Too many workers face this every day. It's never OK.

Too many workers face this every day (M rated)

Work-related violence involves incidents in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work. This definition covers a broad range of actions and behaviours that can create a risk to the health and safety of employees. It includes behaviour sometimes described as acting out, challenging behaviour and behaviours of concern.

Unacceptable behaviour can have a negative impact on the physical and mental wellbeing of workers

Most of us understand that extreme acts of violence are unacceptable. But not everyone realises there is a scale of violence and aggression. Some examples include:

  • aggressive gestures or expressions such as eye rolling and sneering
  • verbal abuse such as yelling, swearing and name calling
  • intimidating physical behaviour such as standing in a worker's personal space or standing over them
  • physical assault such as biting, spitting, scratching, pushing, shoving, tripping and grabbing
  • extreme acts of violence and aggression such as hitting, punching, strangulation, kicking, personal threats, threats with weapons, sexual harassment and assault

None of these are ok. Being exposed to these incidents repetitively can have a cumulative and significant ongoing effect on wellbeing.

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Your actions have impact

If you find yourself getting overwhelmed, try to remove yourself from the situation until you can be in a better frame of mind.

Even acts you may consider 'insignificant' like eye rolling, sneering, talking down to or raising your voice at workers can have a major impact on their mental health. To you, it might be a one-off incident, but they might be treated like this every day.

Posters for your workplace

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