The Scottish Ambulance Service said the welfare of staff was important

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said the service was failing to do enough to ensure staff could cope with violence and aggression.

One of the problems it encountered was ambulance staff using their own mobile phones due to lost or faulty radios.

The ambulance service said it was making the recommended improvements.

A spokesman said three of the improvements had already been carried out and it was on track to satisfy the other four within the agreed timescale.

The Scottish Ambulance Service board has systematically failed to implement systems to ensure compliance with minimum statutory requirements HSE report

During an investigation last year, the HSE found what it described as "endemic failures" and issued seven specific notices demanding improvements.

The HSE said systems for infection control should be reviewed after discovering that domestic washing machines were provided for crews to wash uniforms instead of industrial machines.

The service was also criticised for doing too little to tackle the problem of stress.

In a rare move, it issued notices against two named individuals including the ambulance service's human resources director.

'Endemic failure'

The Centre for Corporate Accountability (CCA), which promotes safety, has written to the procurator fiscal in Glasgow to ask if any prosecutions will be made.

The Crown Office said it had received a letter from the charity which it would reply to directly.

The report, obtained by the CCA, said: "The Scottish Ambulance Service board has systematically failed to implement systems to ensure compliance with minimum statutory requirements."

The report found ambulance staff using mobiles instead of radios

It said there was an "endemic failure" to carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessments" and that this failure was "compounded by a lack of specific competence and a failure to provide adequate resources for health and safety."

It added that previous advice from the HSE had not been properly acted on, and on occasion had been "ignored".

The report was a result of a detailed inspection by 10 HSE inspectors that took place during a two week period in November 2004.

The CCA is assisting a former paramedic who suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder which he claims has been brought about by his experiences and lack of support while employed by the SAS.

Our staff care for patients in what are often extremely stressful situations and their welfare in the job is of the utmost importance to us Scottish Ambulance Service

He said: "It was my experience whilst working at the SAS that it had a very poor culture of health and safety with staff concerns being ignored, and employees being put in real danger as a result.

"HSE's report backs up everything that I and others have said about safety at the SAS".

The reports were obtained by the CCA under the Freedom of Information Act.

Bethan Rigby, of the CCA, said: "The failures at the SAS were clearly very extensive and had put the health and safety of employees at unacceptable risk.

"This time the SAS must make the changes required of it."

Stressful situations

A spokesman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said: "The Scottish Ambulance Service is committed to complying with the recommendations from the Health and Safety Executive.

"However, as an emergency service whose front line staff are working in extreme situations every day and must make instant "life or death" decisions about moving patients, this will continue to be a challenge for us.