Code to Beat the Bullies

Note to Editors

• The launch of the Code of Practice will take place in Room 110 of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Kildare St. starting at 10am.

• This Code of Practice comes into effect on 1st May 2007 and from that date it replaces the Code of Practice entitled “Code of Practice on the Prevention of Workplace Bullying” which was issued by the Authority in March 2002 in accordance with the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989.
• This Code of Practice, under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, is aimed at preventing and dealing with bullying where it happens in Irish workplaces. It is a code for both employers and employees.
• The new Code was completed at the end of a comprehensive consultation process undertaken by the Health and Safety Authority.

• The Code notes the provision in the 2005 Act requiring employers to manage work activities to prevent, in far as reasonably practicable, improper conduct or behaviour at work.
• Among the features of the Code is the setting out of the responsibilities of both employers’ and employees’ in preventing bullying.
• The code also provides guidance on identifying bullying and gives advice on how to prepare a bullying policy in the workplace.
• One of the significant elements of the code will be the emphasis placed on the resolution of incidents of bullying using an informal process and professional mediation services.

• This Code of Practice provides practical guidance for employers on identifying and preventing bullying at work arising from their duties under section 8 (2) (b) of the 2005 Act as regards ‘managing and conducting work activities in such a way as to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, any improper conduct or behaviour likely to put the safety, health and welfare at work of his or her employees at risk’.
• It also applies to employees in relation to their duties under section 13 (1) (e) of the 2005 Act to ‘not engage in improper conduct or behaviour that is likely to endanger his or her own safety, health and welfare at work or that of any other person’.
• One in fourteen people reported having been bullied at work in a survey published in 2001 by the ESRI (O’Connell and Williams) for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Survey Reports of Bullying Experiences in the Workplace (2007) conducted by the ESRI for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment puts this incidence rate at almost one in thirteen with higher rates reported for female employees.
• Bullying is a cost for both employers and employees. The cost can be both financial and human. If not sorted out internally, a serious case could bring an employer before a tribunal, the Labour Court and/or the civil courts. If destructive behaviour is tolerated and continues, it affects performance and general health and wellbeing of individuals and/or groups. The negative effects can last a long time.
• Bullying can be carried out by supervisors, managers, subordinates, fellow employees, customers, business contacts or members of the public.
• The Code explains what bullying means and deals with the responsibilities of employers and employees to prevent or resolve it. The Code reflects the legal requirement that employers carry out a risk assessment, and where bullying is identified as a hazard, they ensure that it is included in the safety statement.
• The Code recommends dealing with cases internally through the following processes which are explained in the Code:
  • informal resolution by a responsible person
  • a formal complaints procedure.

• Only if the internal processes fail, should it be necessary to get outside support.

• Finally, the Code helps those involved to recognise the possible findings which result from the follow up and investigation of a bullying complaint where,
  • the complaint is upheld as bullying behaviour
  • the complaint is deemed to be unfounded as a bullying behaviour
  • the complaint is deemed to be vexatious.

ENDS / LA233A