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By Ray Braithwaite.
Routledge and Community Care
£14.99
ISBN 0 415 243380 7

This simple, easy-to-follow textbook gives both organisational and individual responses to aggression from clients and bullying from colleagues.

Through case studies and exercises, it aims to enable anyone in the social care field to reduce the likelihood of aggressive behaviour and respond correctly if faced with an incident.

In many ways it succeeds in its aims and most of the activities can be adapted for use in both training and brainstorming scenarios.

My main problem with the book is that it focuses too much on the response that individuals are expected to make.

As such it contradicts the approach that has been promoted by the Health and Safety Executive, which believes that the emphasis should be on developing systems to prevent violence rather than focusing on ensuring that individual employees are both trained and competent to react to violent situations.

Teaching people to read body language or how to use techniques to defuse violent situations is not the solution to aggression - safe procedures and risk assessment are.

It is in that context that the book should be used, and it is in these sections that its strengths lie.

Hugh Robertson is head of bargaining support and health and safety, Unison.