Conflict Management Course (UK): Lessons 2026

Lesson 1: Conflict and work-related violence

Security staff often deal with people who are upset, drunk or angry. Most conflict can be calmed with good communication. When it is not, it can become work-related violence.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines work-related violence as "any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work". It includes:

Verbal abuse or threats, face to face, online or by phone
Physical attacks
Violence from customers, visitors, patients, students or members of the public

It does not include personal disputes with family members, or violence between people who are not at work. HSE says staff should understand that aggression should not be accepted as part of the job.

What the law says

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires employers to protect workers' health, safety and welfare, so far as reasonably practicable, including from violence.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations require employers to assess the risks to workers, including work-related violence, and to give information and training.
Employers must consult workers or their representatives on health and safety.

Lesson 2: Spotting risk early

HSE describes these steps for assessing the risk of violence:

Identify the hazards: ask workers, look around the workplace and check past incident records.
Assess the risks: how likely harm is and how serious it could be.
Decide how to control the risks: remove the hazard if you can, or make harm unlikely.
Record and review the findings.

HSE says some workers face greater risk: lone workers, because there is no support nearby, and new starters and trainees. There may also be known patterns of violence linked to certain tasks.

On shift, keep checking the situation around you. This is sometimes called a dynamic risk assessment: who is there, how they are behaving, what could go wrong, and where your exits and help are.

Tension usually rises, peaks and falls. Calm words work best early.

Calm and trigger: something upsets the person, such as a delay or a refusal.
Escalation: voice and body language become more intense. This is the best time to de-escalate.
Crisis: the person may lose control. Focus on safety and distance.
De-escalation: tension falls. Keep your voice low and give space.
Recovery: the person settles, but tension can rise again. Stay alert.

Lesson 3: Calming a situation

HSE's advice on de-escalation for staff:

Stay calm and polite.
Keep a safe distance, so you have time to react.
Maintain eye contact, without staring.
Listen and acknowledge feelings, for example: "I can see you have been waiting a long time."
Offer alternatives, so the person has a way out without losing face.

If you feel unsafe and calming words have not worked, HSE suggests a diversion, such as saying you need to check with a manager, or following emergency procedures, such as using a panic alarm. Leave if you need to. Your safety comes first.

Preventing conflict

HSE says no single measure works alone. Useful controls include:

Control	How it helps
Good lighting and no blind spots	Staff can see and be seen
Queuing systems and clear information about delays	People are less likely to lash out
CCTV, body-worn cameras and alarms	They deter offenders and give evidence to the police
Signs asking people to treat staff with respect	They set clear expectations
Regular contact for lone workers by phone or personal alarm	Help can be sent quickly
Enough staff on duty	Incidents can be handled safely

Lesson 4: Threats, abuse and the law

Threats and abuse can be crimes. The laws differ across the UK:

Where	Law	What it covers
England and Wales	Public Order Act 1986, section 5	Threatening or abusive words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress
England and Wales	Public Order Act 1986, section 4A	The same, but done with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress, and it does cause it
Scotland	Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, section 38	Threatening or abusive behaviour likely to cause a reasonable person fear or alarm
Scotland	Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021	Assaulting, threatening or abusing a retail worker; aggravated if the worker was enforcing an age restriction

In England and Wales, section 68A of the Sentencing Code (since June 2022) says that when the victim of an assault was providing a service to the public, the court must treat this as an aggravating factor and say so in open court.

If force cannot be avoided

The law allows reasonable force to prevent crime or to protect yourself or others (section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967 and section 76 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 in England and Wales). Force is judged on the facts as you genuinely believed them to be, and disproportionate force is not reasonable. Use force only as a last resort and stop as soon as the danger is over. HSE says that where there is a serious risk of physical aggression, staff may need proper training in physical intervention.

Lesson 5: After the incident

Record and report

Records help your employer investigate, spot patterns and show staff that violence is taken seriously. HSE says many workers do not report incidents because they think it is part of the job or fear blame, so the system should be quick and easy to use.

Under RIDDOR, employers must report to HSE any act of work-related violence that causes:

A death
A specified injury
A physical injury that stops a worker doing their normal duties for more than 7 days

Injuries that keep a worker off normal duties for more than 3 days do not need a RIDDOR report, but they must be recorded.

Violence or intimidation can also be reported to the police, online or by calling 101. In an emergency, call 999.

Support

Incidents can affect the health of the people involved and the witnesses. HSE suggests employers:

Offer a chance to talk openly about the incident as soon as possible
Offer confidential counselling if available, or point to services such as Victim Support
Consider changes to the worker's role or conditions if they are badly affected
Review the risk assessment to stop it happening again