Workplace Violence & Aggression
Serious workers’ compensation claims tied to assaults and violent exposure have jumped 56 percent in five years. Angry outbursts, hostile emails and intimidation have become the most common forms of aggression reported on the job, with most of the increased incidents coming from the people we serve (e.g. our clients, parents, students, patients and customers).
Under the model WHS laws, organisations must manage the health and safety risks of workplace violence and aggression. Even if workplace violence isn’t an obvious concern in your business, identifying and reviewing potential risks is essential – especially for employees who engage regularly with the public.
We utilise psychological health and safety frameworks to help organisations understand and address the impact of workplace violence and aggression.
Tackling Workplace Violence & Aggression Can’t Wait
Mental health claims in Australian workplaces have jumped by 37 percent in just a few years. Almost a third of serious claims involve bullying, harassment or violence. When these cases go through the compensation system, the impact is costly. The median payout is over $58k, nearly four times the cost of a typical physical injury, and the average worker is on leave for 34 weeks.
What Can Workplace Aggression Look Like?
- Physical assault – biting, scratching, hitting, kicking, pushing, grabbing, throwing objects
- Deliberate coughing or spitting on someone
- Sexual assault or other forms of indecent contact
- Harassment or aggressive behaviour that creates fear of violence – stalking, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, yelling, swearing
- Hazing or initiation practices targeting new or young workers
- Domestic or family violence that occurs in the workplace – including when the workplace is the employee’s home
*Violence and aggression may come from anyone in the workplace, including an employer, supervisor, co-worker, client, patient or customer.
Under WHS laws, aggression and violence are recognised as psychosocial hazards. HR and safety teams have clear responsibilities to identify and manage these risks.
A proactive, organisation-wide approach to prevention and mitigation is essential. It supports the wellbeing of your people and helps maintain stability across your business. This allows organisations to avoid:
- Higher workers’ compensation claims and lost time injuries
- Increased turnover and recruitment costs as talent seeks safer workplaces or professions
Board-level WHS exposure – with workplace aggression and violence classified as a psychosocial hazard under WHS laws
Turning Regulation into Real Workplace Safety
Workplace safety requires an integrated, evidence-based response that treats violence and aggression as a psychosocial hazard and embeds psychological health and safety into everyday practices.
Our integrated solutions are purpose built for your organisation, understanding that every workplace faces its own mix of risks, culture and external influences.
Mapien’s unique approach utilises a multidisciplinary team, including Psychologists, mental health consultants, HR and IR specialists to address violence and aggression as significant psychosocial hazards that affect wellbeing, engagement and retention. We draw on behavioural science insights, WHS law, organisational psychology and change management to shape practical controls your people will use — that actually work for your organisation.
Discovery – Knowing Your Risk
By unpacking the full scope of violence and aggression in your context — physical, verbal and psychological. Through processes such as data reviews, worker consultations and surveys we can build a psychological health and safety analysis that identifies hotspots and blind spots.
- Review incident data and workers compensation claims
- Run confidential worker focus groups and pulse surveys
- Draw on evidence-based research and incorporate HR, IR and WHS requirements and best-practice guidelines
Design – Co-Creating the Controls
We work with you to design and create practical controls that fit with your organisation and are aligned with WHS obligations, aligned with the following principles
- Non-adverserial, shared responsibility approach
- Solutions-focused, utilising the hierarchy of controls
- Promotion of mentally healthy workplaces that thrive
Develop & Embed – Building Skills & Confidence
Our interventions drive sustainable change, embed safety, promote health and wellbeing and are designed to build capability across the organisation. Intervention services could include
- Board information and education
- Leadership strategy and advice
- Policy & procedure gap analysis
- Individual coaching or capability uplift
- Non-tactical training, utilising tailored practical application (e.g. role plays, scenarios, case studies)
Built on current Safe Work Australia data and decades of experience, our consulting services translate compliance into a mentally healthy and thriving culture, so your people feel supported, your leaders gain confidence and your organisation benefits from stronger performance, greater resilience and a reputation as a safe and values-driven place to work.
With Mapien, your organisation moves beyond reactive fixes to a culture of psychological health and safety.
The Pay-Off: People Thrive, Performance Follows
When you address workplace violence and aggression through a psychosocial lens, the upside stretches beyond fewer incidents, and benefits the entire organisation.
| What Improves | Why It Matters |
| Employee wellbeing & psychological safety | “The most common mechanism attributed to claims for mental health conditions were work related harassment and/or workplace bullying (27.5%), work pressure (25.2%) and exposure to workplace or occupational violence (16.4%).”
Source: Psychological health and safety in the workplace – Safe Work Australia |
| Retention & engagement | “Workers with claims for mental health conditions reported poorer return to work outcomes…”
Survey data from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership found that 25% of teachers intended to leave the profession before retirement with a further 34% considering doing so. Of those, 60% said it was because teaching was affecting their wellbeing or mental health. Source: Psychological health and safety in the workplace – Safe Work Australia |
| Productivity & customer experience | Employees who return after a psychological-injury claim tend to come back with noticeably less capacity than their peers with physical injuries. After a psychological-injury claim, workers return with lower capacity, feel less able to complete tasks, stay on the job or manage the physical demands of their roles.
Source: Psychological health and safety in the workplace – Safe Work Australia |
| Workers’ comp & business costs | Psychological and mental health already cost Australian businesses an estimated AU $39 billion in lost participation and productivity each year, proactive controls help protect your bottom line.
“The median time lost and compensation paid for mental health conditions were more than 4 times greater than that of all injuries and illnesses.” Source: Psychological health and safety in the workplace – Safe Work Australia |
| Regulatory confidence | We link controls to WHS obligations and gives boards clear evidence of due diligence. |
Who We Help
Our solutions are applicable for all organisations, and particularly relevant for workplaces such as:
- Education – principals, teachers and support staff facing parent or student hostility.
- Call & contact centres – agents absorbing daily customer frustration across multiple channels.
- Retail, local government, healthcare and community services – any setting where frontline teams can’t simply “walk away.”
Our Office Locations
Brisbane
Level 10, 340 Adelaide Street, Brisbane QLD 4000
PO Box 10399, Adelaide Street, Brisbane QLD 4000