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Violence is rarely the beginning of conflict. It is usually the final stage of a process that has been building, often unnoticed, for minutes, hours or even weeks. By the time someone is shouting or acting aggressively, you’ve already missed countless opportunities to change the outcome.

The latest TES Teacher Wellbeing Report paints a stark picture of the current education system globally. According to the report, 73% of educators identified workload as their primary source of stress, while 58% cited student behaviour as a major stressor.

As the clocks go back and daylight hours shorten, many employees across the UK find themselves travelling to and from work in darkness. For some, this is little more than an inconvenience. For others, particularly lone workers, frontline staff, and those in public-facing roles, the darker seasons bring heightened risks to personal safety, wellbeing, and confidence.

In the UK, employers do not have a specific legal obligation to provide conflict management training as a standalone, mandated course for all staff, or for every situation.

However, they do have a general legal duty of care to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their employees. This duty is primarily laid out in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and associated regulations.

🍀Have an organisation-wide shared understanding of risk☘️ Define what constitutes a ‘Critical’ incident and a ‘Major’ incident, what differentiates them, what they mean in terms of resourcing, response, priorities and life cycles☘️ Build teamwork and trust beforehand.☘️ Crises don’t always build trust but they will always test it☘️ Practice under pressure to build staff confidence,