--- title: "For safety and wellbeing leads: what to train, how to show it" description: "For WHS, OVA, psychosocial and wellbeing leads: what Australian codes and US rules ask you to train, what counts as evidence, and where practice fits." canonical: https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/for-safety-and-wellbeing-leads --- [Training programs](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training) / For safety and wellbeing leads # For safety and wellbeing leads: what the code asks you to train, and how to show it The duty in the regulator’s words, what counts as evidence, and where practice fits, in Australia and the United States. Who this is for ## You carry the duty. The incident arrives as a person WHS, occupational violence and wellbeing leads in Australia; workplace violence prevention program owners in the United States. Safe Work Australia’s [data report](https://data.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/insights/hazards-and-injuries/work-related-violence-aggression-australia) found “a distinct 56% increase in the number of serious workers’ compensation claims” for workplace violence and assault from 2017-18 to 2021-22. A man complains across the shop aisle. A worker on the verandah, door opening. A supervisor and driver at a crib-room table. National Safe Work Month, October 2026 ## Data for the October safety meeting [National Safe Work Month](https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/national-safe-work-month) runs through October 2026 under the theme Safe work is for life. For Week 1, For life, and Week 2, For health, we read the claims and survey data behind the theme. - [Workplace violence claims data](https://peopletechrevolution.com/insights/workplace-violence-claims-data) - [The speaking up authority gap](https://peopletechrevolution.com/insights/speaking-up-authority-gap) Your questions ## What does the code say we must train? The duty is to manage the risk; the codes name training as a control. Hands open at waist height, facing a man. ### Australia: the duty, in the regulator’s words The [model Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work](https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/model-code-practice-managing-psychosocial-hazards-work): “PCBUs must eliminate or minimise psychosocial risks so far as is reasonably practicable.” Queensland writes the same duty into [regulation 55C](https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/sl-2011-0240#sec.55C), and each state code names training among the controls. State by state: [occupational violence training in Australia](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/occupational-violence-australia). A pre-start toolbox talk at a depot. ### Does training count as a control? Training is an administrative control, applied after the work itself is redesigned. SafeWork NSW’s [health care example scenario](https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/1381990/39656_SW_Code-of-Pratice_1_Health-Care.pdf), published beside its psychosocial code, gives a worked example: inexperienced workers who “rely on hospital security officers to respond”, then the control, “Workers received training in Violence Prevention and Management (VPM) and hazard/ incident reporting.” The hierarchy of controls: [psychosocial hazards](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/psychosocial-hazards). A participant talks through a completed scenario. ### What counts as evidence of training? For hospitals under the NSQHS Standards, [Action 1.20](https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/standards/nsqhs-standards/clinical-governance-standard) asks the organisation to “Monitor the workforce’s participation in training” and [Action 5.34](https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/standards/nsqhs-standards/comprehensive-care-standard) to “Implement de-escalation strategies”. Attendance supports the participation evidence for 1.20; competence and effectiveness need more, such as observed practice. What each jurisdiction asks a record to hold: [training records](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/workplace-violence-training-records). A man beside a floating panel of responses. ### What a record of practice can hold - The incident type the scenario was built from. - The skills practised, as the code names them: recognising triggers, de-escalation, withdrawing, reporting. - Who took part, who facilitated, what the debrief changed. - The evaluation result and the refresher date. - [NSQHS Action 1.20 explained](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/nsqhs-action-1-20) - [NSQHS Action 5.34 explained](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/nsqhs-action-5-34) United States ## Where practice is written into the rules OSHA guidance, state law and the Joint Commission each name role play, practice or a debrief. A retail assistant reaches toward a shelf. ### OSHA: role play, and every year [OSHA publication 3148](https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/osha3148.pdf), for healthcare and social service workers: “Effective training programs should involve role-playing, simulations and drills” and “All workers should receive required training annually.” Federal rules by setting: [workplace violence training in the United States](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/workplace-violence-training-united-states). At the triage counter, seen through the headset. ### California: covered employers, and a debrief for response roles in health care [California Labor Code section 6401.9](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=LAB§ionNum=6401.9) covers employers outside its listed exemptions, which include health care under section 3342, and requires “initial training when the plan is first established, and annually thereafter”. In covered health care, [Title 8 section 3342](https://www.dir.ca.gov/title8/3342.html) adds, for staff who respond to alarms or confront aggressive or violent