2023

Occupational Violence & Aggression Campaign

Western Health

CHALLENGES

Most healthcare workers want to help others when they’re at their most vulnerable. But we are facing a serious issue in our healthcare sector. Racist slurs. Sexualised comments. Chairs thrown. Kicks and punches. This shouldn’t be “just part of the job” but WorkSafe Victoria reports that up to 95% of healthcare workers have experienced verbal or physical assault at work.

Grindstone needed to challenge an organisational mindset that tolerated and normalised occupational violence and aggression (OVA), addressing key beliefs and unsafe practices and moving towards a safety-first approach: ‘Predict, Prevent, Priority: Safety’.

We were tasked with creating designs that are consistent through all OVA initiatives and are visually appealing, but that don’t distract from the poignant message being shared.

STRATEGY

A set of ‘myths and facts’ posters was designed to help staff understand how to better deal with scenarios where aggression or violence take place, dispelling misconceptions and providing new skills to improve outcomes.

Given the seriousness of the topic, we took the creative approach of using a range of solid colour backgrounds, contrasted with bold, black typography and no imagery, to make the messages the hero.

Grindstone also created a name and visual identity for an innovative virtual reality training program, to provide realistic training scenarios to help staff understand and modify their own reactions to aggression in the workplace to stay safe. Reframe your response is the title for the program, reflecting both the VR format and the intended training outcomes.

In 2023, Grindstone helped Western Health promote its inaugural international OVA conference, developing a conference website including program and conference registrations. We also designed a range of other promotional collateral, including banners, lectern signage, posters, cards, eDMs and social media tiles.

OUTCOMES

The Myths and Facts poster campaign won awards in health communication and has been adopted by other health care providers worldwide.

Western Health’s comprehensive approach to dealing with OVA has been strongly supported by our integrated and consistent approach to design, empowering staff to confidently and safely manage violence and aggression in the workplace.