A BROADBAND company is launching a personal safety app for its employees following a surge in abuse and assaults.

The issue has become the leading cause of injury among the workforce and the Peoplesafe app features an SOS button that calls police at the press of a button, said Openreach.

Recent incidents involving its engineers include being spat at, pushed down stairs, threatened with dogs and knives, punched and kicked and even barricaded into homes and vans.

The firm maintains telephone cables, ducts, cabinets and exchanges that connect nearly all homes and businesses in Britain to various national broadband and telephone networks. 

Since April last year, there have been around 700 incidents of either physical or verbal assaults and threats, including incidents where staff have needed time away from work to recover.

The app is aimed to protect its 27,000 staff when they are working alone, at height, or on their commute.