New codes drawn up to help prevent bullying

Bullying was identified as a very important issue in the Allfirst bank fraud, Minister of State for Labour Mr Tom Kitt said yesterday…

Bullying was identified as a very important issue in the Allfirst bank fraud, Minister of State for Labour Mr Tom Kitt said yesterday. He was launching three new codes of practice on bullying in the workplace.

They are aimed at identifying, preventing and dealing with bullying in the workplace, and were presented at a press conference by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), the Equality Authority and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

Codes of Practice are admissible as evidence in court cases involving employment issues, and these codes will therefore have semi-legal status as a model of good practice in this area, according to the director general of the Health and Safety Authority, Mr Tom Beegan.

The codes follow a report last year from a task force on the same subject. They have been drawn up under three separate pieces of legislation, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act of 1989, the Industrial Relations Act of 1990 and the Employment Equality Act of 1998, and deal with different aspects of bullying and harassment.

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The first code, under the health and safety legislation, outlines procedures that should be in place to address workplace bullying, and advises employers and trade unions how to prevent it.

The second, under the employment legislation, outlines procedures for addressing allegations of workplace bullying, both formal and informal.

The third code, under the equality legislation, defines sexual harassment and harassment on the nine grounds on which discrimination at work is outlawed, and gives advice on how to avoid it, and, when necessary, deal with incidents where it occurs.

Mr Murray Smith, of the Anti-Bullying Centre in Trinity College, Dublin said the right of representation was too restrictive, and should include friends as well as colleagues or trade union representatives.