Our Ref:         FOI-1238-1718

Thank you for your request received on 22 August 2017 asking for information about workplace violence. I apologise for the delay in my response.
 
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we hold some of the information you require. You asked for:
 
There were 1.4m journeys made on the London Underground in 2016/17, and 2.3m made on buses in the same period. Our staff work hard to serve the millions of customers who use our network every day and have the right to go about their work without fear or intimidation. TfL takes workplace violence extremely seriously and we always encourage staff to report any instance of abuse whether physical or non physical so that preventative measures can be taken, and the strongest penalties brought against offenders.
 
TfL has staff dedicated to workplace violence reduction embedded or working alongside the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and British Transport Police (BTP). These special units were established to investigate physical assault and verbal aggression on staff, public order offences and hate crimes, among other offences. The units have significantly improved the quality of staff assault investigation and feedback, as well as victim care and support.
 
1)    Do you record instances of verbal or physical abuse perpetrated by members of the public towards your employees while they are at work?
 
I can confirm that we do record instances of verbal or physical abuse perpetrated by members of the public towards employees while they are at work.
 
2)    How many instances of verbal or physical abuse perpetrated by members of the public towards your employees were recorded between 1st July 2016 and 31st July 2017, broken down by:
 
a)    Month
 
b)    Whether the abuse was considered to be motivated by the victim's:
a.    Race
b.    Religion
c.    Sexual orientation
d.    Disability
e.    Transgender status
 
Please see the requested information attached spreadsheet. The Surface Transport information is separated into two sections – TfL employees and our supplier employees. The TfL employee sections is predominantly Revenue Protection Inspectors (RPIs) and a smaller proportion will be Bus Station Controllers (BSCs). On the supplier side, over 90% are bus drivers employed by bus operators.
 
The information in the bottom half of the spreadsheet refers to London Underground staff. These statistics are broken down for both workplace violence and workplace aggression. It must be emphasised that for the information to appear in the statistics then the member of staff or their supervisor/manager must complete and submit a specific incident report form.
 
Please also note:
 
(i)            The information is broken down by calendar month for the time-periods specified.
(ii)          A separate table of workplace violence and workplace aggression that is racially aggravated is provided. It is difficult to establish from reports whether abuse is specifically racially motivated. Much of the abuse where racial comments /slurs occur arises out of an incident where, for example, there is a ticket dispute, or a person is challenged because he/she does not have a ticket. Attributing motivation based on words/actions recorded later, often by 3rd parties would be unsound.
(iii)         The incidents where the abuse is specifically religiously aggravated are listed under the table of racially aggravated incidents
(iv)         We have included a table of workplace violence and aggression that includes indecency. Below this table are incidents of homophobic abuse.
(v)          We cannot find any incidents where the disability of a member of staff has led to abuse. However, there are a number of incidents where a disabled person is the perpetrator of workplace violence and aggression.
(vi)         Similarly, we cannot find any incidents involving transgender status.
 
c)    Whether the abuse involved:
a.    Physical violence towards the victim
b.    Verbal abuse towards the victim
c.    Criminal damage
 
Workplace violence includes both physical incidents and threats and these categories are separated out in the statistical table; workplace aggression which includes the odd incident of gesture abuse, but the overwhelming majority of incidents of aggression involve verbal abuse. We do not have a category for recording criminal damage from workplace violence or workplace aggression.
 
d)    Whether the instance of abuse was reported to the police?
 
Incidents of workplace violence and workplace aggression that are reported to London Underground are also reported to the British Transport Police. Incidents of verbal/physical abuse on Surface Transport staff are reported to TfL and the MPS and fed through to the Roads and Transport Policing Command (RTPC).
 
Finally, in order to avoid double counting, an incident which starts as verbal abuse but which develops into threats and possible physical attack is always recorded at the higher or highest level.
 
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please feel free to contact me.
 
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely

Gemma Jacob
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London

[email protected]

Attachments