ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out the legal framework and legal rules which have relevance to violence at work. It identifies the nature and practical impact of the law’s demands on employers and managers. The chapter focuses on the role of law more generally in responding to violence at work. The incidence of violence appears to be growing, affecting wide sections of the workforce, although violence in some occupations has been highlighted and researched. The law relating to employment contracts has long allowed employers to curb violence through disciplinary codes, especially with respect to fighting between staff. The legal duties for employers to prevent violence are clear cut. The UK legal rules applicable to non-physically violent situations are currently evolving, with the law beginning to focus as much on threats, bullying and harassment as on attacks in the more traditional sense. EU health and safety legislation has seen violence as merely one of a wide range of workplace risks requiring managerial responses.
