Guide for security arrangements to prevent and manage occupational violence and aggression

This guide has been developed to assist Victorian health services to put appropriate security arrangements in place to provide a safe environment for staff, patients and visitors.

Each health service is responsible for reviewing its security arrangements against the guiding principles to identify gaps and areas for improvement. Security arrangements include:

• Improving building security and access control through workplace design.
• Dedicated security personnel and other staff who perform security functions as part of their role, whether employed directly by the health service (in house) or contracted through an external organisation.
• Electronic security mechanisms, such as closed circuit television (CCTV) and duress alarms.

Where health services do not have sufficient in-house security knowledge, they should engage independent external experts with healthcare-specific security expertise to assist them.