Photo: Supplied
Police and ambulance officers are facing widespread threats of violence and suffering burnout according to research released by Worksafe. Over half of those taking part in the separate surveys reported at least one form of offensive behaviour such as threats or physical violence. The data for the surveys was collected last year and involved 1551 ambulance workers and 229 individuals from police. Analysis of the information gives both police and ambulance staff a low score when it comes to having a safe psycho-social working climate.
While ambulance workers reported finding a high level of meaning in their work and expressed a strong sense of being part of the team, police workers indicated a lack of social support from their supervisors and a reduced sense of of being part of a community at work. Steve Watts is the President of the Police Association and Mark Quin is National Secretary of the Ambulance Association which represents two-and-a-half thousand ambulance officers, paramedics and communications officers nationwide.
