Assault at work: NSW workers compensation guide

Assault at work can occur through being hit, pushed, grabbed, kicked, bitten, spat on or struck by an object and being restrained, cornered or subjected to an immediate threat of physical harm. The incident history should identify the task, equipment, location and sequence of events rather than relying on the job title alone.

People commonly exposed include workers assaulted by customers, patients, clients or members of the public and workers assaulted by a colleague or supervisor. Employment records should identify each person's task, employer and position in the work area when the incident occurred.

Medical records after a assault at work may identify facial, dental, head, neck, shoulder, hand, fracture or soft-tissue injury and concussion or neurological symptoms. Each diagnosis should be linked to the event or exposure and to the worker's actual functional change.

After a assault at work, immediate reporting and safety records may include incident report made as soon as practicable and police event number and any protection or safety directions. These records can establish what was known at the time without requiring the worker to repeatedly recount a traumatic event.

• CCTV and body-worn camera preservation requests.
• Photographs, witness details, roster and first-aid records.

For a assault at work, the first evidence to preserve includes security logs, access records and duress-alarm activation and prior reports about the aggressor or unsafe system where relevant. It is most useful when dates, people, equipment, duties and later medical histories tell a consistent account.

• Statements describing the event without embellishment.
• Employer and insurer correspondence about the accepted event and injuries.

Medical and psychological evidence after a assault at work may include emergency, GP and specialist notes recording the mechanism and body regions and imaging, dental or neurological evidence where relevant. A diagnosis alone may not answer causation or capacity: the records should explain the work event, symptoms, treatment and practical restrictions.

• Psychological treatment records that identify diagnosis and functional impact.
• Capacity certificates matching the actual job and safety risk.

After a assault at work, an insurer may dispute whether the assault was connected with work or was a private dispute and whether all claimed diagnoses arose from the incident. The written decision should be answered with evidence directed to those stated reasons.

Emergency, GP and specialist notes recording the mechanism and body regions. Imaging, dental or neurological evidence where relevant. If treatment is disputed after a assault at work, the request should explain the accepted diagnosis, expected functional benefit and reasonable alternatives.

Work capacity after a assault at work may turn on contact with the alleged assailant or similar public-facing exposure and concentration, sleep, driving, manual handling and medication effects. Proposed duties must be compared with the real task demands and the worker's ability to sustain them for the proposed hours.

A lasting physical injury is assessed under the NSW method for the affected body system only after the condition is sufficiently stable. The event label does not predict a WPI percentage. Primary psychological impairment is assessed separately under the NSW psychiatric impairment method when the condition is permanent and the legal pathway is established. Diagnosis alone does not determine WPI. Any WPI assessment after a assault at work occurs after stabilisation under the NSW method for the accepted body system; the accident or surgery alone does not determine a percentage.

A primary psychological injury is the psychological condition said to arise directly from workplace events. For claims first notified on or after 1 July 2026, the event must fit a relevant-event category and satisfy the additional connection and causation requirements. A secondary psychological injury arises as a consequence of a physical injury, for example depression associated with pain, surgery or loss of mobility after an assault injury. The 2026 primary-injury reforms do not apply to secondary psychological injuries in the same way. The distinction depends on medical causation and the accepted injury history, not simply on which symptoms were noticed first.

A police, SafeWork, workplace, discrimination, Fair Work or protective-order process may exist alongside workers compensation. Those processes have different purposes and do not decide workers compensation automatically. A civil, victims-support or other claim may require separate advice depending on the person involved and circumstances. It should not be described as part of workers compensation without checking eligibility. These issues are separate from workers compensation and depend on the particular facts.

For a assault at work, assistance may involve identify the event category, incident date and claim pathway before responding to an insurer and organise incident, safety, medical, psychological and capacity evidence without circulating unnecessary private material. The purpose is to identify the disputed decision and the evidence needed for the next step, not to promise an outcome.