News – Occupational violence is the third highest contributor to WorkCover claims.

Safe Work Australia is an Australian Government statutory body that reports on the number and nature of serious workers compensation claims³ lodged across occupational groups in Australia each year (Safe Work Australia 2017; 2018). Safe Work Australia does not have an occupational category equivalent to the child, family and community welfare sector; their closest category is the community and personal service industry, which it does not define. A limitation of these data is that incidents of violence towards workers that result in less than one week’s absence from work are not reflected in the Safe Work Australia data. According to Safe Work Australia:

for all compensation claims, there has been a 17% decreasein the total number of claims lodged from 133,045 claims in 2000/01 to 110,280 claims in 2014/15 (Safe Work Australia, 2017)
the total number of all claims due to being assaulted has more than doubledover the 14-year period (Safe Work Australia, 2017)
in the community and personal service industry, the number of compensation claims has increasedby 25% over the 14-year period (Safe Work Australia, 2017).

In 2023, suicide-related concerns were raised in 11,743 (16%) of Kids Helpline counselling contacts (Kids Helpline, 2023). Research also shows that in children and young people there are approximately 100–200 suicide attempts for every one suicide (Suicide Prevention Australia, 2021). These figures indicate that distress and despair are experienced by many young Australians. As such, it is important for practitioners working with children and families to understand how suicidal ideation can affect children and how to respond to it.

Child Mind Instiute Nov 2024

The suicide rate among Black youth is rising faster than any other racial or ethnic group in the United States
At school, Black and mixed-race students are 5 times more likely to be suspended than their white peers
Hispanic youth are 60% more likely than their white peers to report poor or reduced mental health but are 43% less likely to receive care

Referenced from Child Mind Institute Nov 2024
According to a recent CDC report, 6 in 10 high school girls have experienced “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness” — making teen girls twice as likely as boys to suffer from depression. And studies show that antidepressant prescriptions for adolescent girls increased by 129.6% between 2020 and 2022.

Education

School leaders also experience high levels of abuse. The 2019 Australian Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey conducted by Riley and colleagues revealed that of the 2,385 school leaders surveyed, over 84% reported being subjected to some form of offensive behaviours by parents or students in the last year. Of the school leaders who reported abuse, 36.8% reported experiencing threats of violence exclusively from students, and 24.5% from parents (Riley, 2020). While the ‘offensive behaviours reported by these school leaders were predominantly verbal, an increasing number of school leaders have reported experiencing physical violence. In fact, the proportion of school leaders who reported experiencing physical violence increased from 27.3% in 2011 to 42.2% in 2019.

Annual data on incidents of restraint and seclusion in Victorian government schools. Incidents of restraint and seclusion in 2023 referenced from https://www.vic.gov.au/statistics-victorian-schools-and-teaching#restraint-and-seclusion

	Number of incidents of physical restraint	Number of incidents of seclusion	Total
Primary school age	1466	264	1730
Secondary school age	406	78	484
Unknown age	466	6	472
Total	2338	348	2686

Health Care & Hospitals

Referenced from Safe Work Australia, 2015 ** WorkSafe Victoria

Workers compensation claims related to violence :
- Account for 12% of all claims
- Cost $40,000 on average
- Cost $400,000+ for serious claims
Up to 95% of our health care workers have experienced verbal or physical abuse?

Disability Support Services & NDIS

Referenced – Physical support manual handling workbook Premium Health.
Between 2004-2008 nearly 2000 disability service workers were injured at work in Victoria. 60% of these injuries were sprains and strain, also known as musculoskeletal injuries

In 2011/2012 – 41% of all workplace injury claims were caused by manual handling.

The most common of these injuries are strains and sprains.

These injuries can occur when muscles and other soft tissue are overexerted or subjected to forces beyond their capabilities.

Within the Disability Services sector, 45% of injuries involve the neck, back and shoulder.

Out of Home Care

Aged Care

Referenced – Physical support manual handling workbook Premium Health.
While those working in health and aged care services – 53% of injuries involve the neck, back and shoulder

Cost of injury

The average cost of a manual handling claim from aged care sector is $51,000 EG

Cost of injury

The average cost of a manual handling claim from aged care sector is $51,000 EG

For example, workers compensation claims involving work-related violence may:

Account for 12% of all claims
Cost $40,000 on average
Cost $400,000+ for serious claims

Local Government / Councils

According to Safe Work Australia data, workers compensation claims involving alleged bullying in local government were among the second highest of all sectors in 2017, with 42.2 claims per 100 million hours worked in 2017, up from being the third highest in 2016.

Despite this, two legal loopholes are seeing many local government employees without the recourse of the Fair Work Commission.

66% of employees treated rudely said their performance got worse as a result*
78% of employees who have been treated rudely said they felt less committed to the organisation*
25% of employees who have been treated rudely admitted to taking their frustration out on customers*