Social welfare workers’ safety risks laid bare as terrifying ‘guns, knives and balaclavas’ threat & vile abuse received

SOCIAL welfare office workers have received terrifying threats, with one told there’d be a riot with “guns, knives and balaclavas”.

In other incidents, public employees were subject to racist abuse, with one called a “fat kn**ker” and another branded a “foreign b*****d” — in complaints over the payment of welfare benefits.

One person even tried to grab a staff member through a hatch while another was “punching the protective glass at reception.

In other shock incidents, one staff member was “shouldered into quite heavily” at a supermarket by a client who had had their welfare rate reduced.

A fracas also broke out in one employment office where men armed with hammers and knives confronted each other as part of a feud.

A note of the incident said: “At some point, chairs were picked up and thrown around by the men.

“One of the chairs was thrown with force from the top of the stairs.

“Yellow ‘wet floor’ safety signs were also picked up from the place where they were stored away and used as weapons and shields.”

Another complaint cited a case where an email address received 56 abusive messages from the same person in a four-month period.

In a case logged last March, an angry customer told staff to listen to the next day’s news as a bomb would explode at their office.

Another report said: “Extremely abusive call. It was very hard to understand what customer was saying, but I got the bad language and the fact that he is a member of some group and that he was going to come and shoot me.”

Welfare staff also had to deal with people seeking welfare who threatened to harm themselves, and racist incidents — including one where a person said they should change their name “to a Ukrainian one” to get better treatment.

A Department of Social Protection spokesman said: “All staff in our public offices undertake Frontline Customer Services training — which includes procedures for positive engagement with challenging and vulnerable customers.

“Panic buttons are installed and operational to notify An Garda Siochana.”

Getty – Contributor