To identify hazards walk through and inspect the workplace (low visibility in service areas, entries and exits for workers after hours, long queues and waits), find where patients and others may experience heightened negative emotions, observe interactions between workers and others including incivility and racism, run confidential surveys on incidents and near misses, consider external factors such as drugs or alcohol, talk to patients and clients about unmet needs, consider the patient mix and triggers and varying communication abilities, consider differences in impact by role and the types of services (emergency, mental health, drug and alcohol, brain injury, aged care, neurology, midwifery and early childhood are often higher risk). Factors that raise the likelihood of violence include care of distressed, confused, afraid, ill or affected people, handling cash or medicines, offsite or lone work, unpredictable environments, inappropriate placement such as young clients in residential aged care, service methods or policies that escalate frustration (low staffing, unclear policy, insecure employment, turnover, unrealistic expectations, not sharing patient progress), poor behavioural support plans, untrained staff doing complex care and a culture that tolerates gendered violence. Harassment risk rises with tolerated inappropriate behaviour, gendered power imbalances, treating workers as disposable or care as unskilled work, isolation in restrictive spaces such as ambulances, remote locations, night wards and homes, and poor leadership understanding.
The graph holds this control, the 0 it maps to, and the evidence behind each claim, over MCP and REST.