Violence at Work

Violence at Work

Some workers are at an increased risk of violence either because of where they work, or the type of work that they do. Their employers have a legal duty to provide and maintain a safe and healthy workplace, and safe and healthy systems of work. This includes taking all practicable measures to reduce the risk of violence.

Make it safe! Action for health and safety reps

Talk with your members, particularly those who have to work alone for at least some of the time, as they may be more vulnerable. Discuss with them their ideas and issues.
Ensure an assessment is done to identify risk factors such as: lone working on and off site and other potential hazards.
Investigate if jobs can be re-organised to provide a safer system of work, including ensuring there are adequate numbers of staff. Download the Workplace Violence Safety Audit to assist you.
Ensure that members report and document all incidents.
Raise any concerns or issues of security with your employer as soon as possible.
Contact your union for further advice. Many unions have publications and policies on violence. Some examples include:
- The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation - Zero Tolerance Policy.
- The Ambulance Employees Association of Victoria has issued guidelines for members at risk of violence.

Who is at risk?

There are large numbers of workers who are potentially at risk of violence from third parties. These include:

Health services workers
Police
Accident and emergency workers
Corrective Service workers
Security guards/crowd controllers
Car parking attendants
Retail workers

Community sector workers
Teachers
Hotel workers
Contract cleaners
and many others, often incidentally, due to having money or goods on premises.

These workers confront or have confronted violent/potentially violent/ drunk/aggressive/drug affected third parties or clients.

What does the law say?

The employer's duty of care to employees under common law covers more than the work they are doing and workplace conditions to include potential exposure to risk from the foreseeable conduct of third parties.

Employers have a duty to provide a safe workplace under section 21 of the OHS Act 2004 as well as the duty to provide adequate training and information for you to be able to perform your role safely. They also have the duty to monitor the conditions of the workplace to make sure they are safe under section 22 and the duty to consult on matters relating to health and safety under Section 35. The OHS Act empowers HSRs to take action on work-related violence.

This includes providing a safe system of work, information, training and supervision. The employer has the duty to take all reasonable steps to reduce the risk to employees. The employer must consult with the OHS reps and the workers in these situations.

The new Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 also require your employer to eliminate or mitigate psychosocial hazards using a modified Hierarchy of Controls.

WorkSafe has a topic page on Work-related violence as well as other materials such as:

Work-related violence: A guide for employers (PDF version)
Occupational violence and aggression against health workers brochure - Topics cover issues such as environmental design to prevent violence, and the legal obligations of healthcare providers.
Cash-in-transit: A guide to managing OHS in the cash-in-transit industry - a 32-page publication outlining practical guidance for Cash-In-Transit (CIT) employers, and duties of designers, managers, contractors and employees. The publication covers risk management, safety and security risk assessment, vehicles and robbery. Another, related publication is Armed hold-ups and cash handling - Transferring cash - providing a solution for small businesses being targeted for robberies when transferring cash to the bank.
Work-related Violence - a hub for links to information on identifying, preventing and managing work-related violence
Prevention and management of aggression in health services - A handbook for workplaces. This handbook provides a framework to identify, prevent and manage aggression and violence in health industry workplaces.
Pharmacies - Employees being confronted (Archived - for information only)

See Also:

VTHC Webinar (March 2022): Occupational Violence and Aggression - with special guest Ms Kathy Chrisfield, ANMF OHS Lead Organiser.

See also our More information and links page on this site

From overseas:

The UK Health and Safety Executive has a webpage on Work Related Violence. Information, such as the booklet Violence at Work - A guide for employers [pdf] can be downloaded from here.
A resource from the UK retail union, Usdaw: a model policy statement Preventing Violence to Retail Staff
The ILO site has sector-specific information (e.g. Violence at work in hotels, catering and tourism, Violence and stress in education workplaces) and a long list of relevant international websites.

MORE INFORMATION

OHS Reps resources

Other useful Union publications:

ACTU: Mind Your Head campaign to improve workplace mental health
ACTU: Work Shouldn't Hurt survey report 2021

The UK's peak union council, the TUC has produced guidance for safety representatives on dealing with bullying and violence, including:
- Draft Survey on Bullying [pdf]
- Guide for HSRs
- Reporting work-related violence - advice from the TUC
The UK union UNISON has produced very useful advice for union delegates and OHS reps: Bullying and Harassment at Work. The page has links to other resources, such as guidelines which give advice on the sorts of things that can be done to combat bullying in the workplace. The guideline includes a draft bullying policy and survey: Tackling Bullying at Work [pdf]

WorkSafe resources:

Compliance code: Psychological health
Psychosocial risk assessment tools
Workplace bullying
Workplace bullying fact sheet
Aggression or violence
Aggression or violence fact sheet
Gendered violence
Gendered violence fact sheet
Poor organisational justice
Poor organisational justice fact sheet
Poor support
Poor support fact sheet
Poor workplace relationships
Poor workplace relationships fact sheet
Sexual harassment
Sexual harassment fact sheet
Preventing workplace bullying - includes employer duties and checklists
Workplace bullying: A guide for employers (PDF version)

What to do if bullying happens to you - information for employees

Safe Work Australia resources:

Other resources:

Mind Your Head has an excellent database on psychosocial hazards. It breaks down hazards into their impacts and the risk assessment and control measures that can be used - Find it here.

Updated May 2026