Serco fined £2.25 million for H&S Failings following the Death of Custody Officer

Ms Barwell, a 54-year-old grandmother was kicked twice at Blackfriars Crown Court in 2015 during the restraint of a prisoner in custody. She died from brain injuries caused by the second blow. Ms Barwell had worked for Hampshire-based security firm Serco for 10 years when the attack took place. The incident led to an investigation by the Health and Safety … Read more

Ambulance Service Ordered to Pay £49,000 in Wrongful Dismissal Case After Staff Member Was Dismissed for Allegedly ‘Assaulting’ a 14 Year-Old Patient Who Had Attacked Him

  A veteran paramedic ambulance worker who was assaulted by a 14 year-old was awarded £49,000 by an industrial tribunal after he was wrongfully dismissed for gross misconduct by his employer for allegedly assaulting a 14 year old who had attacked him. In August 2021 Mr Edwards, a senior paramedic with 18 years service was attending a call. It involved … Read more

Can we use techniques not taught during training?

I recently posted an article on Linked about an article which appeared in the Guardian ‘North Wales Police Officer punching incident’. Well, the post attracted over 6,000 views with lots of very balanced and descriptive comments. Some challenging whilst others supported the video clip showing the officer punching someone whilst on the ground. Her (now His) Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies … Read more

The Importance of Writing An Effective Incident Report

Writing and effective incident report is possibly one of the most important things you can do. This is because you may have to rely on it in one, two, three or even five to tens year’s time. And let’s face it, most of us can’t remember what we had for dinner last week! So keeping a good written record as … Read more

SIA Changes to Security Licence to Practise Qualifications

As you are aware there are changes coming into effect from the 1st April with regard to the SIA License Linked Qualifications and I have just had the following email from Pearsons; our Awarding organisation, so I thought that I’d share it with you in case you hadn’t heard anything. The email I received stated the following: “Dear Colleague The … Read more