behaviour, practice with colleagues “including a meeting to debrief the practice session”. Guide: [SB 553 training](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/california-sb-553-training). A supervisor checks on a seated contact-centre officer. ### Washington, Nevada and the Joint Commission Washington [RCW 49.19.030](https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=49.19.030), for health care settings, lists “strategies to prevent physical harm with hands-on practice or role play”. Nevada [NRS 618.7313](https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/NRS-618.html), for medical facilities, requires de-escalation training that “includes a meeting to debrief each practice session”. For accredited home care, [Joint Commission EP 29](https://digitalassets.jointcommission.org/api/public/content/68a29e1ff3304fb892a5b9257e7097ad?v=76b54581) asks for “training in de-escalation, nonphysical intervention skills, physical intervention techniques, and response to emergency incidents” at hire, annually and on change. Guides: [Washington](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/washington-violence-prevention-training), [Joint Commission](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/joint-commission-workplace-violence), [how the regulators compare](https://peopletechrevolution.com/insights/four-regulators-one-method). Where practice fits ## Practice is the training control, built from your incident reports [De-escalation: the seconds before it turns](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/de-escalation) [Occupational violence and aggression training](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/occupational-violence-aggression-training) [Speaking up for safety, in the moment](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/speaking-up-for-safety) [The business case, and how to evaluate it](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/business-case-and-evaluation) How it runs ## Run it the way your team already learns. [Run it yourself Your facilitator runs PTR VR Library titles on standalone headsets.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr/ptr-vr-library) [In a browser Staff rehearse with an AI partner on a laptop, no headset.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/ai/ai-roleplay-practice) [Facilitated over video A PTR facilitator runs the debrief by video, wherever teams sit.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/how-we-deliver) [With your trainer A trainer you already know runs it, licensed and prepared by PTR.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/for-trainers) PTR’s published work ## What our published work includes for this reader A hospital’s own evaluation, and research by other teams. Inside the Mater build, at a bedside. ### Included: a hospital’s own evaluation Mater Education rebuilt its Speaking with Good Judgement program in VR. In Mater’s own [program evaluation](https://peopletechrevolution.com/uploads/docs/people-tech-revolution-mater-immersive-learning-pilot-case-study.pdf), over 96% of participants wanted more training in VR; Mater measured that result. Our published work includes no occupational violence or de-escalation outcome. Research by other teams: [VR de-escalation training evidence](https://peopletechrevolution.com/insights/vr-de-escalation-training-evidence). [Download the Mater case study PDF](https://peopletechrevolution.com/uploads/docs/people-tech-revolution-mater-immersive-learning-pilot-case-study.pdf) A consultation across a table, tablet between. ### Start with your incident reports Tell us the situations your people meet most and how you record training today. [Talk to us](https://peopletechrevolution.com/talk-to-us) or [book a time with our team](https://calendly.com/simon-ptrvr/30min?utm_content=trnsafetyleads). Planning training for a violence and aggression risk? [Open the contact form](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/for-safety-and-wellbeing-leads#contact) Ask our CEO Simon Lowe’s Digital Twin a question ## Sources Each code, statute and standard at its source. ### [Work-related violence and aggression in Australia](https://data.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/insights/hazards-and-injuries/work-related-violence-aggression-australia) Safe Work Australia, August 2024 Claims, sources, key findings. ### [Model Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work](https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/model-code-practice-managing-psychosocial-hazards-work) Safe Work Australia, 2022 The duty. ### [Example scenarios for managing psychosocial hazards: health care](https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/1381990/39656_SW_Code-of-Pratice_1_Health-Care.pdf) SafeWork NSW Training as a control, worked example. ### [Comprehensive Care Standard](https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/standards/nsqhs-standards/comprehensive-care-standard) Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care Action 5.34. ### [Guidelines for preventing workplace violence, publication 3148](https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/osha3148.pdf) OSHA, 2016 Role play, drills, annual training. ### [California Labor Code section 6401.9](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=LAB§ionNum=6401.9) State of California Initial and annual training. ### [Title 8 section 3342](https://www.dir.ca.gov/title8/3342.html) California Department of Industrial Relations Practice and a debrief. ### [RCW 49.19.030](https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=49.19.030) Washington State Legislature Hands-on practice or role play. ### [NRS chapter 618](https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/NRS-618.html) Nevada Legislature Practice and a debrief. ### [R3 Report Issue 45: workplace violence prevention](https://digitalassets.jointcommission.org/api/public/content/68a29e1ff3304fb892a5b9257e7097ad?v=76b54581) The Joint Commission, July 2024 EP 29 for accredited home care.