“Deter, detect and delay”: Undertaking a security risk assessment and implementing reasonably practicable controls in the event of unpredictable violent incidents will enhance the ability of companies to keep their corporate executives safe this year, writes Paul O’Halloran, an employment law partner at Dentons Australia, in a recent online article for HR Leader.
The subject of CEO security has struck a global chord recently following the shocking December 2025 assassination of Brian Thompson in Manhattan. Thompson was the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. Luigi Mangione pleaded not guilty to charges of stalking and murder.
While no one wants to imagine such a scenario, the question for Australian employers is: could something similar happen here? Unsurprisingly, most employers in Australia would be unprepared for a violent incident of this magnitude.
Work-related violence driven by disenfranchised stakeholders is not unknown in Australia. In 1984, the Family Court in Sydney was subjected to a series of attacks, which included bombings of the homes of judges and of the court’s buildings, which left one person dead and several injured. In 1980, Family Court judge David Opas was shot dead by an aggrieved family law litigant outside his Sydney home.
With limited access to firearms in Australia, we can count ourselves lucky, but it does not mean that such an incident is impossible.
Australian employers and boards need to recognise that C-suite executives of every ASX-listed company in Australia are valuable assets who need protection. While the risk of targeted criminal acts against such individuals is reduced in Australia, it cannot be eliminated.
“Work health and safety legislation in each state and territory impose a duty on employers, so far as reasonably practicable, to protect the health and safety of employees while the employees are at work. This would extend to ensuring the safety of company executives if it is reasonably foreseeable that they may be at risk of harm from external agents. This risk may be heightened if the executive works in a contentious or controversial industry, has received threats, or has been the subject of targeted social media criticism,” Paul writes.
Although most CEOs don’t want bodyguards and certainly don’t want to wear bulletproof vests to investor meetings and annual general meetings, there are however, a range of simple and sensible steps companies can take to protect them. Paul suggests:
- Ensure executives are registered as a silent elector with the Australian Electoral Commission to reduce the prospect that their addresses may be publicly available.
- Pay close attention to social media threats and report serious threats to police.
- Send a team ahead to scope out public locations, conference centres or public meeting areas before an executive arrives to give a public briefing or conference presentation.
- Consider using bodyguards during higher-profile corporate events, particularly if the company has recently been the subject of social media criticism in certain areas.
- Install bollards outside the company headquarters at any access points considered to be particularly vulnerable to unauthorised vehicles.
- Ensure management teams have a tactical and situational safety and lockdown plan in the event of an unpredictable violent incident with key response outcomes known and practised in advance. In high-risk industries, this could include practising active shooter drills, evacuation plans, crisis management exercises, and rehearsed responses dealing with worst-case scenarios.
- In the event of an incident, is the company ready with a communications strategy for the workforce, shareholders, regulators, and the public?
A security risk assessment and implementing reasonably practicable controls in the event of unpredictable violent incidents will enhance the ability of companies to keep their corporate executives safe in 2025.
Also read: Does your CEO know the impacts of cybersecurity? | Executive PA Media
