NAV employees received 1,042 threats this year

Several organizations are demanding a safety review of the employees at the NAV offices after the murder in Bergen that took place on Monday.

• Police press conference: The two people stabbed at the NAV office in Bergen were employees there
• Two people stabbed at NAV office in Bergen, one perpetrator arrested: “We’re searching the building”

A woman in her late 50s died from the stabbing injuries she sustained, while a woman in her mid-30s suffered lighter injuries. A man in his 30s has been arrested and charged with murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm after the violent attack at the NAV office at Danmarksplass in Bergen on Monday.

Now the largest union in the NAV system believes that the security at the offices must be reviewed in the wake of the dramatic incident, the newspaper Aftenposten writes.

“It is natural that we have a new review of security,” leader Elisabeth Steen of the Norwegian Civil Servants Association (NTL) in NAV stated.

She made the statement before it became known that one of the victims of the stabbing attack died from the injuries.

Trond Finstad, leader of the professional section in the Fagforbundet union, told TV 2 that he “expects that there will be an increased focus on safety measures at NAV now.”

“There has been good work on safety at NAV in recent years, but we have not come far enough in this work. Now it is time to make a new assessment of whether these security measures are good enough,” Finstad said.

1,042 threats this year

So far this year, 1,042 threats against NAV employees have been reported on a national basis, according to the newspaper Bergens Tidende. 

FriFagbevegelse wrote in 2019 that the extent of violence and threats against NAV employees has increased by 22% after a female employee was killed at NAV Grorud in 2013.

NAV tightened security across the country after 34-year-old Anni Rachmawati Godager died after being stabbed several times by a NAV client/user.

Chief safety representative Stein Arne Hammersland says NAV has taken “serious steps” to improve security after the murder but points out that “it is difficult to guard against all unwanted incidents at 100%”.

“I also think that it is completely natural to have a full review after this tragic case,” Hammersland told Aftenposten.

Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews

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