Critical incidents in the workplace: What employers should know

A serious workplace accident, an assault by a customer, the sudden death of a colleague, or a violent incident can leave a lasting impact on the people involved.

As an employer or manager, your first priority will usually be immediate safety. Emergency procedures may need to be activated, injured employees may require medical care, and urgent operational decisions may need to be made. At the same time, the psychological impact on employees deserves careful attention.

Some people recover steadily with practical support, time, and reassurance from those around them. Others may experience sleep problems, anxiety, intrusive memories, irritability, poor concentration, or difficulty returning to certain tasks. Reactions can also change in the days and weeks after the event, so a person who seems composed at first may need more support later.

Your response can shape how supported employees feel during that period. The goal is to give people access to appropriate care without assuming how they should feel, how much they should talk, or how quickly they should recover.

What counts as a critical incident at work?

There isn’t one definition that applies neatly to every workplace. The nature of your organisation, the work being performed, and the employee’s role can all influence how an event is experienced.

In your workplace, a critical incident might involve:

• serious injury or workplace fatality

• physical assault, violence, or threats

• robbery or hostage situations

• suicide or attempted suicide affecting the workplace

• the unexpected death of a colleague

• serious vehicle or machinery accidents

• fires, explosions, or major structural incidents

• natural disasters or emergency events

• serious near misses

• exposure to graphic or distressing material

• traumatic incidents involving clients, patients, students, or members of the public.

An employee doesn’t need to be physically injured for an event to affect them psychologically. A colleague who witnesses a serious accident may struggle afterwards. So may the manager coordinating the response, the HR team member speaking with distressed employees, or a worker repeatedly reviewing graphic footage during an investigation. This broader view matters because the people who need support aren’t always the most obvious ones.

Why critical incidents are a workplace wellbeing concern

A critical incident can affect an employee well beyond the immediate event. In the days and weeks that follow, they may struggle with sleep, concentration, anxiety, irritability, or returning to the place or task connected with what happened.

The impact can also spread across the wider team. Colleagues may feel unsettled, managers may carry extra pressure, and workloads may shift while affected employees take time away or return gradually.

For employers, employee wellbeing should remain part of the recovery process. Clear communication, reasonable flexibility, and access to support such as an EAP or qualified mental health professional can help employees feel supported while giving managers a clearer view of who may need further care.

What you should do immediately after an incident

The hours after a serious event can be demanding. You may need to speak with employees, emergency services, regulators, families, senior leaders, and other stakeholders within a short period. A clear response plan can reduce some of that pressure and help you avoid making important decisions on the spot.

Protect safety first

Immediate physical safety and medical needs take priority. Depending on the incident, you may need to call emergency services, administer first aid, evacuate a workplace, isolate dangerous equipment, or restrict access to an unsafe area.

Once the immediate threat has passed, practical support often becomes just as important. An employee who has witnessed a serious injury may not be in a suitable state to drive home. Someone else may want a partner or family member contacted, while another person may need a private space away from colleagues, customers, or the scene.

Try not to assume that an employee can continue with ordinary duties simply because they haven’t been physically injured. A calm conversation about what they need next is usually a better place to start.

Communicate clearly and with caution

Confusion often follows a critical incident. Employees may hear incomplete information, rumours, or conflicting accounts, especially if an investigation is still underway. You can reduce that uncertainty by deciding who will communicate with staff and making sure updates are factual, appropriate, and timely.

Avoid sharing graphic details unless someone genuinely needs them for their role. Privacy also deserves careful attention. Information about an injured employee, a deceased colleague, or someone’s emotional response shouldn’t circulate unnecessarily. If facts haven’t yet been confirmed, it’s better to say so than fill the gaps with speculation.

Think beyond the people who were directly involved

The employee showing the most distress isn’t always the only person who needs support. Consider those who witnessed the event, provided first aid, supported injured colleagues, handled clean-up or investigation, or coordinated the organisational response. Teams with a close connection to someone who was seriously injured or killed may also be affected.

Some employees are exposed indirectly through images, recordings, reports, or repeated discussion of the event. That exposure can still take a toll. It’s also common for reactions to emerge later, so someone who seems fine on the day may find the experience harder to manage once the immediate pressure has passed. That’s why follow-up matters.

Psychological first aid in the workplace

Psychological First Aid, often called PFA, provides a useful framework for early post-incident support. Victorian Department of Health guidance developed with expertise from Phoenix Australia describes PFA as an approach designed to reduce initial distress, address practical and emotional needs, encourage effective coping, and connect people with social and professional support.

