General | DART Institute

Family and domestic violence can have direct implications for safety at work. It may affect a worker’s physical and psychological health and safety, attendance and capacity to participate safely in the workplace. The workplace may also become a site through which a person using violence continues patterns of surveillance, harassment, intimidation or control.

For organisations, an effective response therefore extends beyond leave provisions or a written family and domestic violence policy. It requires consideration of how FDV may create or contribute to risks at work, how workers can seek support safely, and whether staff with responsibilities for responding have the capability to do so appropriately.

Family and domestic violence as a workplace safety issue

WorkSafe WA provides guidance for persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) on managing the risks of family and domestic violence at work within Western Australia’s work health and safety framework.

Workplace risks can arise in different ways. A person using violence may repeatedly contact a worker during work hours, attend or monitor the workplace, misuse workplace systems or technology, or target a worker during work-related travel. The effects of violence occurring outside work may also affect a worker’s health and safety while at work.

The appropriate workplace response will depend on the circumstances, the nature of the risk and the worker’s needs. Organisations require processes that allow potential risks to be identified and considered without relying on an improvised response after a disclosure or incident.

Policy, procedure and organisational response

A workplace FDV policy is one component of an organisational response. Its effectiveness depends on whether workers know how to access support and whether those responsible for implementing the policy understand their role.

Managers and designated contact staff require a different level of capability from the general workforce. This includes understanding how to receive a disclosure safely, what information is appropriate to seek, the limits of their role, confidentiality and information-sharing considerations, workplace risk and safety planning, and when specialist advice or referral is required.

Clear internal processes are also required so that decisions about workplace responses are not left to individual managers without guidance, defined responsibilities or escalation pathways.

Responding to a disclosure

A disclosure of family and domestic violence does not require a manager to investigate the violence or take on the role of a counsellor or specialist practitioner.

The workplace role is to respond safely and appropriately within organisational responsibilities. This includes listening without judgement, identifying immediate workplace safety concerns, explaining available options and considering appropriate workplace adjustments or safety measures in consultation with the worker.

Depending on the circumstances, responses may include changes to work location or hours, workplace access arrangements, communication or technology controls, leave arrangements, workplace safety planning, and referral to specialist family and domestic violence services.

Responses should be informed by the individual circumstances of the worker and should avoid actions that may inadvertently increase risk or reduce the worker’s control over decisions affecting their safety.

Workforce capability

Different parts of an organisation require different levels of family and domestic violence capability.

General workforce education can support recognition of FDV, understanding of its workplace impacts, knowledge of available support and awareness of organisational processes.

Managers, HR practitioners, work health and safety staff and designated workplace contacts may require more targeted training because they are more likely to receive disclosures, consider workplace risk and safety responses, or implement organisational procedures.

The purpose is not to make managers FDV specialists. It is to ensure they understand their role, can respond without colluding with or minimising violence, recognise when workplace safety measures may be required, and know when specialist support should be engaged.

A coordinated workplace response

Workplace responses to family and domestic violence commonly intersect with work health and safety, people and culture, leadership, management practice, workplace policy and external referral pathways.

A coordinated approach provides clarity about responsibilities, disclosure pathways, workplace safety responses, available adjustments and access to specialist support. It also reduces the likelihood that a worker’s experience of the organisation will depend on which manager or staff member receives the disclosure.

DART Institute works with organisations to develop family and domestic violence capability across the workforce, from foundational awareness to targeted training for managers, HR teams and staff with specific responsibilities for responding to FDV.

DART also provides an online Foundations of Family and Domestic Violence module for organisations seeking a consistent foundation across their workforce.

DART Institute delivers family and domestic violence training for workplaces across Australia. Get in touch to discuss tailored workplace training for your organisation.

Family and domestic violence practitioners across Western Australia are increasingly working across frameworks that inform different aspects of risk assessment, risk management and case practice.

Two of these are Western Australia’s Common Risk Assessment and Risk Management Framework (CRARMF) and the Safe & Together Model.

While the frameworks have different purposes and applications, there are important areas of alignment. Both support practice that keeps the person using violence visible, considers patterns of behaviour and their impact, and maintains a focus on the safety of adult and child victim-survivors.

For practitioners and organisations working across both, the task is to apply them consistently across assessment, analysis, documentation and ongoing risk management.

