Aggression at work is not confined to obviously high-risk occupations.
It can happen at a reception desk, across a retail counter, in a healthcare setting or anywhere employees deal directly with customers, clients, patients or members of the public.
WorkSafe Victoria classifies aggression or violence as a psychosocial hazard. Under Victoria’s Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025, employers must identify psychosocial hazards, control the associated risks and review those controls in certain circumstances.
WorkSafe has also strengthened its guidance for employers during 2026. Its current advice makes an important point for organisations reviewing workplace security: the physical environment and security systems can form part of the controls used to reduce the risk of aggression or violence.
Look at the Workplace Before an Incident Occurs
Workplace aggression covers a wide range of behaviour, from verbal abuse and threats through to physical assault.
The risks also vary from one workplace to another.
Someone working alone at night faces a different situation from an employee at a busy reception desk. A healthcare facility, retail store and government office each have their own patterns of public access, staff movement and interaction.
Good security planning needs to reflect those differences.
WorkSafe recommends a range of practical controls. They include restricting access to workplaces at higher-risk times, improving visibility, providing secure areas for employees and installing CCTV, communication systems, duress alarms and other alarm systems. It also identifies onsite security as an appropriate response in some environments.
Importantly, WorkSafe does not present technology as the complete answer. Security measures sit alongside workplace design, staffing, procedures, training and supervision.
What Happens When Someone Needs Help?
Electronic security can play a particularly important role when an incident begins to escalate.
CCTV can provide visibility over entrances, reception areas, car parks and other locations where problems may occur. Access control can help manage who enters particular parts of a building. A duress alarm can give an employee a way to call for assistance without having to leave the situation.
The usefulness of any of these systems, however, depends on what happens next.
If a duress alarm is activated, who receives it? If CCTV shows an incident developing, is anyone monitoring the system? Can access to part of the building be restricted? Who is expected to respond?
WorkSafe’s guidance specifically calls for communication, duress and alarm systems to be regularly maintained and tested. Its compliance guidance also uses the example of an employer installing duress alarms and protective screens, supported by clear response procedures and employee training.
A security system should help people act when they need it, not simply provide a record of what happened afterwards.
Patterns Can Tell You Where the Risk Is
Incident reporting can also help organisations make better security decisions.
One event may appear isolated. Several incidents occurring at the same entrance, during the same shift or involving a similar type of interaction can point to a more specific problem.
WorkSafe recommends monitoring incident data for trends, including across multiple sites where relevant. It also advises employers to review whether existing controls were available, used and effective when an incident occurred.
For a facilities or operations team, that information can be valuable.
It may show that CCTV coverage needs to change, that access to an area should be better controlled or that additional security is required at particular times. In another workplace, the problem may have more to do with staffing, layout or procedures than security technology.
The response should follow the risk.
Security is Part of the Wider Workplace Response
At National Protective Services, we work with clients to understand how a site operates before recommending security measures.
For workplaces where aggression or violence is a recognised risk, this can involve reviewing public access, visibility, CCTV coverage, access control, alarms and duress systems, as well as the security response available when an incident occurs.
NPS provides both electronic security and security personnel, allowing these elements to be considered together. A camera, alarm or access-control system is more useful when its role in the wider security response is clear.
Workplace aggression cannot be addressed by security alone. WorkSafe’s guidance makes that clear. But where physical and electronic security form part of an organisation’s risk controls, they need to be designed around the people, the workplace and the situations those people may actually face.
If you are reviewing security at a public-facing workplace, NPS can assess your existing arrangements and identify where electronic or physical security measures may need attention.
Contact us today to discuss how we can help your business or organisation for all your security needs.