'Prevention of Bullying and Violence At Work'
'Prevention of Bullying and Violence At Work'
Bullying and occupational violence are issues which are, rightly, causing increasing concern and need to be addressed by the Victorian community. Apart from the physical and psychological effects on individuals, their families and colleagues, they reduce productivity across an organisation. They are mainstream issues that should be considered in every workplace. Bullying can cost not only the goodwill of the workforce, and profits, but also the company’s reputation if the matter goes to court.
Occupational violence also has a broad range of effects on workplaces and individuals. Of particular concern is that young people, at the start of their working lives, are among the most vulnerable. This material shows that bullying and occupational violence are not “part of the job” and are never acceptable. Bullying and occupational violence are issues that must be seriously addressed by business, the workforce and the community. Employers need to assess risk, ensure control measures are in place and join with the workforce to ensure it does not become a problem.
This guidance material is a significant step forward in the program of the Victorian Government and WorkSafe to change attitudes towards bullying and occupational violence in the workplace. The prevention framework explains how organisations can take steps to make workplaces safer. This Guidance Note has been prepared with the assistance of employer groups and unions whose representatives have worked closely with WorkSafe Victoria. I commend all parties for their hard work and preparedness to address these issues and identify practical solutions.
Workplace bullying and occupational violence can affect employees and organisations in a number of ways. The effects can range from actual psychological and physical injuries to reduction in employee productivity.
Employers have legal responsibilities to do as much as practicable to eliminate or reduce risks to employees’ health and safety. Employees also have legal responsibilities about how they act towards others in the workplace.
Employee participation is a key element in an effective health and safety management system. Employees are more likely to support actions to improve health and safety if they understand and contribute to those actions. Employee involvement and consultation promotes commitment to health and safety, and develops a positive health and safety culture. One method of ensuring employee
participation is through consultation with workplace health and safety representatives. This guidance note provides practical information about how to protect everyone in your workplace from risks to health and safety caused by bullying and occupational violence. The purpose of this guidance note is to assist workplaces to eliminate or reduce these risks to health and safety.
Part one - Preventing workplace bullying provides practical information to help identify instances of bullying, and work environments which may contribute to the risk of it occurring. It also provides advice on prevention measures and appropriate responses to incidents of bullying.
Part two - Preventing occupational violence provides practical information on how to identify hazards, and assess and control risks of occupational violence.
PLEASE NOTE: This is a Victorian Worksafe publication. Legislation does differ between the various states and territories and we recommend that you check that the information is relevant to your state when reading this publication.
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