New Code of Practice on Bullying - please comment

haz

Make your views known.

The Health and Safety Authority (http://www.hsa.ie) published new draft guidelines on the prevention and resolution of workplace bullying. Interested parties are invited to submit comments and observations to the Public Consultation Phase on the draft by the 16th of January 2007 before the guidelines become a Code of Practice with legal force.

The new Code does not compel the assessment of bullying within Safety Statements, the production of monitoring information about workplace bullying episodes, transparent procedures or objective investigation of bullying complaints. No State authority is nominated with responsibility to enforce effective measures to reduce workplace bullying behaviour.

Please comment via http://consultation.hsa.ie/general-applications/default.asp

An article on the previous Code of Practice and the review process that lead to the changes in the new process (and more importantly, the changes vetoed by the employer's federation IBEC) is at http://www.indymedia.ie/article/80342

haz

haz wrote:

The Health and Safety Authority (http://www.hsa.ie) published new draft guidelines on the prevention and resolution of workplace bullying.

I was just comparing new and old policies. The new elements are mostly uncommitted - the draft contains the word "should" 96 times, as against 27 in the existing code.

For instance "The policy should include a commitment to monitoring incidents of bullying at work", "The policy should include commitments to staff training and supervision", "The policy should set out a complaints procedure" and "The investigation should be conducted thoroughly, objectively, with sensitivity, utmost confidentiality, and with due respect for the rights of both the complainant and the person complained of" - these are all polite suggestions for voluntary compliance, not requirements.

On the other hand, "If bullying is likely to be a risk the employer must cover it in the Safety Statement" is a new legal requirement. "The investigation will be conducted in accordance with the employments Bullying Prevention Policy which should reflect this Code of Practice" is also a requirement, but only a requirement to adhere to a standard chosen by the employer.

There is no requirement even that the investigator of a complaint be independent or impartial, no requirement that the investigator reveals any personal history of bullying, and no requirement that the complaint be investigated in full and a record made of how the outcome is arrived at. Justice requires that an investigation is impartial and all aspects of it transparent to any legitimate inspection.

It would have been great to require all employers (or all employers over a certain size) to provide an accessible and up-to-date record of the risk indicators for workplace bullying given in section 3.1. What is Bullying at Work? (high turnover of staff, high absenteeism or poor morale; casual or contract employees; technical or nonprofessional employees working to professionally qualified employees; changes in ownership, manager or supervisor, work performance measures, new technology, reorganisation; ineffective human resources (!); Gender/age imbalance) and those in section 3.6 How to identify if bullying is a hazard at work (observed unacceptable conduct or behaviour; number of complaints of bullying; human resources or nurse / welfare reports of bullying; and sick leave, particularly stress).

Perhaps unions could commit to the policy themselves and then to monitor compliance with the voluntary aspects within the workplace, including a commitment to a register of risk indicators amongst Irish employers. Personally I would require all employers to publish the number of complaints, litigation, confidential settlements and the full cost (legal fees, settlements and replacement staffing costs) of bullying cases.

The worst affected employment sectors, according to the Department's own survey and independent surveys, are education, health and the civil service - i.e. our taxes are being spent on poor administration.

haz

haz wrote:

Make your views known. Please comment via http://consultation.hsa.ie/general-applications/default.asp

There are two more weeks to submit comments before the deadline of Tuesday January 16th.

haz

haz wrote:

Please comment via http://consultation.hsa.ie/general-applications/default.asp
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/80342

In the Independent: "More than 100,000 bullied in workplace, survey shows - OVER 100,000 Irish workers have recently experienced bullying at work, according to a new survey. The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) is finalising data from its new research into incidences of bullying and harassment in Irish workplaces which will be published later next month."
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1748716&issue_id=15060

That is 7 pc of (or 1 in every 13) workers were repeatedly abused or harassed in the workplace during the past 6 months.