Needle spiking came to our attention in the second half of 2021, with police forces across the UK investigating reports of people, predominantly women, in clubs, bars and music venues being injected with unknown substances on nights out. Fears around this worrying new trend are only likely to be exacerbated by the season of work parties and holiday get togethers', where restrictions allow.
Failure to tackle needle spiking could not only have potentially traumatic effects on the victims but can damage an organisation’s reputation and revenues.
For professionals working in risk management, health and safety or finance for leisure and hospitality organisations, it’s critical to establish effective means of mitigating this emerging risk to protect patrons as well as their businesses. Failure to tackle needle spiking could not only have potentially traumatic effects on the victims but can also damage an organisation’s reputation and revenues.
It’s important businesses to do what they can to address needle spiking. We’ve already seen how perceived poor handling of incidents can become a problem via negative social media noise and collective responses such as the #GirlsNightIn, the grass roots campaign which encouraged women to boycott clubs across the UK until they could trust that needle spiking was being taken seriously.
Leisure and hospitality businesses need to have ready answers on their measures to prevent needle spiking incidents and how they are protecting their customers and staff from this harm. They also should have processes they can trigger in the event of a needle spiking and in its aftermath. This is about planning, but it’s also about organisational behaviours likely to better protect the business after any suspected needle spiking.
First, let’s look at the steps to consider before any incident occurs. This isn’t necessarily about mandatory searches – though this could be an appropriate step for some businesses – but giving the appropriate considerations to needle spiking and having a clear rationale for the prevention approach your business has in place. Can you demonstrate and document the process you went through to arrive at your conclusions on your approach to prevention?
Some venues have found themselves pilloried on social media for allegedly assuming suspected victims were intoxicated of their own volition and forcing them off the premises, so in the event of a suspected needle spiking, staff training is vital both to treat victims appropriately and protect the business’ reputation. Do your staff know what to look out for, what questions to ask to assess whether what they are seeing could be needle spiking and the next steps to take should a customer appear to have been targeted?
Elements of UK Hospitality’s guidance on drink spiking map over to needle spiking and may be a good place to start. It recommends staff always act on the report and activate the safeguarding procedures you should have in place in your venue, taking steps to identify those suspected if possible. According to the guidance, staff should also ensure the health and safety of the customer – this could be by calling emergency services, ensuring they are with trusted friends who will look after them, helping if needed, and ensuring a safe space for the customer. Finally, it’s recommended staff log and record the occurrence both for emergency services’ use and for potential further internal action.
The processes that should kick-in if a needle spiking occurs should be clearly documented, offer appropriate protection to both your customers and your staff, and be well understood by those workers.
Thinking about potential claims defensibility, it's important staff are able to take the correct statements and witness information at the time, if possible, and that you document the processes and expectations around this.
Overall, you may need to check your policies and procedures to ensure they have sufficient depth to capture the specifics involved in needle spiking, including the logistics of what happens should a customer report an incident. Do your staff all know where, for example, an ambulance should park if they need to attend a suspected incident? It may also be worth explicitly covering needle spiking on your risk register.
In terms of what happens after a suspected needle spiking, your organisation may be well-advised to consider appropriate aftercare of the victim and also your staff who may have faced traumatic circumstances in helping the victim. This speaks to good organisational behaviours but can also support defensibility.
Many businesses have experienced significant media and social channel noise after needle spiking incidents. Establishing post-incident crisis communication plans or using tools to monitor social media activity can help to manage and minimise the potential damage that could threaten your business.
It’s worth saying there’s nothing to stop your organisation from saying sorry if something troubling, such as needle spiking, happens on your premises. We sometimes see a persistent misconception that saying sorry amounts to admitting liability, but this is not the case. Apologising because a suspected needle spiking happened to someone in your venue may support the business’ longer-term reputation far more than behaviours that could be construed as dismissing or minimising the victim’s experiences.
Your organisational behaviours are key, both before and after a needle spiking incident:
If your organisation needs support managing the risks around needle spiking or around crisis communications and reputational damage, please get in touch.
