This handbook serves as a practical guide to help energy and water businesses assess and strengthen their response to family violence. It has been updated to reflect deepening understanding about family violence risk in essential services, including the importance of taking a Safety by Design approach.

Safety by Design is a framework to anticipate, detect and eliminate harm before it occurs and puts the onus on providers to ensure their products and services are safe.

Key updates include:

• lived experience insights focused on customer needs and experiences
• information from the Safety by design for essential services report, including case studies demonstrating how some businesses are incorporating Safety by Design
• a comprehensive resource list to support businesses to develop their family violence response. 

The guide is accompanied by a report which documents the lived experiences of water and energy customers who are affected by family violence. This report informed the updated handbook.