Health Care Workplace Assaults Rise Globally and in Australia

Data from the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) show that assaults by others accounted for 9.6% of Days Away From Work cases in the health care and social assistance sector in 2019, up from 4.8% in 2011. The assault rate increased from 6.4 to 9.8 incidents per 10,000 full‑time equivalent workers between 2011 and 2021‑22, with hospitals and nursing/residential care facilities responsible for roughly three‑quarters of all violence‑by‑others cases.

In Australia, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports that assault‑related hospitalisations of health‑care workers more than doubled over the past decade, rising from 49 cases in 2015‑16 to 126 in 2024‑25. Assaults have become the second most common cause of workplace injury for Australian health‑care staff, with a total of 819 injury hospitalisations recorded in 2024‑25 (53 per 100,000 workers). Women, who make up about three‑quarters of the workforce, represent the majority of those hospitalised. Health Services Union national secretary Dustin Halse warned that “violence and injury are often treated as an unavoidable part of caring for others, but they are not — they are workplace risks that can and must be prevented,” while AIHW spokeswoman Jacqueline Rek noted that the overall hospitalisation rate has remained steady despite changing injury causes.