A care worker barricaded herself into a box room for nine hours, making frantic phone calls to her bosses while a disturbed patient tried to kick the door down. Her bosses told her to stay put until the morning shift arrived. When the door finally opened, she was attacked for a second time.
“Mrs Morgan’s experience sounds like something out of a horror film. The situation she was put in was unacceptable by any standards.”
Kirstie Ellaway, Thompsons Solicitors
This is not fiction. It happened in Wales in 2011, and it exposes a failure that runs deeper than one terrible night — a failure to assess risk, to train staff, and to honour the most basic duty an employer owes its people.
The Legal Duty to Protect Care Workers
Health and Safety law is unambiguous: where violence is foreseeable, employers must assess the risk, document their findings, and put control measures in place — including staff training. Regulations also give employees the right to withdraw from circumstances where it would be unsafe to continue, and to refuse to resume work while serious or imminent danger persists.
⚖️ The legal principle: Lord Skelmersdale, addressing the DHSS Advisory Committee on Violence to Staff, stated: “Where violent incidents are foreseeable, employers have a duty under section 2 to identify the nature and extent of the risk and to devise measures which provide a safe workplace and a system of work.”
These are not aspirational guidelines. They are legal duties, enforceable in court. And as Loraine Morgan’s case would prove, failing to meet them carries consequences — for the worker, for the employer, and for the reputation of the entire care sector.
The Night Loraine Morgan Was Left to Fend for Herself
Loraine Morgan, 42, was a care worker employed by Cartrefi Cymru. On the night of the attack, she was set upon by a woman with a known history of assaulting nursing staff — a history her employers had not warned her about.
The patient attacked her from behind. A colleague was present but could not intervene effectively: he had never been trained in safe restraint techniques. Hurt, bruised, and frightened, Loraine barricaded herself in a box room. For nine hours, with no toilet facilities, she pressed her back against the door while the patient repeatedly barged and kicked at it.
“They just told me to lock the door and stay put. The woman kept trying to break in. She barged and kicked the door so hard that the lock came off, so I had to force my back against the door all night to keep her out.”
Loraine Morgan, care worker
When a colleague arrived for the 7am shift and the door was opened, Loraine was attacked again. The arriving colleague had also not been trained in restraint techniques — though he stepped in to help regardless.
What the Case Reveals About Employer Failures
Loraine won an out-of-court compensation settlement after a campaign by Unison. But the case reveals a cascade of failures that should never have aligned:
A failure to warn. The patient’s history of violence was known to management. Loraine was not told.
A failure to train. Two staff members on duty — neither trained in restraint techniques that could have safely ended the assault.
A failure to respond. When Loraine called for help, the instruction was to stay put — not to evacuate, not to send assistance, not to call emergency services.
💡 Key takeaway: An employer who knows about a risk and does nothing is not just negligent — they are legally liable. Telling a frightened employee to “lock the door and wait” is not a risk-control measure. It is an abdication of responsibility.
Training Is Not Optional
The tragic irony of this case is that restraint training — practical, scenario-based physical intervention skills — would have changed the outcome entirely. A trained colleague could have safely disengaged from the initial attack. A second trained staff member could have used team-based restraint to protect Loraine and the patient from further harm.
Instead, two untrained workers and one volatile patient spent a night trapped in a standoff that should never have begun.
Kirstie Ellaway, the solicitor who secured Loraine’s compensation, put it plainly: “The care industry has lost a devoted and capable member of staff.” The loss was preventable. The lesson is stark.
Gerard O’Dea is a conflict management, personal safety and physical interventions training consultant. He is the training director for Dynamis, a specialist in personal safety and violence reduction initiatives, and the European Adviser for ‘Verbal Defense and Influence’, a global programme which addresses the spectrum of human conflict.
Gerard’s book on Lone Worker Personal Safety is available on Amazon.
