Robbery or attempted robbery at work: NSW workers compensation guide

Robbery or attempted robbery at work can occur through demand for money or goods accompanied by threats or intimidation and attempted robbery, hold-up or forced access to a restricted area. 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 retail, hospitality, pharmacy, banking and cash-handling workers and security and late-night workers. Employment records should identify each person's task, employer and position in the work area when the incident occurred.

Medical records after a robbery or attempted robbery at work may identify physical assault, fall, head, facial, hand or musculoskeletal injury and acute stress symptoms developing into a diagnosed psychiatric condition. Each diagnosis should be linked to the event or exposure and to the worker's actual functional change.

After a robbery or attempted robbery at work, immediate reporting and safety records may include police event number and contemporaneous account and CCTV, alarm, access-control and transaction preservation. These records can establish what was known at the time without requiring the worker to repeatedly recount a traumatic event.

• Cash reconciliation, opening or closing record and roster.
• Witness, security and supervisor response records.

For a robbery or attempted robbery at work, the first evidence to preserve includes risk assessment for cash, valuables, late work or lone work and prior robbery, threat or security-failure reports. It is most useful when dates, people, equipment, duties and later medical histories tell a consistent account.

• Training and emergency response procedure.
• Medical and counselling attendance.

Medical and psychological evidence after a robbery or attempted robbery at work may include hospital or GP evidence for physical injury and psychological or psychiatric evidence identifying diagnosis and functional impact. A diagnosis alone may not answer causation or capacity: the records should explain the work event, symptoms, treatment and practical restrictions.

• Capacity certificate addressing the location, shift, cash handling and public contact.
• Treatment and return-to-work progress.

After a robbery or attempted robbery at work, an insurer may dispute the insurer minimises an attempted robbery because no property was taken and diagnosis or incapacity is disputed where there was no physical contact. The written decision should be answered with evidence directed to those stated reasons.

Hospital or GP evidence for physical injury. Psychological or psychiatric evidence identifying diagnosis and functional impact. If treatment is disputed after a robbery or attempted robbery at work, the request should explain the accepted diagnosis, expected functional benefit and reasonable alternatives.

Work capacity after a robbery or attempted robbery at work may turn on cash handling, opening or closing duties, lone work and night shifts and customer contact, travel home and exposure to the same premises. 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 robbery or attempted robbery 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 robbery or attempted robbery 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.