Can emergency buttons make Puurs-Sint-Amands staff safer when aggression erupts?

Official records show that the measure was developed over many months. In November 2025, the OCMW council considered a proposal for a discreet alarm system for social workers on home visits. The approved municipal record says an organisation-wide working group had already reviewed procedures after incidents in the town hall and the killing of Ghent

Place

Ghent

City where a social worker was killed during a home visit in August 2025, intensifying concern about staff safety.

Why it matters

City where a social worker was killed during a home visit in August 2025, intensifying concern about staff safety.

About

Ghent is a city and a municipality in the East Flanders province of the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the province and the third largest in the country, after Brussels and Antwerp. It is a port and university city.

Official site ↗View source record ↗

Puurs-Sint-Amands also began providing EHBA training—Eerste Hulp Bij Agressie, or first aid in cases of aggression—and continued developing response procedures alongside the procurement of the alarms, according to the council decision. The supplier is expected to provide further training so employees know what an alert means, who should respond and when police or medical assistance should be requested.

That operational detail matters. An emergency button can shorten the time needed to call for help, but its value depends on reliable coverage, rehearsed procedures, available responders and systematic follow-up after an incident. The Belgian Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue says employers must assess psychosocial risks, including violence from customers, clients and other third parties, and adopt suitable preventive measures. For workers exposed to potentially traumatic events, employers must also establish emergency procedures intended to prevent or limit post-traumatic stress.

Anyone working for a Belgian commune, gemeente, OCMW or CPAS who faces aggression should first follow the employer’s immediate safety procedure and contact the emergency services where danger is imminent. Afterwards, the employee can ask the vertrouwenspersoon in Dutch, personne de confiance in French, or the prevention adviser responsible for psychosocial matters how the incident will be recorded and what support is available. These contact details should appear in the work regulations or internal staff information.

Belgian employers whose personnel deal with members of the public must maintain a register of incidents involving third parties, the federal employment administration explains. An employee who believes they experienced workplace violence, harassment or unwanted sexual conduct by a third party must be able to have a statement entered in that register. Entries are normally kept for five years, and the employee’s identity is generally omitted unless they agree to its inclusion.

There is an important legal distinction: recording an event in the register is not the same as filing a formal request for psychosocial intervention, and registration alone does not automatically activate protection against reprisals. Employees considering a formal procedure should therefore speak to the prevention adviser for psychosocial aspects rather than assume an incident report completes every necessary step. The federal portal werk.belgie.be provides Dutch and French explanations, procedures and a model third-party incident register.

Employers must also designate specialised psychological support for workers affected by violence from third parties, according to the same federal guidance. Where the cost is not covered through social security—for example through recognition as an occupational accident—the employer must pay for that specialised intervention.

The installation belongs to a broader review of safety in Flemish public services after Boone’s death. The Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities, VVSG, said in August 2026 that numerous OCMWs had revised aggression protocols, altered waiting and interview rooms, introduced alarms for home visits and made incidents a regular subject of team discussions. VVSG’s recent monitoring nevertheless found that most client conversations remained neutral or smooth. It classified an average of 14% as more difficult while stressing that a difficult conversation does not automatically involve aggression and that explicit aggression was reported infrequently.

This distinction is important for residents, including newcomers who may already find Belgian administration intimidating. Safety measures should protect employees without turning an ordinary disagreement, incomplete file or language difficulty into a security event. In Dutch-speaking Puurs-Sint-Amands, residents should expect municipal services principally in Dutch. Someone who does not understand a decision or requested document can ask staff to repeat the explanation, provide written instructions or indicate whether interpretation support is possible; availability is not guaranteed, and bringing a trusted interpreter may be useful for a complex appointment.

For the municipality, the next test is no longer installation but performance: whether alerts reach the right people, whether staff feel confident using them and whether incident records reveal recurring risks that require changes to rooms, staffing or appointment procedures. Puurs-Sint-Amands has not publicly provided a target response time, a full incident count or evaluation criteria for the system. Those are the figures to watch when the gemeente assesses whether the buttons deliver more than a safer feeling.