Protecting staff from aggressive customers is now a legal duty, not just good practice. This customer aggression training gives managers what they need to meet that duty: the obligations, a practical risk assessment, safer service design and procedures that work in the real world. It is led by consultants who have reviewed and redesigned frontline services after serious incidents.
What your organisation gains
- Managers who understand their psychosocial hazard duties and can show how they are meeting them.
- Practical procedures for refusing service, banning, lone work, phone abuse and calling police.
- Safer service design and workplace layout, not just more training for frontline staff.
- Better support for staff after incidents, which reduces claims, absence and turnover.
Why train with Agilient
Taught by practitioners
Every Agilient consultant has at least 20 years of experience, typically as security managers within large organisations, and has dealt first hand with the issues the course covers.
Built for your organisation
Content, examples and scenarios are shaped around your sites, policies and incident history, not an off-the-shelf syllabus that dates quickly.
Active learning
Participants work through case studies and carry out the activities themselves, so the skills stick after the day.
Designed for you to own
Train-the-trainer options and a strategy for moving the course into your own online learning mean the capability stays in-house.
Why managing customer aggression is now a legal priority
Every Australian jurisdiction now has work health and safety regulations on psychosocial hazards in effect, with Victoria’s Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 commencing on 01/12/2025. The Safe Work Australia model Code of Practice for managing psychosocial hazards names violence, threats and aggressive behaviour from customers, patients and clients as a hazard employers must manage. The positive duty in the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, in force since 13/12/2022, can also require reasonable and proportionate measures to prevent sexual harassment and sex-based harassment of workers by third parties such as customers.
The problem is growing. Safe Work Australia’s 2024 report on work-related violence and aggression found that serious workers’ compensation claims for workplace violence and assault rose by 56 per cent between 2017-18 and 2021-22, with clients and customers the most common source. In the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association 2025 survey of almost 3,000 retail and fast food workers, 88 per cent reported verbal abuse in the previous year and 25 per cent reported physical violence, double the 2023 figure.
Several states have also created specific offences for assaulting retail and other customer-facing workers, including NSW in 2023 and Victoria in 2025. Managers need to understand these changes and how to support staff and police when incidents occur.
What the course covers
- Legal duties Work health and safety duties, psychosocial hazard regulations, the positive duty and new state offences for assaulting workers.
- Understanding customer aggression Triggers, trends and the settings where aggression is most likely, from service counters to phones and online channels.
- Assessing the risk Identifying high risk tasks, locations and times, and applying the hierarchy of controls.
- Designing safer services Service design, queue and wait management, workplace layout, crime prevention through environmental design, duress systems and staffing.
- Procedures workshop Developing or improving procedures for refusing service, trespass and banning notices, lone work, phone and online abuse, and calling police.
- Safe interviews and ending interactions How managers and staff can conduct difficult conversations safely and end them when needed.
- After an incident Immediate support, debriefs, return to work, and working with police and insurers.
- Reporting and continuous improvement Using incident data to target controls and showing the organisation is meeting its duty.
What participants will be able to do
- Explain the organisation’s legal duties in relation to customer aggression.
- Assess customer aggression risk and select controls using the hierarchy of controls.
- Develop practical procedures tailored to the organisation’s services and sites.
- Support staff after incidents through debriefs and follow-up.
- Use incident reporting to monitor and improve controls over time.
Who should attend
- Executives and senior managers
- Operations, service and branch managers
- Team leaders and supervisors
- Work health and safety, human resources and security staff
Choose the level and format that suits you
The course can be run at more than one level, so governance and day-to-day practice are covered together.
- Executive briefing. A short session for executives and boards on accountability, obligations, risk appetite and what good looks like.
- Manager and practitioner workshop. The full course, with case studies and practical exercises for the people who manage the risk day to day.
- Train-the-trainer. Preparing your own trainers to deliver the course inside your organisation, with the materials and guidance to do it well.
- In person or online. Delivered at your premises, at a venue you choose, or live online through Microsoft Teams and other platforms.
Bringing the capability in-house, with Agilient as your partner
More organisations want to build and keep this capability within their own teams. Agilient supports that. After delivering the course, Agilient can train your trainers, help your learning and development team plan the conversion of the course into an online module, and stay involved as an adviser, so your people deliver it with the benefit of Agilient’s hands-on experience.
How it works
- Get in touch. Tell us which course you are interested in, roughly how many people, where and when.
- Scoping conversation. An Agilient consultant discusses your people, sites, policies and recent incidents, and agrees the level, format and duration with you.
- Tailored content. Case studies, scenarios and exercises are built around your own environment and procedures.
- Delivery and handover. The course is delivered in person or online. Agilient can then train your trainers, support an online version, or review related procedures, controls or risk assessments.
Related Agilient services and resources
- Case study: protecting frontline service staff after a surge in occupational violence
- Duress alarm consulting
- Security risk assessment consultants
- Tips for defusing volatile phone calls
Frequently asked questions
Do employers have a legal duty to protect staff from aggressive customers?
Yes. Work health and safety laws require employers to manage risks to workers’ physical and psychological health so far as is reasonably practicable, and psychosocial hazard regulations now in force in every jurisdiction name violence and aggression from customers, patients and clients as a hazard to be managed.
How is this course different from the de-escalation course for staff?
This course is for managers and focuses on duties, risk assessment, workplace design, procedures and post-incident support. The De-escalation Training for Customer-Facing Staff course teaches frontline staff the communication skills to calm and end difficult interactions. Many organisations run both.
Can the course include our own incident data?
Yes. Agilient reviews your incident reports and procedures before the course so the risk assessment and workshop reflect what actually happens in your workplaces.
How long is the course?
Duration is agreed with you. Courses range from a two-hour briefing to a one, one and a half or two-day program, depending on your audience, risks and how much practical work you want included.
Can the course be delivered online?
Yes. Agilient delivers courses in person at your premises and live online through Microsoft Teams and other platforms, and can combine the two for teams spread across several locations.
Can our own team deliver this training in future?
Yes. Agilient runs train-the-trainer sessions so your people can deliver the course themselves, and can work with your learning and development team on a strategy for converting the course into an online module for induction and refreshers.
Can individuals book a place on this course?
No. Agilient runs its training in-house for organisations rather than as public courses, so individual places are not available. Group size, timing and content are agreed with each organisation.
Is this an accredited course?
No, and that is deliberate. It is not a nationally recognised qualification that follows a fixed syllabus, which can date quickly. It is designed and delivered by practitioners who have dealt with these issues first hand, tailored to your organisation, and built on case studies, active learning and practical exercises.
Ready to build this capability in your organisation?
Tell us what you need. Agilient will recommend the right level, format and duration, and tailor the course to your organisation.
Other in-house security training courses
- Security Risk Assessment and Management Course
- Security Threat Assessment Training
- Insider Threat Training
- Security Awareness Training Course
- De-escalation Training for Customer-Facing Staff
- Managing Physical Aggression in the Workplace
- Patient De-escalation Training for Healthcare Workers
- Occupational Violence and Aggression (OVA) Training for Healthcare
- Crisis Management Team Training and Tabletop Exercises
- Situational Awareness and Active Armed Offender Training
- Physical Restraint and Personal Protection Training
- CPTED Training: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design
Sources
- Model Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work, Safe Work Australia
- Work-related violence and aggression in Australia, Safe Work Australia
- New regulations make psychological health a priority, WorkSafe Victoria
- Customer abuse and violence 2025, SDA
- Respect@Work changes to the Sex Discrimination Act, Australian Human Rights Commission
Last updated 29/09/2026.