I have a friend currently studying social work in year two and on placement. Three weeks into the placement, they had two incidents: a service user being aggressive and another user blowing smoke into their face. The first incident was discussed with their on-site supervisor, who assured them they would speak to the service user and always come to them if anything like that happened again. The second incident was witnessed by a member of staff who quickly talked to the service user and told them it was wrong of them to do that. My friend thought that was the end and did not report the second incident to their on-site supervisor, as the placement policy was that any staff member could handle any incident.
Then on Friday, the on-site supervisor called my friend aside and informed them that they wanted to send an email to the practice educator regarding the incidents and see if they could change placements for my friend. The on-site supervisor said they felt my friend was minimising risk. At the centre, it would be better to change placements. Still, my friend found all these bizarre and sudden as nothing indicated that my friend was uncomfortable, and my friend thought the situation was handled. Now, to change placements, a formal concern meeting will have to be held, which could lead to possibly changing placements and starting all over again. This was what my friend wanted to avoid in the first place. Now, it is like my friend is being punished for not reacting, and if they reacted the way they felt, it would have been considered rude or unprofessional.
Long story short, all this has been taken too far when everything was handled appropriately, and there have been worse incidents that happened at the placement and nothing like this was done about it.
I just want to ask if there are other course options to switch to at this point and what would be the best line of action. My friend's tutor has been informed of the incident too.