Would you like to participate in the ANMF (Vic Branch) 2026 review of the 10-point plan to end violence and aggression? We’re calling for Health and Safety Reps (HSRs) and members who are as passionate as we are about preventing occupational violence and aggression (OVA) to help us update our plan to make healthcare workplaces safer.
Lodge your expression of interest.
Why are we reviewing the plan?
ANMF (Vic Branch) published the 10-point plan to end violence and aggression: a guide for health services almost a decade ago.
Implementation of the plan was first written into the public sector general and mental health enterprise agreements in 2016, with health facilities required to develop or review their OVA policies every six months since, and to undertake audits of their OVA management strategy, in consultation with HSRs and clinical care staff.
However, with the plan only applying in the public sector, consistent OVA reporting from our members and recent news reporting (The Age, 10 November 2025) that violence against nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers has increased by 20 per cent in the past year, it is clear that more work needs to be done.
That is why the Branch will be conducting a review of the 10-point plan next year, and we want your insights. If you are interested in contributing to the discussion around the solutions to OVA, and being involved in the review of the -point plan to end violence and aggression please let us know.
What else is ANMF doing?
ANMF has for some time now been calling for health to be made a regulated industry under the OHS Act – like the male-dominated industries of construction and mining – so that hospitals can be prosecuted for not doing enough to protect staff.
We want health-specific regulations is to ensure that there is clarity for all in the sector around the obligations and expectations around prevention of OVA, particularly among all employers – not just public sector employers.
Without regulation, it is too easy for employers to blame individuals and say that there was nothing they could do, when we know this is not true: there are pro-active solutions, and employers need to implement them.
What else can you do?
Report OVA every time! And report it to ANMF every time too – if we don’t know what is happening on your ward, we can’t be there to support you through pushing for change.
We know reporting is time consuming, but it is important that it happens. We need to understand the real number of incidents being reported to incentivise employers to address known issues in your area.
We also know that there are times when you report and it feels like no action is taken. This is why it’s important to also report to us. If you report OVA to ANMF as well, we can work with you to make sure appropriate action is taken by your employer.
We also support reporting OVA to the police – just because a patient / resident / consumer does not have capacity does not mean their OVA should not be reported to police. While this won’t necessarily result in charges being laid, it’s important to build the case around how often it is happening.
If you have trouble with local police taking your report, you should report this to your facility and to ANMF so that we can take action. Your health service should already have a relationship with the local police that facilitates this process and makes it easier for you to report – if they don’t, let us know because we can get this happening through the public sector EBA and OVA committees. We can progress it in other ways in the private sector.
Tips to make reporting easier
To make reporting easier, you could get together on your ward and identify a ‘champion’ reporter who can help others out (the more you report, the faster it is to report – for instance, you know which fields are mandatory and which you can put a dot in).
Perhaps you can have a couple of champions who do the RiskMan / VHIMs or other reports, and some who do the ANMF reports on behalf of the ward to facilitate the process.
Remember:
- Report to your employer via an incident report through VHIMS or RiskMan. Ensure you report it as both a clinical and an OHS incident*
- Tell your HSR about the incident
- Inform ANMF via the member portal
*It is important that you submit both or the data will not be reflected in your employer’s health and safety data. Importantly, when you submit both a clinical and OHS report, it places a duty on your employer to investigate the incident from both perspectives.
