Speech by Mr. Tom Kitt, T.D., Minister for Labour, Trade and Consumer Affairs at the Launch of Dignity in the Workplace Charter on Tuesday 23rd October 2001.

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am very pleased to be here this morning to launch the Dignity in the Workplace Charter. As most of you will be aware the development of this Charter arises directly out of the recommendations of the Task Force on the Prevention of Workplace Bullying, and it is heartening to see these recommendations being taken on board and progressed by the relevant parties.

The workplace is not made up of the concrete building or the structure or the piece of land in which we physically base ourselves. It is made up of the people who work, and interact, within that building or structure or on that piece of land. And, like society itself, there will be conflict, disagreement and differing attitudes, cultures and modes of behaviour. When managed properly this should not be a problem of its own accord, but where it leads to the infringement of the dignity of another person it does become a problem.

The purpose of the Dignity in the Workplace Charter is to facilitate the management and the staff in any, and every, employment in this Country to make a public commitment to provide a workplace free of bullying, and to develop and maintain a workplace atmosphere where the inherent dignity of each individual is respected. This must become a core employment value. One of the main principles behind the Charter is that the importance of each individual, and the contribution that he or she makes to the success of the enterprise, must be emphasised and valued. This is particularly relevant at this time when the Irish workforce is composed of people of many different nationalities and cultures.

As you will see, the Charter has been endorsed by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, by the Irish Business and Employers Confederation and by the Construction Industry Federation. This is a strong statement of support from those organisations and given the wide spectrum of interests which these organisations collectively represent, their support gives the Charter much credence and credibility.

I want to thank ITCU, IBEC and CIF for their public endorsement of the Charter and I would exhort every employer and business-practitioner in the country to now adopt the Charter, and the principles and objectives behind it, and to display it publicly at their place of work. The real value of this Charter is that it is as relevant to the large multi-national company as it is to the micro-enterprise. The Charter is a public declaration to having a workplace free of bullying. It is not, of course, an end in itself, and does not replace a specific anti-bullying policy which will lay out quite clearly the procedures to be followed in the event of a complaint of bullying being made, nor does it, of course, preclude any other anti-bullying actions being taken within a business.

The launch of the Charter co-incides with European Safety Week and the theme for European Safety Week this year is "Accident Prevention". It is being highlighted under the banner "Success is No Accident". The principal aim is to demonstrate that good safety is good business; that preventing work-related accidents not alone saves lives, but also, from a business perspective, saves time and money. But reducing the number and instances of accidents and ill-health is not just a moral imperative. There is also a strong business case to be made. Last year a total of 1.1 million working days were lost as a result of work-related injury and ill-health in this country. Such a statistic must have a serious negative financial impact on the success and competitiveness of Irish businesses and offers a strong and convincing argument for appropriate preventative action. This applies as much to the psycho-social hazards of workplace stress and bullying as it does to the more obvious physical hazards, and the Dignity in the Workplace Charter is the first vital step in taking appropriate preventative action.

Before I conclude I want to thank Marie Rock, who is Chairperson of the Advisory Committee within the Health and Safety Authority, which oversaw the development of the Charter. I know that the Committee is actively progressing all of the recommendations of Task Force on the Prevention of Workplace Bullying and, in particular, is progressing the Codes of Practice on Bullying and Harassment. I look forward to making a public announcement on those Codes in the near future.