Red Flag Weekly Edition 8

Workplace safety intelligence for employers.

Five stories this week, and a calendar that should worry every employer. Two consultations close this month, one on Martyn's Law this Thursday, one on the biggest overhaul of injury reporting in over a decade. A Cardiff paramedic is back at work after fifteen months off the road. Assaults on prison staff have hit a ten-year high. And a government minister ha

A South Wales paramedic lost fifteen months of her career to an assault on shift, and she

The deadline to shape how Martyn's Law will be enforced runs out this Thursday.

The rules on which workplace injuries you must report to the HSE are being rewritten for t

Assaults on prison officers in England and Wales have climbed to their highest level in a

A firebombed car, a parish chair left with a fractured skull, death threats: a minister ha

Cardiff paramedic off the road for fifteen months

A South Wales paramedic lost fifteen months of her career to an assault on shift, and she has waived her anonymity to say enough is enough.

At Cardiff Crown Court on 20 April 2026, Teri Jones, 38, of Trowbridge, Cardiff, admitted two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against ambulance staff. One of the paramedics, who has chosen to be named as Yael, was unable to return to frontline work for fifteen months. The Welsh Ambulance Service and South Wales Police used the case to repeat a simple message: calling 999 on your worst day is never a licence to attack the crew who come to help. Source: Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust

This one is on our doorstep, which is why it lands hard with the south Wales teams I train. The part people underestimate is the psychological aftermath. Fifteen months off the road is not just a healed injury, it is months of broken sleep, flashbacks and lost confidence, and an assault quietly rewrites how safe a worker feels doing the basic parts of the job. It does not stop with the person who was hit either. Her crewmate carries it, and so does the wider team, who start reading every call through the lens of what happened to one of their own. A good employer treats the psychological injury as seriously as the physical one: real support, an unhurried return to work, and a culture where colleagues get checked on too. Get that wrong and you lose good people long after the bruises fade.

What employers should do now

• Review the risk in the context of the role.
• Check staff have clear reporting and escalation routes.
• Use practical training based on what staff actually face.

Martyn's Law consultation closes this week

The deadline to shape how Martyn's Law will be enforced runs out this Thursday.

The Security Industry Authority opened its consultation on draft enforcement guidance for the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, known as Martyn's Law, on 15 April 2026. The consultation closes on 12 June 2026. The law is expected to commence in spring 2027 and will cover standard tier premises hosting 200 to 799 people and enhanced tier premises and events of 800 or more. Staff awareness and preparedness sit at the heart of the duty. Source: GOV.UK and the Security Industry Authority

Plenty of the venues and public-facing organisations I work with still treat Martyn's Law as a 2027 problem. It is not. The consultation closing this week is a free chance to shape how the regulator will judge you, and after that the clock really starts. The duty is not satisfied by a folder of paperwork, it is satisfied by staff who know what to look for and what to do. That is a training job, and it is best started early, not in the panic before commencement.

What employers should do now

• Review the risk in the context of the role.
• Check staff have clear reporting and escalation routes.
• Use practical training based on what staff actually face.

RIDDOR overhaul, consultation closes 30 June

The rules on which workplace injuries you must report to the HSE are being rewritten for the first time since 2013.

On 7 April 2026 the HSE opened a public consultation on reforming the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013. It is the first major review of RIDDOR in more than a decade and it closes on 30 June 2026. The proposals would clarify what counts as a work-related incident, add reportable conditions such as work-related hearing loss, and simplify online reporting. The current duties remain fully in force, and any new regulations are not expected to take effect before 2027. Source: HSE Media Centre

Incident reporting runs through everything I teach, so this one matters. Nothing changes today, the existing thresholds still stand, but reform is coming and it pays to see it early. The deeper problem is not the rules, it is that most frontline staff still do not report at all, especially the verbal abuse and threats they have been conditioned to treat as part of the job. Clearer regulations are welcome, but they only work if people actually log what happens to them. Fix the reporting culture first and the paperwork looks after itself.

What employers should do now

• Review the risk in the context of the role.
• Check staff have clear reporting and escalation routes.
• Use practical training based on what staff actually face.

Assaults on prison staff hit a decade high

Assaults on prison officers in England and Wales have climbed to their highest level in a decade.

Ministry of Justice figures show 10,605 assaults on staff in adult prisons during 2024, up from 9,204 the year before and nearly three times the 3,640 recorded in 2014. In response, the Justice Secretary has announced a trial of tasers in prisons and a snap review of protective body armour for officers. The figures follow a run of serious attacks on staff in high-security jails. Source: Ministry of Justice, reported via PA

A prison is an extreme version of what every public-facing employer deals with: known risk, repeat contact, and people in crisis or under the influence. Body armour and tasers matter, but they are the last line, not the first. The first line is staff who can read the warning signs early and who have a worked-out response before the situation tips over. When the kit becomes the headline, it usually means the earlier chances to de-escalate were missed. That is the part training is built to fix.

What employers should do now

• Review the risk in the context of the role.
• Check staff have clear reporting and escalation routes.
• Use practical training based on what staff actually face.

Minister forced to act on councillor abuse

A firebombed car, a parish chair left with a fractured skull, death threats: a minister has been forced to promise action on the abuse of councillors.

In a House of Lords debate, the local government minister Baroness Sharon Taylor said the abuse and intimidation of councillors, online and in person, was totally unacceptable and pledged government action. Peers pointed to a 2025 Local Government Association survey describing severe incidents, including a councillor's car being firebombed, a parish chair assaulted and left with a fractured skull, death threats aimed at LGBT and Muslim councillors, and a Rochdale councillor punched repeatedly in the head. Members argued that physical attacks on members are no longer rare outliers. Source: Local Government Chronicle

Councillors are not employees, so the legal duty of care sits differently, but the pattern is one I see constantly with public-facing staff. Abuse that starts online does not stay there, it walks up to the front desk, the surgery and the home visit. An authority that takes member safety seriously cannot then leave its officers and visiting staff exposed to the same hostility. The risk runs right through the organisation, and so should the training and the planning.

What employers should do now

• Review the risk in the context of the role.
• Check staff have clear reporting and escalation routes.
• Use practical training based on what staff actually face.

October 2026 is approaching. Employers need evidence of all reasonable steps.

The consistent theme across Red Flag Weekly is foreseeable risk. Where staff engage with the public, lone work, visit homes, answer challenging calls or manage difficult behaviour, employers need practical evidence that staff were prepared for what they actually face.

• Policies should be clear, current and role-specific.
• Training should cover real scenarios, not generic awareness alone.
• Incident reporting should be straightforward and trusted.
• Managers should be able to evidence action taken before and after incidents.

The safest position is to prepare now, not wait for further guidance.

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