Vol. 513 No. 1
151 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the plans, if any, she has to amend the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989, to criminalise systematic bullying in the workplace in order to back guidelines in those areas with real sanctions. [1097/00]
The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989, is the principal piece of legislation dealing with occupational health and safety. Under section 12 of the 1989 Act every employer must prepare a written safety statement which should be based on an identification and assessment of all hazards and risks in the workplace and which should specify the way in which the safety, health and welfare of employees is to be secured. The authority recommends that details of an anti-bullying policy should be included in this safety statement.
In September 1999, I set up a task force on the prevention of workplace bullying which is being chaired by an independent chairperson and is operating under the auspices of the Health and Safety Authority. The task force is examining workplace bullying in detail and is focusing on identifying the size of the problem and the employment sectors most at risk as well as developing proposals for practical programmes and strategies, both to prevent workplace bullying and to provide an appropriate response from the relevant State agencies. The membership of the task force is drawn from a number of Government Departments and State agencies and also includes representation from IBEC and ICTU.
Anyone who wishes to make a submission to this task force on the issue of workplace bullying may do so by directly contacting the task force secretariat at the Health and Safety Authority, 10 Hogan Place, Dublin 2 or at tel. no. 01-6147000, at fax no. 01-6147021 or by e-mail at bully–taskforce@hsa.ie.
It should also be noted that under the Employment Equality Act 1998, discrimination and harassment in relation to employment is prohibited on nine distinct grounds: gender, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, religious belief, age, disability, race and membership of the traveller community. This Act is administered by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