CRARMF in Western Australian FDV practice

CRARMF provides a common approach to family and domestic violence risk assessment and risk management across Western Australia. It establishes common practice standards for screening, risk assessment, risk management, information sharing and referral across specialist and mainstream services.

Risk assessment within CRARMF is not limited to identifying individual risk factors. It brings together the victim-survivor’s assessment of risk, evidence-based risk factors and professional judgement to inform the assessment of risk and the response required.

This is particularly important in family and domestic violence, where risk needs to be understood in the context of patterns of behaviour, coercive and controlling behaviours, changes in frequency or severity, and the circumstances of the victim-survivor and children.

Consistent application supports a shared understanding of risk across services. Clear assessment and documentation can assist practitioners and agencies to maintain continuity in risk identification and management as information moves across the service system.

DART Institute’s CRARMF training focuses on applying the framework in practice, including screening, risk assessment, professional judgement, documentation and risk management.

The Safe & Together Model

The Safe & Together Model provides a perpetrator pattern-based approach to working with families where domestic and family violence is present. A central element of the Model is keeping the behaviour of the person using violence visible in assessment, documentation and case practice.

This includes identifying patterns of coercive and controlling behaviour, examining how those behaviours affect children and family functioning, and recognising the protective efforts of the non-offending parent.

The language used in case notes, assessments and case discussions matters. Documentation that centres the circumstances or actions of the victim-survivor can obscure the behaviours creating risk and shift attention away from the person using violence.

Perpetrator pattern-based documentation makes the behaviour, its impacts and responsibility for it more visible.

Where CRARMF and Safe & Together align

CRARMF and the Safe & Together Model are not interchangeable. They have different functions and should be applied according to their respective purposes.

CRARMF provides a structured framework for identifying, assessing and managing risk. Safe & Together provides a perpetrator pattern-based approach to understanding and documenting the behaviours of the person using violence, their impacts on children and family functioning, and the protective efforts of the non-offending parent.

Applied alongside one another, the frameworks can support assessment and documentation that maintain visibility of both risk and the pattern of behaviour creating that risk.

This requires practitioners to consider which risk factors are present; how the person using violence is creating and increasing risk; how behaviours operate within a broader pattern of coercive control; how adult and child victim-survivors are affected; and what information needs to remain visible as a case moves across services.

Documentation across both frameworks

Documentation is a core part of family and domestic violence practice. How behaviour is recorded can make responsibility for violence visible or obscure it.

Pattern-based documentation identifies the person using violence as the actor, describes behaviours specifically and records their impacts. It also recognises the actions taken by victim-survivors to resist violence, protect children and increase safety.

Within risk assessment and risk management, this context is critical. A CRARMF assessment may identify indicators of increased risk; pattern-based documentation can show how those indicators operate within the broader pattern of coercive control and violence.

For practitioners working across CRARMF and Safe & Together, consistency means that risk assessment, case analysis and documentation should describe the same pattern of behaviour and risk rather than produce disconnected accounts of the same family.

Developing practice capability

Consistent application requires more than familiarity with a framework. Practitioners need opportunities to apply it to complex case material, test professional judgement, examine documentation and consider how assessment informs risk management and intervention.

This is particularly relevant as Western Australia continues to strengthen its whole-of-system response to family and domestic violence, including workforce capability, consistent risk practice and perpetrator accountability.

DART Institute provides training across CRARMF and the Safe & Together Model, including practice development focused on documentation and application within complex family and domestic violence casework.

We provide training, education and capability building for workplaces and frontline staff.If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call 000.For support in Western Australia, please contact:1800RESPECT – 1800 737 732National 24/7 sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service.Women’s Domestic Violence Helpline – 1800 007 33924/7 crisis support, safe accommodation and referrals.Men’s Domestic Violence Helpline – 1800 000 599Support for men experiencing or using violence.Crisis Care Helpline – 1800 199 00824/7 emergency assistance, child protection, crisis support.Lifeline – 13 11 1424/7 crisis support and suicide prevention.MensLine – 1300 789 978Counselling for men with family, relationship or emotional concerns.Kids Helpline – 1800 55 180024/7 counselling for young people aged 5–25.If you need support, please contact one of the services above.

DART Institute delivers CRARMF and Safe & Together Model training across Western Australia. View our training calendar to find upcoming dates.

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