A significant increase in the number of health and safety incidents involving county council staff reflects an increase in reports of violent incidents in Hertfordshire schools, councillors have been told.

According to the latest available data, in the first three months of this year (2025), there were 523 health and safety incidents involving county council staff in Hertfordshire.

That is the highest number recorded in a three-month period for more than six years.

It also revealed that just under 500 incidents had also been recorded in the previous three-month period (October – December 2024) – totalling around 1,000 incidents in a six-month period.

Prior to this, the six-year peak had been just over 400 incidents, recorded in the three-month quarterly period between October and December in 2023.

The data was presented to a meeting of the council's resources and performance cabinet panel on Tuesday November 25.

It did show that the number of recorded incidents dropped below 400 in the three months between April and June this year (2025).

But in response to councillors' concerns about the latest peak, head of corporate performance and business insight, Paraic McKenn,a put the spotlight on the county's schools.

He told councillors that, in general, around two-thirds of employee health and safety incidents came from school settings

He said that in these two three-month periods, there had been a particular increase in reports of "violent" incidents, which he said would include biting or striking.

He suggested that rather than an increase in the number of incidents, it reflected heightened awareness of the need to report the incidents when they occurred.

He said the health and safety team had looked into the "root causes" for the increase and confirmed it is "not necessarily an underlying increase in the number of incidents, but more heightened awareness of the need to report all of these incidents when they do take place".

He suggested it was "almost a reflection of a zero tolerance behaviour."

And he said: "The team have done a lot of work to try and ensure schools are aware of our policies here and that they do report the incidents so that we can make sure that staff and pupils are supported."

Mr McKenna suggested yet to be published data would show a further decrease in reported incidents for the three-month period, between July and September.

But he also suggested that it would then increase back to recent levels, "because of this heightened awareness amongst staff to report these incidents".

"This is something that we see nationally," he said. "All councils are reporting this, and it is something that we keep an eye on very, very closely."

Liberal Democrat Cllr Stuart Roberts said that there were "few responsibilities if any that are more important for an employer than the health and safety of our staff".

He suggested that future incidents could be considered in two areas – those in schools and those not in schools.

He pointed to the scale of incidents reported in school settings – and to the months when school is "hardly ever present".

He said: "If we are not careful, there may be a small trend somewhere else that is being masked by a lot of noise around one very big variable."

Fellow Liberal Democrat Cllr Penelope Hill also suggested that a breakdown of the data should be considered by the council's education, SEND and inclusion cabinet panel. 

The resources and performance cabinet panel met on November 25. And the meeting can be viewed at www.hertfordshire.gov.uk