I am advised:

The Government has zero tolerance for any form of violence against paramedics.

The Health Services Act 1997 provides an offence of intentionally obstructing or hindering a paramedic that is providing services to a person, with penalties of up to two years imprisonment – or five years if combined with an act of violence.

In December 2013, NSW Ambulance commenced an ongoing campaign to eliminate assaults on paramedics. The first phase, aimed at raising community awareness was the 'If You Hurt a Paramedic' poster campaign. In conjunction with Clubs NSW, over 3500 posters have been distributed in pubs, clubs, emergency departments, and ambulance vehicles throughout New South Wales.

The second phase of the campaign is an Anti-violence Training package for paramedics. The package assists with situational awareness, de-escalating difficult situations, understanding patterns of behaviour and equipping paramedics with the skills to avoid verbal or physical assault.

This training was rolled out to all operational staff across New South Wales and a supplementary package was designed for all new recruits. In the most serious cases, ambulance crews are advised to "stand off" and await the arrival of police before approaching or entering an address.

Work Health and Safety training is also provided for all staff from trainees to qualified paramedics in Work Health Safety Induction, Hazardous Manual Tasks, Risk Management, Risk Assessment, and Responding to Challenging Behaviour.

Work Health and Safety Committees have been formed around the state and provide a forum for discussion and recommendations to management regarding health and safety issues in the workplace.

Paramedics can access duress alarms on their portable radios and in their vehicles to alert the control centres and allows them to call for urgent police assistance without alerting perpetrators.

NSW Ambulance also has a comprehensive support program in place to assist paramedics when they experience stressful or traumatic situations in their work, including assault. In addition to support provided by on-duty managers, other services are available to all staff 24 hours, seven days a week, including peer support officers, chaplains and an Employee Assistance Program.

Work Health and Safety Educators continue to provide training on fatigue including understanding contributing factors, how to report fatigue and what to do if they are suffering from fatigue.

All new equipment is subject to formal trials and an assessment process to ensure it meets Australian standards and protects paramedics from injury.

NSW Ambulance launched the 'THINK' campaign at the start of 2014. The campaign looks at the most prevalent injuries sustained by paramedics and uses short videos, messages and face to face training to reduce the prevalence of these injuries.