Akudo Amadiegwu explains why it is important that social worker are supported and protected in their roles, and offers a call to action to safeguard them and their service users.

On December 4 2025, the world woke up to the news of the death of  51-year-old Alberto Rangel, a social worker in America who died after being attacked by a patient. This comes months after the death of Erik Boone, 56, whilst on a home visit in Ghent, Brussels in August 2025. Boone had worked as a social worker in Ghent for more than 25 years, working at various locations across the city since 1999.

In the weeks before December 4, 2025, staff across multiple programs flagged escalating safety concerns about the patient involved and repeatedly notified hospital executive leadership and the Director of Security. At least two weeks in advance, leadership was warned that the patient’s behaviour was becoming increasingly unstable, including documented threats to stab healthcare workers. Providers explicitly voiced fear for their safety. Despite these warnings, staff were never given a safety plan. 

In recent weeks, a team manager in a Local Authority rated Outstanding in the United Kingdom remarked that there are notices on the boards of hospitals and public offices that prohibit abuse of any sort against staff. However, there is none for social workers who work with service users. Social workers walk into the unknown with no protection, no body cameras. Interestingly, I have just listened to a webinar on the mental health of Europe’s workforce and what we must do about it.  

The Code of Ethics that govern social workers, from the first Code of Ethics written by Mary Richmond in America in 1920s, cover a broad range of codes of professional conduct, and set the minimum standards to which social workers must practice. Initial findings from a review of published code of ethics by the National Association of Social Workers indicate that these do not include protection for social workers.

Banks (2025) highlight that social work codes of ethics ‘individualize social problems as the private problems of the social workers and places the responsibility for solutions  that respect the dignity, worth, choice and equality of service users on the social worker rather than the society’. This means that codes of ethics do not empower social workers to intervene in situations that pose a risk to them, which in turn does not support them to empower.  

It is imperative to highlight the complexities that social workers navigate, sitting at the intersection of policy and practice, in sometimes difficult and unsafe terrains, with ever changing political landscapes whilst ensuring high-quality and selfless service delivery.  

We have heard the complex nature of social work in different countries in the world, from Lebanon with decades of conflict, to India where social workers work in their own time, in an unregulated profession, with low wages but still ensuring that service users receive support.  

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 23.1 confers the right to work as a fundamental human right in just and fair conditions. This is also enshrined in Article 6 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) promotes and protects the rights of all workers as enshrined in international human rights law.  

The International Labour Organisation Convention No. 155 is a fundamental convention that requires all member states to respect, promote safe working environments. Article 19 guarantees workers rights if the worker believes a situation presents an imminent and serious danger to his life or health.  

This is therefore a call to action:  

• To social workers, ensure that we work in a way that safeguards us and our service users; to join national associations and engage with governments and policy makers locally, nationally and internationally. The Shadow Report of the OHCHR Universal Periodical Review is a tool for Social Workers to share their experiences. 

• To employers, ensure that social workers are protected and are provided with resources to adequately support service users.

• To national associations of social workers, ensure that our codes of ethics not only protects service users but also the social worker.

• To governments, ensure that the profession is properly regulated, acknowledged as profession and ensure that social workers that well remunerated. 

• To international organisations, ensure that policies are not just high level but largely grassroot led, reaching the everyday social worker, promoting the human rights of the social worker and in turn protecting their responsibilities to service recipients. 

Akudo Amadiegwu is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work.