In practice, the approach focuses on a few simple priorities. Safety means protecting employees from further danger and unnecessary exposure to the incident. Calming may involve creating a private space, giving clear information, and helping the person focus on immediate needs. Self-efficacy means giving the employee some choice and control, while connectedness involves helping them reach trusted colleagues, family members, or professional support. Hope comes from realistic reassurance and clear information about what support will follow.

You don’t need to act as a counsellor. Your role is to respond with care, notice what the employee may need, and connect them with suitable support. Sometimes the most useful action is practical, such as arranging transport, approving time away from duties, finding somewhere private to sit, or explaining who’ll be in contact the following day.

Avoid compulsory psychological debriefing

After a serious incident, you may need to establish what happened, collect information, meet notification requirements, and review workplace controls. Those operational processes may be necessary, but they should be kept separate from attempts to make employees process the event emotionally.

Traditional psychological debriefing can involve asking people shortly after trauma to describe the event and discuss their emotional reactions in detail. Research hasn’t shown that routine single-session debriefing prevents post-traumatic stress disorder. One study found no evidence that it prevented PTSD or reduced psychological distress, and it also raised concern that compulsory debriefing could worsen outcomes for some people.

Victorian post-incident guidance similarly advises against routinely offering structured psychological debriefing after traumatic experiences. Employees can still be invited to speak with a psychologist, counsellor, manager, or trusted colleague, but emotional disclosure should remain voluntary.

Supporting employees in the weeks that follow

Recovery rarely follows a neat timetable. In the days and weeks after an incident, employees may experience temporary changes in sleep, appetite, mood, concentration, or energy. Some may feel more alert to danger, while others may avoid certain places, people, equipment, or tasks connected with the event.

Common reactions can include:

• difficulty sleeping

• irritability or tearfulness

• intrusive memories or images

• reduced concentration

• feeling numb or detached

• increased startle responses

• changes in appetite

• avoiding reminders of the event

• questioning decisions made during the incident

These reactions can vary widely between individuals, so you shouldn’t try to diagnose an employee or assume that every strong response signals a mental health condition. 

A simple check-in can help you understand how the employee is coping and give them a chance to raise concerns that weren’t obvious immediately after the event.

Consider temporary work adjustments

Returning to work doesn’t always mean an employee is ready to resume every part of their role straight away. Depending on the circumstances, temporary adjustments could include changes to workload, shifts, location, duties, or exposure to the task associated with the incident.

An employee might benefit from working alongside another person for a period, taking additional breaks, attending counselling appointments during work hours, or gradually returning to certain duties. When you’re considering adjustments, take account of the employee’s preferences, relevant clinical advice, operational needs, and workplace obligations.

Where EAP support fits

An Employee Assistance Program can give employees confidential access to counselling and psychological support after a critical incident. It can also support managers. If you’re unsure how to approach an employee, respond to distress, or communicate with a wider team, an EAP may be able to provide practical guidance.

It’s important not to treat EAP as the whole response. Your EAP should sit alongside strong risk management, rather than taking its place.

When specialist critical incident support may be appropriate

Some incidents place greater demands on a workplace than its usual support arrangements can manage. A workplace fatality, serious assault, large-scale emergency, or incident affecting an entire team may call for specialist critical incident support. You may also need guidance on how to communicate with employees, arrange clinical care, and manage follow-up.

A specialist response may include access to trauma-informed psychologists, individual consultations, manager support, remote or on-site assistance, and referrals for ongoing care. Talked’s critical incident support service, for example, connects organisations with trauma-trained psychologists and provides support for employees and managers following serious workplace events.

If you’re reviewing providers, it’s useful to ask:

• how quickly support can be activated

• what qualifications and trauma experience clinicians have

• whether on-site and remote options are available

• how employee confidentiality is protected

• what guidance managers can access

• how follow-up care is handled

• how the service works alongside your EAP, WHS, and return-to-work processes.

Having these arrangements in place beforehand can take some pressure off managers when a serious incident occurs.

Final thoughts

A critical incident may be over within minutes, but employees can carry the effects for much longer. As an employer or manager, your response should bring physical safety, psychological health, communication, and follow-up together. Employees need accurate information, practical support, and genuine choice about professional care, along with enough flexibility to recover at a pace that reflects their circumstances.

EAP counselling and specialist critical incident support can provide valuable access to qualified professionals. They’re most effective when combined with careful risk management, appropriate workplace adjustments, and thoughtful follow-up from managers. There will also be times when workplace support reaches its limits, particularly if an employee is experiencing persistent anxiety, intrusive memories, sleep difficulties, significant avoidance, low mood, or problems functioning.

In those situations, encouraging the employee to speak with a psychologist, counsellor, or other qualified health professional may be appropriate. You may not be able to change what happened, but you can influence what happens next by responding in a way that is calm, respectful, and attentive to the needs of the people affected.