If a worker or anyone at your workplace is in immediate danger,  call 000.

Workplaces can play an important role in preventing and responding to family and domestic violence by providing a safe working environment for all workers. This involves:

  • Communicating that family and domestic violence is a workplace issue and developing workplace policies and procedures to address it. The Australian Human Rights Commission provides guidance on how you can do this.
  • Consulting workers about work arrangements and managing risks to health and safety. Consider holding one-on-one discussions to ensure their needs, experiences and individual circumstances are considered and information is treated as sensitive and confidential.
  • Assuring workers of their right to confidentiality and support if they choose to disclose family and domestic violence.
  • Communicating support that is available to workers, including Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) if you have them and employee assistance programs.
  • Providing all workers with education and training to raise their awareness of family and domestic violence, its potential effects in the workplace and how to manage risks.
  • Communicating the availability of entitlements such as paid/unpaid family and domestic violence leave, flexible work arrangements and other entitlements which support workers experiencing family and domestic violence.
  • Providing information about counselling, legal, health, financial and other family and domestic violence support services.
  • Ensuring workers supporting those who are experiencing family and domestic violence are aware of the support options available to them, including employee assistance programs.
  • Providing a safe, secure and accessible reporting mechanism, including properly trained contact people within the workplace.

Workers should be assured that any information will be treated confidentially and securely, to the extent possible and as required by law. Mishandling of private information or inappropriate disclosure may place the worker at an increased risk of violence.

If a worker discloses to you they are experiencing violence, or you suspect they may not be safe at work, you can contact 1800 RESPECT, the national counselling service for family and domestic violence for advice. The Our Watch website also has a workplace guide for responding to disclosures of violence.

If a worker or anyone at your workplace is in immediate danger, call 000.

Managing risks at work

Workplaces can be a place of refuge for workers experiencing family and domestic violence and be a crucial source of social and economic support.

Family and domestic violence incidents may occur at the workplace, for example:

  • through public access to the workplace, including via the telephone or email
  • when a worker is working alone or in locations outside or away from their main workplace, such as at their home or on client visits
  • when a worker is moving between work locations, including between work sites and the car park, and
  • when a worker is working with a family member or domestic partner.

To manage the risk of family and domestic violence, consider the following - remember not all control measures may be reasonably practicable for your workplace:

  • Secure the building or workplace and control entry e.g., through swipe card or pin code access.
  • Clearly identify visitors to avoid accidentally allowing a person known to use violence to enter the workplace.
  • Separate workers from the public.
  • Implement flexible working arrangements, such as adjustments to working hours or work locations.
  • Provide communication or duress alarm systems.
  • Ensure the worker is not alone or out of contact while working.
  • Consider contact information screening e.g. email, phone numbers, devices, internet profile.
  • Develop and put in place procedures for an emergency response to instances of family and domestic violence in the workplace, including when to involve Police.
  • Provide workers with a safe, secure place to retreat in the event of an incident.
  • Change work email addresses or phone numbers if incidents have occurred through electronic or telephone contact.
  • Provide secure parking and access to the workplace, including when moving between work locations.
  • Make available and communicate entitlements such as paid/unpaid family and domestic violence leave, flexible work arrangements and other entitlements that support workers experiencing family and domestic violence.

Managing risks when workers are working from home

The model WHS laws and your duty to manage WHS risks still apply if workers work somewhere other than their usual workplace, including working from home. Workers experiencing family and domestic violence may be placed at greater risk because of working from home arrangements.

When starting working from home arrangements, you must identify and manage the risks. Consulting your workers will be essential in identifying and managing risks given you may have limited knowledge of your workers’ home environment. Encourage workers to discuss with you any specific or individual concerns they may have with respect to their health and safety, or the impact any proposed control measures may have on them. This is particularly important for workers experiencing family and domestic violence because they will know the most about their personal circumstances and may have important information that should be considered before work arrangements change.

If the worker has disclosed family and domestic violence, consider developing or adjusting their safety plan for working from home in consultation with their treating medical practitioner or health professional (if available). For more information on safety planning, contact 1800 Respect.

What you can do to minimise risks at a worker's home will be different to what you can do at the usual workplace. You should:

  • Maintain regular communication with workers. Avoid directly asking the worker about the violence as this may unintentionally place the worker at risk of serious harm. It is common for perpetrators of family and domestic violence to monitor the worker’s communication including emails, text messages and phone calls.
  • Agree on a course of action if you are not able to contact the worker for a defined period.
  • Appoint a contact person in the business that workers can talk to about any concerns.
  • Provide work phones and laptops to enhance autonomy and digital security.
  • Provide continued access to an employee assistance program or other support programs.

If working from home is not a safe option for the worker, an alternative work environment must be provided, so far as is reasonably practicable. For example, allowing the worker to work from an alternative location or allowing them to work from the office.

Confidentiality

It is important that workplaces develop supportive environments in which workers feel safe to discuss family and domestic violence issues.

All workers should be made aware of any mandatory reporting obligations that you have as the employer, either under state and territory laws or as part of the worker’s employment contract, that may limit confidentiality. For example, this may include where there is a reasonable belief that child abuse is occurring.

To create an environment where workers feel confident to talk about their experience of family and domestic violence, you should be able to demonstrate that such information will be kept private and confidential. Confidentiality is important because workers may not be willing to talk about their experience without knowing it is confidential.

Any information about a worker’s experience of family and domestic violence is sensitive and confidential. Workplaces should take all reasonable steps to ensure any information disclosed by workers regarding family and domestic violence is kept confidential and secure. Consider how you will sensitively treat personal information to protect a person’s right to privacy and implement mechanisms to protect their privacy e.g., privacy settings on hazard and incident reporting systems. Discuss with your workers how this information will be handled.

Disclosure should be on a need-to-know basis and only to maintain safety. Keep in mind that any mishandling of information may place the worker at an increased risk of violence by the perpetrator. Disclosure may have serious consequences for the worker’s safety. Where possible, disclosure should only occur with the express consent of the worker.