The New Social Worker Vol. 19, No. 4, Fall 2012 | Page 15
directly experienced client violence
during their practicum. The highest rate
of the violence reported by students was
verbal abuse (37.5%) while the lowest
rate of reported violence was physical assault (3.5%).” In another study by
Agbai-olunkwa (2002), data indicate that
42.9% of MSW students felt that “they
were inadequately prepared by classroom experience to handle threats to
their personal safety in field placement.”
Social work schools leave the responsibility of teaching workplace safety up to
placement agencies (Spencer & Munch,
2003). However, not all agencies have
good safety policies and worker training
in place.
The emphasis on workplace safety
is lacking within our agencies and in our
professional organizations. According
to the NASW Code of Ethics, there is no
ethical standard for social workers to
implement workplace safety; however,
social workers are ethically bound to
“advocate for changes in policy and
legislation to improve social conditions
in order to meet basic human needs and
promote social justice” (http://www.naswdc.org/pubs/code/code.asp). So we, as
social workers, are bound to advocate for
our clients and the community, but we
ultimately ignore our own basic needs
for safety and social justice.
According to the NASW, advocating
for workplace safety for social workers
falls under this standard for Social and
Political Action (http://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/exc_032511.
shtml). Essentially, by not advocating for
ourselves, we are not being ethical.
Even though workplace safety has not
taken a prominent role in our professional organizations and many of our
work settings, more attention has been
given to this issue within the last 12 years
(since 2000). According to a library
search of peer-reviewed articles using
the search terms “workplace safety”
and “social workers,” from 1950 to
2012, there was one relevant article
published in 2007. Even though articles
in the peer reviewed literature are
virtually nonexistent, there have been
several informal articles written about
this subject since 2003 (see references).
This shift in focus has occurred as a
result of several social worker deaths
across the country that were due to
client violence from 2004-2008 (http://
www.naswma.org/displaycommon.
cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=51).
Currently, there is legislation at the
state and national levels that has been
proposed or enacted to address safety issues after the deaths of these social workers—the Teri Zenner Social Work Safety
Act (national), The Social Worker Safety
Bill (West Virginia), The Boni Frederick
Bill (Kentucky), and An Act to Promote
the Public Health Through Workplace
Safety for Social Workers. This legislation addresses issues on several fronts,
from increasing penalties for physical
crimes committed against social workers
to increasing funding to provide safety
measures, and requiring workplaces to
provide safety plans and conduct risk assessments. The Terri Zenner Social Work
Safety Act is still waiting for passage, and
currently only three states have guidelines for promoting workplace safety
for social workers, notably California,
New Jersey, and Washington (http://
www.naswma.org/displaycommon.
cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=51).
Conclusion
Violence against social workers
is a significant problem and can lead
to a social worker being ineffective in
practice (Spencer & Munch, 2003). If we
truly want to take care of our clients, we
must change our thinking to also include
taking care of ourselves. Even though the
chances of an assault becoming a fatality
are low, we must address the emotional
and physical consequences to ourselves,
particularly with regard to verbal abuse
and physical aggression (Sioco, 2010). It
is up to us as social workers to advocate
for ourselves and to educate ourselves
on de-escalation skills, risk assessment,
safety planning, non-violent forms of
self-defense, and to promote workplace
safety within our agencies and advocate
for protective legislation.
Our schools need to teach us how
to protect ourselves and our clients, so
we can continue to help individuals and
communities and practice within our
knowledge base. We need to give ourselves the same care and attention that
we give our clients, and our agencies,
schools, communities—and professional
organizations need to support us in our
endeavors.
References
Agbai-Olunkwa, M. (2 ?K??[X[HT?? ? Y[? ??&H \??\ [??? \???[ ?Y?] H[??Y[B??X?[Y[? ?X\?\??X?? ?X? ?[?\??][?[
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? JK? ?]?[[??H??Y[? ?[?[??HY?Z[?? ???X[ ??? ? Y[? ?[?] ?B?Y??X? ???X\???] \?H ?[?[??K???\][?[???[Z]Y[? [??\?Y\? ?] ?]?[[?[?[??\??\?][??T???M? LKLLM?L?L?KM???][?[\????X][?????X[???\??X??]??T????H?]X?? ???????\?????? X?????K???K?\? ???][?[\????X][?????X[???\???[?\??? ?????H ? YY\? ????????K?????X[ ???\??????] ?]???Y?] K?????][?[\????X][?????X[???\??X\??X? \?] ??X][??H?[X]H? ?Y?] K?? ???????\??XK????\?^X??[[????O?[?LI??X?\?X?[???MLK???][?[\????X][?????X[???\??X\??X? \?] ???[Z] YH?? H ? Y H[? ?]?[?[??? ?[?[??HY?Z[?? ???X[ ???\???Y?] H?ZY[[?\?? ?????˜???X[ ???\????? ??\??[???[?[??X[ ?[?[??K? K???]?K??[??[??? ???\ ?K?
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