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WHS Management for Mental Health Services

Manage patient aggression, vicarious trauma, seclusion hazards, and lone worker risks in mental health service delivery.

Mental health services have the highest rate of worker assault of any healthcare setting, with staff in acute inpatient units, emergency mental health teams, and community crisis services facing unpredictable physical aggression from patients experiencing psychosis, mania, and acute behavioural disturbance. Vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue from sustained exposure to patient distress, self-harm, and suicide create psychosocial risks that are inherent to the work rather than incidental to it. Seclusion and restraint procedures expose workers to physical injury during interventions designed to protect patient safety. The new Healthcare Code of Practice and the psychosocial provisions of Regulation 55C both create specific obligations for mental health service delivery.

Key Hazards

Physical assault from patients experiencing psychosis or acute behavioural disturbanceVicarious trauma from sustained exposure to patient distress, self-harm, and suicideInjuries during seclusion and physical restraint proceduresLone work in community mental health and crisis assessment settingsSharps and ligature hazards in acute inpatient environmentsPsychosocial hazards from moral distress, workload pressure, and organisational change

Regulatory Requirements

HRCW Categories

Hazardous manual tasks (restraint), lone work, work involving biological hazards

Section 26A Codes (binding 1 July 2026)
Healthcare Code of Practice 2026Hazardous Manual TasksFatigue Code of Practice 2026

SWMS Required

Related Sectors

Need Help with Mental Health Services WHS?

We help mental health services develop compliant WHS systems covering aggression management, vicarious trauma programs, and lone worker controls.

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