Contents
Introduction
Guiding Principles
Acknowledgment of the Context of Social Work Practice
Social Workers’ Rights to Report Safety Concerns
Application of Universal Safety Precautions
Goals of the Guidelines
Guidelines for Social Worker Safety in the Workplace
Standard 1. Organizational Culture of Safety and Security
Standard 2. Prevention
Standard 3. Office Safety
Standard 4. Use of Safety Technology
Standard 5. Use of Mobile Phones
Standard 6. Risk Assessment for Field Visits
Standard 7. Transporting Clients
Standard 8. Comprehensive Reporting Practices
Standard 9. Post-Incident Reporting and Response
Standard 10. Safety Training
Standard 11. Student Safety
References
Introduction
A major tenet of the National Association of
Social Workers’ (NASW) threefold mission is
to promote, develop, and protect the practice
of social work and social workers. In alignment
with that mission, NASW establishes
professional standards and guidelines to
support quality social work practice.
Social workers provide services in an
increasingly complex, dynamic social
environment and have a broadening client base.
The profession’s primary mission is “to enhance
human well-being and help meet the basic
human needs of all people, with particular
attention to the needs and empowerment of
people who are vulnerable, oppressed and living
in poverty” (NASW, 2008, p. 1). Within the
past decade, the United States experienced a
severe recession and related social changes that
have led to increases in the number of people
unable to meet their basic needs without
assistance from public and private agencies.
These social and economic changes have created
pressures in social work practice settings as
more people seek social work services from
agencies that have often experienced budget cuts
and sometimes lack adequate resources to meet
the needs of people desperate for help.
Unfortunately, the number and variety of people
to whom social workers provide services and the
variety of settings in which these services are
provided have contributed to an increasingly
unpredictable, and often unsafe, environment
for social work practice. Social workers have
been the targets of verbal and physical assaults
in agencies as well as during field visits with
clients. Tragically, some social workers have
also been permanently injured or have lost
their lives “in the line of duty.”
Establishing safety guidelines for the profession
is timely as the profession is expected to grow
by 25 percent before 2020 (U.S. Department
of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012).
These guidelines are important to the retention
and recruitment of a professional social work
force. Moreover, NASW guidelines may be a
helpful resource to communities; private and
public agencies; and local, state, and federal
policymakers invested in creating a safer work
environment for social workers.
Guiding Principles
The development of these guidelines is
informed by the following principles:
Acknowledgment of the Context of Social
Work Practice
These guidelines address safety and risk factors
associated with social work practice, but they
should not be interpreted to infer that social
work is an inherently or unusually dangerous
profession. Social workers acknowledge and
understand that interaction with clients is a
cornerstone of many practice settings. Most
clients and families that social workers serve do
not present threats or pose danger. In cases
where threats are present, the majority of social
workers find that their employers address these
issues appropriately (Whitaker, Weismiller, &
Clark, 2006). There are, however, social work
settings (for example, child welfare, adult
protective services, mental health, criminal
justice, domestic violence shelters) where social
workers may face increased risks of violence.
These guidelines are meant to support social
workers in practice but are not meant to
stereotype or denigrate client populations who
receive services from social workers.
Social Workers’ Rights to Report Safety
Concerns
Social workers have the right to work in safe
environments and to advocate for safe working
conditions. Social workers who report concerns
regarding their personal safety, or who request
assistance in assuring their safety, should not
fear retaliation, blame, or questioning of their
competency from their supervisors or colleagues.
Application of Universal Safety Precautions
Social workers should routinely practice
universal safety precautions in their work.
Violence can and does occur in every economic,
social, gender, and racial group. To avoid
stereotyping particular groups of people and to
promote safety, social workers should practice
safety assessment and risk reduction with all
clients and in all settings. A thorough
understanding of the risk factors (individual/
clinical, environmental, and historical) associated
with elevated risk for violence can inform safety
assessments. Social workers should also be aware
of the potential that their personal information
on the Internet, particularly social networking
sites, can be accessed by anyone. Universal
safety precautions also include the establishment
of safety plans as a matter of routine planning.
The adoption of universal safety precautions
should not preclude agencies from establishing
particular safety precautions when social
workers are asked to perform dangerous tasks.
In those situations, agencies should establish
specific policies (for example, law enforcement
accompanies social workers when involuntarily
removing a child from parents or an
incapacitated adult from a home) to reduce
the risk of harm to social workers.
