The PDA Union are encouraging any of their members, working in any pharmacy, who may have concerns on the issue of their physical safety to contact us for help.
The PDA are passionate about safety at work and are already making a difference to improve conditions in pharmacies. Over recent months on the topic of physical safety the union has:
- Launched our Safer Pharmacies Charter outlining 7 basic safety standards for all pharmacies, including physical safety. The charter has now been supported by national and international bodies and PDA continue to promote it across the UK. A copy of the charter was distributed with the Winter edition of INSIGHT magazine. Read more: https://www.the-pda.org/safer-pharmaciescharter-continues/
- Published our “Violence in Pharmacies” policy & resource pack which Pharmacists and their employers can use to identify and remove risks to their physical safety. Read More https://www.the-pda.org/wales-sets-the-standard-and-backs-safer-pharmacies-charter-and-zero-tolerance-approach-to-violence-in-pharmacies/
- Campaigned so that the scope of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 includes those delivering NHS services in community pharmacy. Individuals who assault or attack now face longer jail terms under the Act which has doubled the maximum sentence from 6 to 12 months in prison for assaulting an emergency worker. Read More: https://www.the-pda.org/press-release-bill-to-protect-nhs-workers-from-assault-recognises-plight-of-pharmacists/
In community pharmacy patients and customers may be unwell or under the influence of alcohol or drugs and as those of us who have worked in the sector know, situations can quickly deteriorate. We also know from the results of the “Freedom From Fear” Survey undertaken by our fellow Trades Union, USDAW, that in retail premises in general over the past year over two-thirds of shopworkers were verbally abused, 42% were threatened and around 265 were assaulted every day. These are significant increases on last year’s survey with abuse and assaults up by 25% and threats increased by 38%. So community pharmacy employers need to take this very seriously.
Mark Pitt, Assistant General Secretary at PDA Union: “As a trades union, protecting the mental and physical health of our members at work is a core part of what we do. This is exactly the sort of issue we could work together with Boots management to fix, if pharmacists vote “YES” to a PDA Union recognition agreement.
Pharmacists at Boots can help secure a greater focus on their personal safety by voting in the forthcoming ballot in February and once recognised we will be appointing trained trade union safety representatives and raising this and any other safety concerns which pharmacists have about their workplace.”
The ballot period at Boots is scheduled to start on 4th February 2019 and will run for five weeks. Approximately 7,000 Pharmacists and pre-registration pharmacists at grade 5, 6 & 7 in stores will be entitled to vote and if 40% or more vote for PDA Union to be recognised the senior management will have to agree a recognition agreement. Boots is the first employer which the PDA Union are taking through the legal process to secure recognition, but our aim is to secure recognition wherever their members work.