Print |
E-mail to a friend
OPINIONS
Editorial: Protecting social workers requires knowledge of hazards they face
The death in July of social worker Brenda Yeager while making a home visit to a couple in rural Cabell County has legislators and others talking about the protections that social workers need.
Yeager's death was a terrible event and a rare one for this area. It was the first homicide in years in the Tri-State involving a social worker killed on the job by a person during a home visit. But it does point out that people who visit other people's homes in potentially hostile situations can be in danger.
Thus, the West Virginia Legislature is taking a look at social workers' safety before it begins its 2009 regular session.
The problem with this issue is that the public has no idea what the real hazards are. We rarely hear of social workers being assaulted by the people they deal with. That could be because assaults are very few, or it could be because the assaults that do happen are kept secret. We just don't know.
Some reforms appear obvious. Whether they are practical must be determined by people with expertise in those areas. But the list would include:
- Social workers should have GPS systems in their cars so they can be tracked.
- They should have basic training in self-defense and in knowing how to recognize dangerous situations. The Yeager case may have been an unusual one. But any social worker going into such a situation should be prepared.
- A buddy system may be needed for home visits so that no social worker has to go into certain homes alone. Along with that, perhaps the number or frequency of home visits should be reduced.
- Perhaps social workers should be provided with self-defense devices such as tasers and be trained in their use.
There has been talk of increasing the criminal penalties for people who attack social workers. Such punishment probably doesn't enter the mind of someone about to commit such an act, so that part of reform should be a relatively low priority.
Bottom line: The state needs to do some hard thinking about the hazards and dangers social workers face. From what the public has been told, Brenda Yeager ran into an evil person who had planned to assault and perhaps kill her. What happened to her was the worst-case scenario.
Legislators need solid information on the real dangers social workers and others in similar fields face, from verbal abuse to threats to actual violence. They need records of such incidents. Without that information, legislators will not be able to draft laws that address the real, day-to-day hazards that social workers face.
Assaults, threats, intimidation and harassment of social workers cannot be tolerated. The Legislature should provide more protection, but it should concentrate its initial efforts on actions that will provide the most good for the most workers, based on what workers face day to day.
