Openreach engineers trial panic alarms as incidents of abuse and assault soar

The number of incidents involving Openreach employees was up 8% year-on-year, a 40% increase on 2022-23. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

From scissors being brandished as weapons to verbal abuse and being trapped during a home visit, the number of reported incidents of abuse and assault on telecoms engineers is on the rise.

Openreach, the BT subsidiary that maintains the vast majority of the broadband network serving UK homes and businesses, recorded 450 reports of abuse and assault in the year to the end of March.