Retail aggression and violence: NSW workers compensation guide

Retail aggression and violence can occur through abuse escalating to threats, thrown objects or physical contact and aggression during returns, refusals, queues or suspected theft. 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 cashiers, sales staff and service-desk workers and supervisors responding to complaints or suspected theft. Employment records should identify each person's task, employer and position in the work area when the incident occurred.

Medical records after a retail aggression and violence may identify physical injury from contact, falling or thrown objects and a diagnosed primary psychological injury after violence or threat. Each diagnosis should be linked to the event or exposure and to the worker's actual functional change.

After a retail aggression and violence, immediate reporting and safety records may include store incident and customer complaint record and CCTV, transaction, point-of-sale and roster preservation. These records can establish what was known at the time without requiring the worker to repeatedly recount a traumatic event.

• Security or centre-management attendance record.
• Police event number and witness details.

For a retail aggression and violence, the first evidence to preserve includes staffing, lone-work and escalation procedure and prior customer exclusion or hazard report. It is most useful when dates, people, equipment, duties and later medical histories tell a consistent account.

• Store layout and safe-retreat access.
• Medical evidence and return-to-work communications.

Medical and psychological evidence after a retail aggression and violence may include physical examination for each injured body region and psychological assessment where symptoms persist or affect function. A diagnosis alone may not answer causation or capacity: the records should explain the work event, symptoms, treatment and practical restrictions.

• Capacity certificate addressing customer contact and work location.
• Treatment records and failed return attempts.

After a retail aggression and violence, an insurer may dispute the event is characterised as ordinary customer dissatisfaction and CCTV or transaction records are not preserved. The written decision should be answered with evidence directed to those stated reasons.

Physical examination for each injured body region. Psychological assessment where symptoms persist or affect function. If treatment is disputed after a retail aggression and violence, the request should explain the accepted diagnosis, expected functional benefit and reasonable alternatives.

Work capacity after a retail aggression and violence may turn on public contact, complaint handling, cash duties and lone work and hours, shift timing, supervision and alternate site. 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 retail aggression and violence 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 retail aggression and violence, 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.