Body worn cameras in WA health facilities

Posted on May 22, 2026

Balancing safety, dignity and trust

WA Health has introduced a statewide mandatory policy for body worn camera use in public health facilities. The policy is about staff and visitor safety, but it also raises important questions about trust, dignity, communication, privacy and accountability.

WA Health has introduced a new mandatory policy about the use of body worn cameras in public health facilities. The policy is focused on supporting safety during incidents involving violence, aggression or threatening behaviour. It sets out when body worn cameras can be used, who can use them, how people should be told they are being recorded, and how footage should be managed.

Health Consumers’ Council WA was invited to take part in the policy consultation process, alongside clinical, safety and health system representatives. We appreciated the opportunity to bring a consumer perspective into those discussions and to speak to what matters for people, families and communities when they are accessing care.

For us, this conversation was about more than the cameras themselves. It was about trust, dignity, communication, privacy and safety.

Here’s our summary of the policy.

Why staff safety matters

We also want to acknowledge why this policy exists. Health care workers, security staff and others working in our health system have the right to be safe at work. No one should experience violence, aggression, threats or abuse while providing care or supporting people in health services.

When staff feel unsafe, this can affect everyone – staff, patients, families, carers and other people nearby. A safer environment supports better care.

From a consumer perspective, supporting staff safety and protecting consumer rights are not opposing goals. Both matter. The important question is how safety measures are used, especially in situations where people may be unwell, frightened, distressed, overwhelmed or in crisis.

This is not completely new

Body worn cameras are already used in a range of public safety and frontline settings across Australia. They have also already been used in some WA health settings.

For example, WA Country Health Service has had a local Body Worn Camera Procedure for security officers working at WACHS health sites and facilities. That procedure was published in May 2025 and covers the use of body worn cameras, associated equipment, and the capture, management, storage, retrieval and release of digital data.

WACHS also has an Electronic Security Systems Policy that includes body worn cameras as part of its broader security arrangements, alongside CCTV, duress alarms and access or identification cards.

So, the new WA Health policy is not simply about introducing a new technology for the first time. What is new is the statewide mandatory policy. This creates a system-wide framework for the lawful, ethical and consistent use of body worn cameras across all WA public health facilities.

We have not found publicly available body worn camera-specific policies for every Health Service Provider. This is one reason a statewide policy matters: it gives services a shared set of minimum requirements, rather than relying only on local arrangements that may differ between services and may not be easy for consumers to find.

What the WA policy says

Under the WA Health policy, body worn cameras can only be used by Security Officers. They are not for routine surveillance. They may be activated only when there is an imminent risk to the safety of staff, patients or visitors because of violent, aggressive or threatening behaviour.

Where practicable, people should be told that recording is starting. This is important because clear communication can help reduce fear, confusion and mistrust, especially for people who may already be distressed or struggling to understand what is happening.

The policy also recognises that extra care is needed in private, sensitive and clinical areas. From a consumer perspective, this is one of the most important parts of implementation. A person’s dignity, privacy and cultural safety still matter, even when a situation is difficult or unsafe.

What happens to the footage?

The policy does not set one simple storage timeframe for body worn camera footage. Instead, footage must be managed in line with WA Health information policies and State Government records rules. In practice, footage linked to a security incident may be kept for longer than routine footage, depending on the type of incident, whether it is needed for investigation, and how the record is classified.

A consumer who wants access to footage involving them will need to contact the relevant hospital or health service and ask about access through Freedom of Information or the appropriate information access process. Access may not be automatic, especially if other people are identifiable in the footage.

Questions consumer representatives can ask

As this policy is put into practice, consumer representatives, Chairs and committee members can play an important role by staying curious and asking practical questions, like:

  • How will people be told when a body worn camera is being turned on?
  • How will staff make sure people understand what is happening, especially if they are distressed, unwell, cognitively impaired, culturally unsafe, or communicating in a language other than English?
  • How often are body worn cameras being activated, and in what kinds of situations?
  • How will services monitor whether cameras are being used appropriately?
  • How will consumers, families and carers be able to raise concerns or provide feedback?
  • How long is footage kept, who can access it, and how are people told about their rights to request access?
  • How will consumer experience be included in evaluation of the policy?

Keeping people at the centre

HCCWA supports safe health services for everyone – patients, families, carers, staff, volunteers and visitors. We also believe that safety measures must be implemented in ways that protect dignity, trust, cultural safety and compassion.

Many of the situations where body worn cameras may be used will involve people at very difficult moments in their lives. That is why monitoring and evaluation should look beyond compliance and should also consider what body worn camera use means for consumers, including whether people feel respected, informed and safe.

We are sharing this information as part of our commitment to keeping our consumer community informed about policy changes and the work HCCWA is involved in. We hope it supports consumer representatives, Chairs and community leaders to take part confidently in conversations about how this policy is implemented across WA Health.

Sources