Punch up between colleague and the public

Musketeer4

Basically, I am a professional involved in the delivery of some public works.
Earlier this week there was an incident on site where myself and a representative of a contractor called to a property to discuss works proposals. The occupant became threatening and abusive while we tried to explain the works and cornered us while giving out stink about different things. We thought he was on something so we legged it outta there, me sort of half jumping over some furniture.

Now I heard back that I should not have gone in there because this housholder was known to be abusive. I was never told or warned about this. I have a H&S lad and the contractors people on to my manager saying that I should not have went in. How was I supposed to know when no-one ever informed me that the housholder was a nutter, nor was there any mention of there beeing a log of which housholders are OK and which to stay away from.

I don't think I'm in the wrong here.

MarkR

If you didn't know, I can't see how it's your issue. Were you supposed to check on a customer's volatility before calling?

davo10

Musketeer4 wrote: »

Basically, I am a professional involved in the delivery of some public works.
Earlier this week there was an incident on site where myself and a representative of a contractor called to a property to discuss works proposals. The occupant became threatening and abusive while we tried to explain the works and cornered us while giving out stink about different things. We thought he was on something so we legged it outta there, me sort of half jumping over some furniture.

Now I heard back that I should not have gone in there because this housholder was known to be abusive. I was never told or warned about this. I have a H&S lad and the contractors people on to my manager saying that I should not have went in. How was I supposed to know when no-one ever informed me that the housholder was a nutter, nor was there any mention of there beeing a log of which housholders are OK and which to stay away from.

I don't think I'm in the wrong here.

Were you instructed to go in there by your employer? Also, the thread title mentions a punch up, did one of you hit the property owner?

Musketeer4

No neither can I. No accusations have been made yet but I'm just looking to fortify my position in case anyone comes to me puffing and blowing about it.

I'm office based mostly but on site we're operating in an area that would be regarded well to do for the most part so you're not going about your duties on site worrying about assault and volatile characters. I do know that there are a handful of property owners that are cantakerous and oppositional to every option put to them but I was never made aware that physical aggression was a real possibility in some properties.

Would I have a case against my employer given that someone in the office knew this fella was half cracked and had form for this but failed to communicate it to others such as myself.

I remember working on another job in an urban area and we had a spreadsheet with all residents and some had notes on them warning that they were abusive and volative.

Musketeer4

davo10 wrote: »

Were you instructed to go in there by your employer? Also, the thread title mentions a punch up, did one of you hit the property owner?

Sorry, there was no punch up as such but it was rapidly heading that way. He tried to corner us, we took flight and had to push past him to get out the door jamb.

We were not given any specific instructions. I was tasked with devising and agreeing with property owners a way to construct some works. Beyond that, I was making my own decisions who to contact and when.

davo10

Musketeer4 wrote: »

Sorry, there was no punch up as such but it was rapidly heading that way. He tried to corner us, we took flight and had to push past him to get out the door jamb.

Were you specifically instructed by your employer to enter this man's property without invitation?

Stealthfins

Private property no ?

Musketeer4

No. We called to the property, knocked, were brought in and out the back. Discussed the work and as discussions went on he became progressively oppositional and abusive.

davo10

Musketeer4 wrote: »

No. We called to the property, knocked, were brought in and out the back. Discussed the work and as discussions went on he became progressively oppositional and abusive.

Were your works going to physically impact his property? A thousand years of history should tell you that Irish people are very possessive of their land and today owners don't like someone coming to them from the county council telling them that they want to dig their property up or restrict access to it.

If you went in there on your own initiative and were neither trapped nor assualted, you've a story to tell in the pub but nothing more.

Senna

It really depends what was known and by who. From reading you post, its not know who told you this resident was a "nutter", if its just someone who knows the area, then of course they would have knowledge about who's who. Likewise, you say the contractors are saying to your manager that " I should not have went in", is this with hindsight or is it "that resident was not on list to make contact with".

It sound like this is all with hindsight, but in every case, unless this resident was not on the list to make contact with, then you were in the right to contact him. The only questions are, why was he on the list and why were you not informed of his aggressive nature, these are all questions for your manager.

Musketeer4

It will impact the property, no doubt as it will impact many properties but the impact will be very positive.
Most property owners are welcoming and eager to see the work be done. Obviously there can be some issues but we work together to accomodate peoples requests insofar as is reasonable.

There are a small number who are oppositional and reject every potential solution. This was one such individual who took it to extremes.

This property was on the list of places I had to call to to discuss things because it is one of the ramaining properties where agreement has yet to be reached regarding the execution of the works. We knew said individual was cantankerous and oppositional, hence our need to call to him to sort something out, but was never told he was liable to be physically aggressive. He had not been before. But now people are saying I shouldn't have called in to him. They're all saying this in hindsight I suppose.

draiochtanois

This post has been deleted.

Mrs OBumble

Musketeer4 wrote: »

Now I heard back that I should not have gone in there because this housholder was known to be abusive. I was never told or warned about this. I have a H&S lad and the contractors people on to my manager saying that I should not have went in. How was I supposed to know when no-one ever informed me that the housholder was a nutter, nor was there any mention of there beeing a log of which housholders are OK and which to stay away from.

The council (or whoever you are working for) should have a register of residents / property owners who need to be handled with care. I dunno what they call it. And some probably maintain it in their staff's heads, not on paper.

Even so, sometimes, not going there is just not an option: if you have to find a way to do some work impacting his property, you need to find a way to agree things with the owner and occupier.

If your role involves on-site liaison with members of the public, then IMHO you should have received information about where to find out about known challenges, and also training in how to handle volatile situations. This may include meeting in neutral territory - but that can make it difficult to discuss works affecting his particular property. Private sector businesses can simply choose not to accept business from such people, but public sector workers don't have this luxury.

(fyi, there are some jobs where workers always travel in pairs have specific training in conflict resolution and self-defence, always phone their base before entering a property, and their base follows up with a police dispatch if they haven't heard back within N minutes.)

Musketeer4

Its not water meters.

I work in private sector but the company is appointed by council to design and PM the works.

I get the thing about meeting on neutral ground but not possibel in this case as we have to look at things and talk about where things will go, take measurements etc etc.

I did not receive any training on how to defuse volatile members of the public. It has been mentiuoned in work but it never went beyond talk. Most of our projects are public works and generally involve us doing a lot of horse trading with various landowners.

Senna

Musketeer4 wrote: »

I did not receive any training on how to defuse volatile members of the public.

Welcome to the world of customer service, and the vast majority of people who deal with the public everyday do not receive training on how to deal with abusive/threatening/violent/or just downright horrible people.