Coworker or supervisor assault: NSW workers compensation guide

Coworker or supervisor assault can occur through physical attack during a shift, meeting or work task and credible threats, stalking or intimidation connected with work. 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 a colleague, team leader or supervisor and workers intervening in violence between colleagues. Employment records should identify each person's task, employer and position in the work area when the incident occurred.

Medical records after a coworker or supervisor assault may identify head, facial, neck, shoulder, hand or fracture injury and primary psychological injury after violence or threats. Each diagnosis should be linked to the event or exposure and to the worker's actual functional change.

After a coworker or supervisor assault, immediate reporting and safety records may include incident report and request to separate the parties and witness, meeting, roster and access records. These records can establish what was known at the time without requiring the worker to repeatedly recount a traumatic event.

• CCTV, email, message and call preservation.
• Police event number and employer investigation record.

For a coworker or supervisor assault, the first evidence to preserve includes history distinguishing work issues from any private relationship and prior complaints, threats and safety-control requests. It is most useful when dates, people, equipment, duties and later medical histories tell a consistent account.

• Management correspondence before and after the assault.
• Medical records and certificates of capacity.

Medical and psychological evidence after a coworker or supervisor assault may include physical injury records matching the assault and psychiatric or psychological evidence identifying the event and diagnosis. A diagnosis alone may not answer causation or capacity: the records should explain the work event, symptoms, treatment and practical restrictions.

• Capacity restrictions concerning the alleged assailant, site or reporting line.
• Treatment and return-to-work records.

After a coworker or supervisor assault, an insurer may dispute the insurer alleges a purely personal dispute unconnected with employment and the assault is folded into a later performance process and section 11A is raised too broadly. The written decision should be answered with evidence directed to those stated reasons.

Physical injury records matching the assault. Psychiatric or psychological evidence identifying the event and diagnosis. If treatment is disputed after a coworker or supervisor assault, the request should explain the accepted diagnosis, expected functional benefit and reasonable alternatives.

Work capacity after a coworker or supervisor assault may turn on safe separation from the alleged assailant and alternate reporting line, site, shift or team. 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 coworker or supervisor assault 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 coworker or supervisor assault, 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.