We know that occupational violence and aggression (OVA) is an increasing problem in many industries – staff in hospitals, emergency services, schools, medical centres, disability services and many others have been quietly absorbing the impact of dealing with violent and aggressive people. We also know that OVA is never justified, but a huge proportion of these incidents are not reported.
Public sector health services are required to report OVA incidents in their annual reports – the underreporting of OVA incidents means that these reports are not accurate, which in turn means that decision-makers are not presented an accurate picture of the scope and prevalence of the issues are in relation to OVA, and therefore there is inadequate priority placed upon preventing it, and the public is not aware of what is really going on. For those working in healthcare we encourage you to have a look at your own health services’ annual report here and get an idea of what numbers are being presented.
The ANMF encourages its members to report incidents regardless of the severity of the incident with the Union. The ANMF guide is available for anyone to read, although some of the links are member only. Health care workers who are not eligible to join ANMF, and workers from other industries, are encouraged to report OVA incidents to their own union and/or to WorkSafe Advisory. Workers in other industries are advised to report to their own employers and unions.
The ANMF uses the data from OVA reports to identify wider trends or workplace specific issues, and they can escalate the issue directly with the employer.
Regardless of your industry, after every incident of OVA you should report it to your employer, speak with your HSR and notify your union. In the health care industry incidents need to be reported through formal work channels such as VHIMS or RiskMan so that your employer can follow up. In other industries check the process for formally reporting incidents of OVA. It is also important for there to be a record should you need to make a WorkCover claim.
There are two types of reports you can make in health care – a clinical report and an OHS report. OVA incidents are often reported as clinical incidents for the patient or client, but the OHS incident report is often not completed – due to time, feeling as though nothing is going to change so it is pointless, having been conditioned to accept a level of OVA etc.
Incident reports should be completed in your work time to ensure that you are paid for time spent completing an incident report, and you should not be expected to do them on your meal breaks, or in unpaid overtime.
Union members can also report incidents to the union on behalf of someone else (who is not a member) for workplaces where union members work. They can look at the incident, and the systems of work that are in place and failing, or non-existent, and take steps to try to rectify this.
Read more: Reporting OVA incidents: it’s got to be done! – On the Record | ANMF
