Psychological Injuries in the Workplace: Are You Prepared?

Psychological Injuries in the Workplace: Are You Prepared?

The Unseen Impact of Aggressive Behaviour

Workplace safety isn’t only about physical protection. In many sectors, staff face occupational violence and aggression (OVA) daily. While physical injuries receive immediate attention, psychological injuries, the emotional and mental harm resulting from exposure to aggression, often go unnoticed, unreported, and unsupported.

At Holland Thomas, we work with organisations who care deeply about their staff but are still learning how to address this growing issue. As awareness of psychological wellbeing and safety increases, so too must your workplace’s readiness to manage and prevent harm from aggressive behaviours.

Understanding Psychological Injuries

A psychological injury can result from a single traumatic event or from cumulative exposure to aggression, stress, and unresolved workplace conflict.

Common causes and contributing factors include:

  • Exposure to verbal abuse or threats
  • Witnessing or being the target of violent or aggressive behaviours
  • Lack of support following a traumatic incident
  • Unresolved interpersonal workplace conflict
  • High-pressure or emotionally demanding environments

Psychological injury symptoms can include:

  • Anxiety, depression or burnout
  • Post-traumatic stress symptoms
  • Emotional exhaustion
  • Withdrawal or disengagement
  • Decreased job satisfaction and productivity

These outcomes not only affect the individual but impact team culture, service quality, and organisational risk.

The Reporting Gap, And Why It Matters

Many psychological injuries go unreported, especially when there’s no visible injury. Staff may fear being seen as weak or believe “nothing will change.” Others may not even recognise their experience as a legitimate injury.

This underreporting creates a false sense of security making it harder for OHS, HR, and leadership teams to act on early warning signs.

As a result, preventable harm can go unnoticed, leading to increased sick leave and staff turnover.

Why You Must Address Psychological Harm

Failing to address psychological injuries has far-reaching consequences:

For staff:

  • Lower morale, disengagement, and burnout
  • Reduced trust in leadership
  • Increased likelihood of resigning

For clients:

  • Lower quality of care or service
  • Increased risk of errors or negative incidents
  • Staff turnover disrupting quality of service

For your organisation:

  • OHS and compliance risks
  • Legal liability for unsafe workplace conditions
  • Increased recruitment and onboarding costs
  • Damaged reputation and lower employee retention

These are not just theoretical concerns. They are happening now.

Early Indicators: What to Watch For

Organisations must be proactive in identifying early signs of psychological distress. Some indicators include:

  • Staff frequently calling in sick or requesting to avoid specific clients
  • Reduced performance or concentration
  • Sudden changes in behaviour or mood
  • Avoidance of certain environments or people
  • Quiet resignations or unexplained exits

Don’t wait until someone formally makes a claim, build a culture where early conversations are encouraged and supported.

Embedding Psychological Safety in Policy & Practice

To prepare your workplace, you need more than good intentions. You need systems. Here’s where to begin:

A. Review Your Definitions of OVA

Ensure your policies define not only physical assault but also abusive language (verbal abuse), threats and threatening behaviours. Your definitions should make it clear that psychological harm is a possible consequence of exposure to these types of incidents. This sets the foundation for awareness, reporting and intervention.

B. Encourage Reporting at All Levels

Make it safe and simple to report “minor” incidents, because there’s no such thing as a minor psychological injury.

  • Include behavioural indicators in reporting forms
  • Allow anonymous reporting where appropriate
  • Provide debriefing and follow-up for all staff involved

C. Train for Mental Health First Aid

Supervisors and managers need skills to respond compassionately and effectively to signs of distress. One-size-fits-all safety training won’t cut it. Training should include:

  • Recognising symptoms of trauma and stress
  • Having safe workplace discussions
  • Supporting affected staff post-incident

D. Redesign Risk Assessments

Psychological risks must be embedded in your OHS framework, not treated as optional. This includes:

  • Regular staff check-ins
  • Evaluating high-risk environments or clients
  • Adjusting staffing or rostering to reduce overload
  • Promoting team-based support systems

Building a Culture of Prevention

Psychological injuries should be treated with the same urgency and structure as physical injuries. That means shifting from reactive to proactive strategies.

Practical steps:

  • Include psychological injury prevention in your WHS induction.
  • Review your EAP or counselling options. Are they easily accessible and trusted?
  • Ensure managers model healthy boundaries and check-in practices.
  • Normalise discussions about emotional wellbeing.
  • Celebrate early reporting as a sign of awareness and safety, not weakness.

Final Thoughts: Don’t Wait for a Crisis

If you’re reading this, it’s because you care about your staff and your responsibility as a leader.

The truth? Many organisations are just beginning to recognise the full impact of psychological injuries. The time to prepare isn’t when an incident has occurred, it’s now!

By building awareness, creating safe processes, and investing in prevention, you protect your people, your clients, and your organisation’s future.

 

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Travis Holland

Travis Holland
Managing Director
Holland Thomas

Should you wish to discuss strategies to improve your staff’s safety in their work environment, please feel welcome to contact Holland Thomas.

Passionate about creating safer workplaces our goal is to enhance wellbeing for all concerned, whilst also delivering improved operational and financial performance.

This blog draws on our years of experience delivering our M.A.B.™ Staff Safety Training (Contextualised Prevention and Management of Aggressive Behaviours) across Australia, and the development of My Safety Buddy, our smartphone app and web portal based lone worker safety system.