Attacks on council staff are “unacceptable, union officials have said.
The statement comes after information unearthed by The Courier revealed more than 2,000 Angus Council employees were the victims of assault while at work over the last four years.
Hundreds of workers were assaulted to their injury and many more were subject to threats or bouts of verbal abuse.
The bulk of recorded incidents were against primary and secondary school teachers and assistants.
Figures obtained by The Courier for the period from January 1 2012 to date reveal 2,190 staff were subject to attacks and 2,076 of these were against employees in the People Directorate.
This compared to 2,017 attacks against local authority staff in neighbouring Dundee.
Of the attacks in Angus, 1,086 occurred in the county’s 53 primary schools and 456 in its eight secondaries.
This was followed by 123 attacks at children’s residential centres and 98 in learning disability settings.
In the Communities Directorate, 90 staff were the subject of attacks, including 27 against housing employees and 24 on waste technicians.
The Resources Directorate comprising finance, HQ and support functions saw the least number of attacks, 24.
Montrose Lib Dem councillor David May, a former head teacher, said the prospect of teachers being abused is another challenge on top of Curriculum for Excellence.
He said: “It is worrying to see this figure as I am aware that teaching the Curriculum for Excellence is in itself very challenging without this.
“I will be seeking an early meeting with (People Directorate chief) Margo Williamson about this to get further details about these statistics and actions which should be looked at in the authority in areas such as sanctions, training and support.”
A council spokesman said: “Assaults on our staff are never acceptable, wherever they occur, whatever the circumstances and irrespective of whether they are verbal or physical.
“Where incidents do happen, we use all appropriate measures to ensure the person responsible and the staff member affected receives appropriate support.”
Scott Donohoe, chairman of the health and safety committee of Unison, welcomed recent improvements in data recording but described attacks against council workers as “unacceptable”.
“Public service workers have a right to carry out their duties free from fear of attack,” he said. “Whatever the difficulties faced by some of those who are assaulting staff, we need to ensure special measures such as extra training, additional staffing or sanctions should be introduced by managers.”
The union’s Scottish organiser, Dave Watson, said the number of recorded incidents likely represents the “tip of the iceberg of misery” faced by workers across Scotland’s public services.
“The biggest increase in violent incidents is happening in those services that have suffered staffing cuts,” he said.