Managing work-related violence – start with ‘It’s Never OK’

No business owner goes into the holiday season dreaming of playing peacekeeper between frustrated customers and overwhelmed staff.

But the Christmas rush has a funny way of throwing the best laid plans out the window.

While the holiday music may be festive and bright, it can be an exhausting and stressful time of year, where small disputes have the potential to escalate quickly. From low stock, incorrect party bookings and delayed flights, to supplier issues and customer queues, you never know what might cause someone to get angry.

Work-related aggression and violence can occur at any time and in any workplace without warning. Over the last 5 years, there has been a 56% increase in the number of serious worker’s compensation claims for workers exposed to workplace violence.

The effects are devastating, with workplace violence often leading to long lasting poor physical and mental health for employees, and fewer workers willing to fill customer and client facing roles.

As we race towards the end of the year, enjoying festive celebrations and planning holidays, WorkSafe’s ‘It’s Never OK’ campaign is a timely reminder to let your customers and clients know ‘It’s Never OK’ to get aggressive or violent.

Understanding work-related violence

Work-related violence can be experienced by owners and employees at both small and large businesses, with clients and customers being the most common source. It often involves incidents where a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in any situation relating to their work or workplace.

Work-related violence covers a wide range of actions and behaviours, from subtle gestures like eye rolling all the way through to an employee being physically assaulted.

Other examples include:

• biting, spitting, scratching, hitting, kicking
• pushing, shoving, tripping, grabbing
• throwing objects
• verbal threats or abuse
• armed robbery
• sexual harassment and assault
• online harassment, threats or abuse
• threatening or assault with a weapon.

3 strategies to manage work-related violence

Being exposed to any level of work-related violence can result in physical or psychological harm to employees. Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (2004), employers are ‘required to eliminate risks to health and safety, so far as is reasonably practicable’.

This means that managing your employees' health and safety is not just an important part of running your business and being a good boss – it’s your legal responsibility.

WorkSafe lays out 3 strategies to help you manage work related violence, with printable posters available on their website.

These 3 strategies will help you begin to fulfil your obligations by managing the risks of work-related violence, responding to work-related violence incidents, showing leadership and creating a culture of safety.

1. Managing the risks of work-related violence

As a business owner, there are many steps you can take to help you reduce and manage the risks of work-related violence in your workplace.

Step 1: Identify the types of work-related violence hazards that could arise in your workplace and cause harm to employees.

Example: A customer approaches your service desk to ask about a child’s bike that you advertised on sale. All your service staff are busy, so your bike mechanic steps in to help out. He places the wrench he had in his hand down on the desk and lets the customer know the bike is sold out – it won’t be available again until after Christmas.

Step 2: Assess risks to understand the nature of the harm the hazards could cause and the likelihood and seriousness of the harm occurring.

Example: The customer is tired and panics because they’ve promised the bike as a Christmas gift. They won’t take no for an answer and demand that a bike is found, becoming highly distressed, yelling and swearing. In a moment of rage, they pick up the wrench and throw it at your employee, hitting their face.

Step 3: Determine the most effective risk control measures for any given hazard/circumstance.

Example: You develop processes and guidelines to ensure that staff are trained and know that they need to put down any tools or dangerous objects before approaching the service desk. If possible, you create a space for your bike mechanics to work that is away from your customer service area and install a bell or buzzer for customers to ring when there is no one at the desk. You train all staff in how to deal with difficult customers and to de-escalate tense situations.

The current best practice for creating risk controls uses a method called ‘the hierarchy of control’. You can find out more about this on the WorkSafe website.

Step 4: Monitor and review hazards and control measures regularly to ensure that you capture any emerging hazards and that your prevention measures are working as planned and improved where necessary.

2. Responding to work-related violence

The actions you take to respond to work-related violence will vary depending on the nature and severity of the incident.

It’s important that you have processes in place that document what to do at the time of, and immediately after, an incident.

During an incident, there are a range of actions you and your employees can take:

• set off duress alarms
• call the police
• implement internal emergency response processes
• seek support from other employees
• ask the aggressor to leave, using calm verbal and nonverbal communication
• retreat to a safe location.

After an incident, as an employer, you need to immediately take the following actions to minimise injury to employees:

• ensure everyone is safe
• provide first aid or medical attention and/or refer an employee to an assistance program as necessary
• notify WorkSafe Victoria if required
• in the event of a notifiable incident, ensure the incident site is preserved in line with the requirements of section 39 of the OHS Act.
• complete notifications required by external agencies such as police, fire, ambulance and WorkSafe Victoria.

It is the responsibility of both you and your employees to make sure you know what to do when you witness or experience work-related violence.

No matter the situation, it’s important to report all incidents so steps can be put in place to prevent and manage the risk of it re-occurring in the future.

Make employees aware that they are required to report any incident, small or large, and encourage them to do so.

Support after an incident

If you or one of your employees are affected by aggression and violence at work, seek support from an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provider near you.

For more information on health and wellbeing support, visit the Fair Work Ombudsman page.

For immediate support, you can also contact:

• WorkSafe Victoria Advisory Service – 1800 136 089
• Victoria Police – 000
• Lifeline – 13 11 14
• Speak to your local GP.

3. How leadership and culture can reduce the risk of work-related violence

As the leader of your workplace, it’s important to create a culture where violence and aggression are never accepted as ‘part of the job.’

Creating a culture of safety includes:

• setting health and safety objectives and accountabilities
• checking in with team members regularly
• ensuring that health and safety systems are in place
• having clear policies and procedures for reporting
• making sure employees feel safe and comfortable to talk to you if an incident does happen.

It’s Never OK

Experiencing work-related violence is confronting and can have long-term effects on workers. WorkSafe Victoria’s campaign ‘It’s Never OK’, shines a light on the types of unacceptable behaviours that workers face every day and the impacts that it can have on them. The campaign reinforces to the community that it’s never OK to act in this way.

For more information visit the WorkSafe Victoria page: It’s Never OK.

Watch WorkSafe Victoria’s campaign video to see what it’s like for workers to be on the receiving end of work-related violence.

Improving the health and safety of your small business

WorkSafe has a complete guide for employers to help you prepare for, prevent and respond to work-related violence.

Download the Work-related violence: A guide for employers.

Find Wellbeing and mental health support for small businesses on the Business Victoria website.