Customer services group manager Lisa Baillie told the council’s customer services committee on Wednesday 11 of 62 incidents involving staff from January to June this year were classified as workplace abuse.
One incident resulted in an injury to the staff member.
She called it "sad, but true" that in government and the education sector, workplace abuse was increasing.
One incident involved the police. One individual had been trespassed from a council building.
"We’re talking about people being shoved in the street," she said.
Council staff were advised not to work alone in certain situations and training continued for staff on de-escalating situations.
However, when she presented her group activity report to the committee this week, one councillor suggested too many minor incidents were being reported.
In a list of 13 "public incidents" from May and June - which included a man trying to grab a young boy at the Oamaru Harbour playground, an incident police attended - many were minor: somebody walked into the returns bin at the library; a child pinched a finger in the gate at the swimming pool and a child walked into a door at the pool.
Cr Bill Kingan noted the item: "customer collided with a swimmer in the pool" and said, "I think we’re getting soft."