Goals of the Guidelines
These guidelines address safety within the
context of social work practice. Ideally, these
guidelines can stimulate the development of
agency policies and practices to enhance social
worker safety. In addition, social workers can
use these guidelines to assess agency culture of
safety and to advance professional and personal
well-being. As well, schools of social work can
better assure that their curriculums and field
placement practices are in line with the goals
of a safer profession. The specific goals of the
guidelines are
- to inform social workers, policymakers,
employers, and the public about the
importance of social worker safety in
agency and field work
- to provide a basis for the development of
social work undergraduate, graduate, and field
placement practice; and agency in-service
programs, continuing education materials,
and tools related to social work safety
- to advocate for social workers’ rights to
work environments that promote safety
- to support the exploration of technology
that enhances social worker safety
- to encourage social workers to participate in
the development and refinement of public
policy that addresses social worker safety
through licensing, regulation, and resources
- to encourage social workers to participate
in the development, refinement, and
integration of best practices in promoting
social worker safety.
Guidelines for Social Worker Safety in the
Workplace
Standard 1. Organizational Culture of
Safety and Security
Agencies that employ social workers should
establish and maintain an organizational
culture that promotes safety and security
for their staff.
Interpretation
Social workers should be able to practice in
environments free from physical, verbal, and
psychological violence and threats of violence.
Workplace safety demands diligence from
organizational leadership at every step of the
safety continuum—from violence prevention
and organizational responses to violent acts to
providing resources and supports to social
workers who experience acts of violence.
Therefore, agencies that employ social workers
should demonstrate their ability to address
issues of safety for their staff. Social work
employers must protect their employees by
instituting policies and procedures that maximize
safety and security in the office as well as in the
field. A culture of safety includes the following
- Safety Policies that
- provide an oral and written commitment by
agency leadership to promote the safety of
all staff, including support, paraprofessional,
and professional staff
- govern the management of dangerous
(or hostile and violent) behavior in the
workplace (including clients, coworkers,
and supervisors)
- establish safety teams or safety committees
to ensure adherence to policy and
procedure, as well as to provide peer
support during and after an incident.
- A Safety Committee that
- oversees the conscientious adoption, use,
and ongoing review of the agency’s policies
that underscore the commitment to safety
for staff, clients, administration, and
governing boards
- ensures that safety protocols that are
instituted, updated, and practiced regularly
- identifies and investigates physical measures
and technology that contribute to and
promote the safety of social work staff
- provides ongoing proactive risk assessment
that identifies line staff at risk for violence,
precarious settings and working conditions,
as well as orientation and in-service training
on practices that can reduce or minimize
or eliminate factors associated with
elevated risk.
- Data Management and Reporting
Activities that
- develop and implement an incident
reporting system to document and track
instances of threats, acts of violence, and
damage to property. The reporting system
should allow for analysis of data on type
of incident, location, pervasiveness,
and occurrence.
- create a mechanism for reporting and
collecting data on an ongoing basis on
incidents of assaults, threats, and abuse that
can be analyzed to inform the agency about
the incidence and prevalence of violence to
guide the development of safety protocols
and allocation of resources.
- regularly gather and disseminate
information about all safety risks including
assaults, threats, and abuse and develop
strategies for managing them via case
consultations, training and education,
and policy development.
Standard 2. Prevention
The goal of organizations that employ social
workers should be to create a culture of safety
that adopts a proactive preventative approach
to violence management and risk.
Interpretation
Prevention activities use available information to
minimize the risk of future incidents of violence.
Therefore, a preventative approach involves
analyzing and understanding past incidents and
determining actions that can circumvent or avoid
their reoccurrence. In assessing past incidents,
the following factors should be considered:
- type of incident (for example, verbal threat/
abuse, intimidation, attempted or actual
physical assault, property damage, stalking)
- severity of the incident (costs to the
well-being of people or organizations)
- physical health (bodily physical harm)
- mental health (psychological and emotional
harm/toll/impact)
- financial (monetary costs to property,
people, or organization)
- staff, clients, and witnesses involved in or
witnessing the incident
- weaknesses/breaches of protocol or gaps in
protocol or policies that
facilitated/contributed to, or did not deter,
the incident (procedural, environmental,
errors in assessment or misunderstanding
of the safety protocol)
- orientation and training needs of staff for
risk reduction and safety promotion
- assessment of current safety measures and
policies and gaps in protocols/procedures.
Standard 3. Office Safety
Social workers’ office environments should
promote safety for social workers and
their clients.
Interpretation
The office/agency environment where social
workers work should not only be safe, but
should actively promote and encourage safe
practices. These practices can include, but
are not limited to
- working spaces that allow for social workers
to exit easily in potentially violent situations
- access to alarm systems that can alert others
to a safety risk or breach
- access to visually open meeting spaces
(“Risk Rooms”) or presence of another staff
team member when meeting with a client
who may be verbally abusive or aggressive
- restricted access to objects that may be used
as weapons (for example, stapler, paper
weights, scissors, molded plastic chairs or
office décor that can be picked up and
thrown, and so forth)
- secure entry and access (for example,
monitored, restricted access security guard,
metal detector screening, bulletproof glass)
- well-lit hallways that lead to employees’
workspaces
- secure entrances to employees’ workspaces
that are separate from public spaces.