS Workplace Personal Safety, Conflict Management and Safer De-escalation Training Courses

SALVAS courses have benefitted a wide variety of workers, including bus revenue protection staff, community wardens, housing staff, education staff in schools and colleges, and health service providers, all of whom are subject to a range of workplace abuse and Violence daily.

In our training, we include specific scenarios and case studies around the issues your staff face in their role. These could consist of Lone and remote working safely, visiting people in their homes, approaching people and vehicles, working with children and teenagers, and people with mental health or addiction issues.

After experiencing our training and support, all said that they were better informed, more confident when dealing with such situations, and less stressed at work as they felt ready and able to deal with what can be, without adequate training, a real threat to staff satisfaction and safety with their working environment.

Workplace violence is a sad fact of life in an increasingly stressed world. Still, effectively trained staff and management are the key to de-escalating it before it starts. SALVAS can help.

E-learning

As part of a step-change in training delivery, our E-learning modules can provide the complete answer for developing your staff’s confidence in safely managing or resolving conflict.

Using e-learning allows more staff throughout the workforce to be trained in awareness of conflict.

It can help you with staff induction, teaching basic information, and refreshing knowledge at work or home. They can learn online at a time and place suitable for the individual.

As part of a blended learning approach, learners who use e-learning to pre-load core knowledge can free time for practical skills practice.

SALVAS offer eLearning courses designed for frontline staff who may encounter conflict situations.

The e-Learning modules are interactive and have a completion time of about 2.5 hours.

Blended Learning

Human beings learn by watching, listening and doing.

Research shows that combining training delivery methods can make learning more meaningful for people.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when face-to-face workshops were severely curtailed, SALVAS worked with Glasgow Overnight Welcome Centre to prepare staff to support and manage homeless guests, many of whom had suffered emotional Trauma and who had mental health and addiction problems.

Staff undertook a 2.5 hours of Positive Approaches to Behaviour and Safer De-Escalation e-learning programme covering positive and proactive approaches to managing different types of conflict based on respect for their centre guests and understanding their needs.

 

Customers reviews

What people say about SALVAS

SCOTLAND TRANSERV – BALFOUR BEATTY – CONNECT ROADS

“Having identified that 77% of our Operatives had experienced verbal abuse at the hands of South West Scotland’s drivers, and 17% had experienced actual physical abuse, it was important that we equipped them with the correct training to identify potential conflict at the earliest of stages, to understand it and properly manage such issues. This training has already helped many of our workers and we will look to have all of our customer-facing teams trained to such similar high standards.”
Kevin O’HearScotland TranServ’s Senior Delivery Manager
ABERDEEN CITY COUNCIL – CITY WARDENS

“Tailored to our needs and rated as the best they’ve ever had by many of our City Wardens.”

‘Was well executed, thoroughly fascinating and helpful, and has helped taught me the proper way to deal with people. It has also gotten me thinking about my own body language so that I present myself to colleagues and customers in a more approachable and positive fashion.”

“The workshop demonstrated successfully to myself on how to deal with violence and aggression and was very practical and informative.”

“The lecturer was excellent in communicating the course I thought over to the students.”
Aberdeen City Warden Manager
FIRST BUS MANCHESTER

“Conflict specialist trainers Salvas provided a one-day training course, delivered by trainer Jag Sidhu to our Revenue protection staff.– who often face stressful situations when relating to the public – through theoretical and practical exercises, designed to help keep them and passengers conflict-free and safe.

The Salvas course was very practical, and the trainer used examples of scenarios from both within and outside the bus industry.

Our staff were very reassured by the course and felt able to deal with a variety of situations even more effectively”
Jan GuzejFirst Bus Manchester – Revenue Protection Manager
XPLORE BUSES – DUNDEE

“Having used the services of Salvas before, I knew what they offered in managing conflict training was ideal for my staff and our business.
My frontline staff are now better prepared and equipped with the skills and knowledge to deal with the various types of conflict situations that can arise when dealing with members of the public than they were before they participated in this training course.”
George KingOperations Manager McGills – Xplore Dundee

GLASGOW CITY MISSION –  WINTER NIGHT SHELTER

“Salvas have supported the project since its inception in the winter of 2010. We train staff in Managing conflict and Challenging behaviours.
Many of the service users have drug, alcohol and mental health issues.
We concentrate on developing positive communication along with defusing and calming skills.
Given the abusive backgrounds of many of the service users, staff have had to call the Police for assistance over the years.
Training inputs have been adapted based on the incident recording and learning from previous violent incidents, and this year, 2018-19, saw the following reduction in Violent incidents within the Night shelter.
Staff, volunteers and partners all reported that the night shelter felt much safer than last year. Statistics provided by Police Scotland confirmed this, with a 53% reduction in reported crime.
Common assault was down by 88%, and there was a 73% reduction in breach of the peace incidents.”
Lorna McIntoshWinter Night Shelter Manager
GLASGOW OVERNIGHT WELCOME CENTRE – 2020 – 21

“The hotel venue offered vulnerable guests an en-suite room 24/7, and staff were trained in safety.
Salvas worked with the management and staff of the centre to create a blended learning training programme to equip staff to manage and respond to behaviours of concern safely should they occur in the hotel.
Staff undertook e-learning in Personal safety and Safer De-escalation alongside a face-to-face practical skills workshop to help them safely approach and manage difficult situations, including conducting care and welfare room checks.”
Elyse MacKinnonGlasgow Overnight Welcome Centre Manager