Awareness to Action: Preventing Workplace Sexual Harassment
Last month I had the privilege of attending the SafeWork NSW Respect at Work Advisory Group's inaugural event Awareness to Action: Preventing Workplace Sexual Harassment hosted by Business NSW. This was a fantastic event lead by the only Australia Regulator to have a dedicated unit, the Respect at Work Taskforce, focussed on preventing workplace sexual harassment. Couple that with the positive duties of the Sex Discrimination Act to proactively prevent harassment at work and the impetus is squarely on organisations and leadership now to actively value and create safe, respectful and inclusive workplaces.
The key information and takeaways I took from the day include:
1 in 3 Australians have been sexually harassed at work in the last 5 years, with only 1 in 5 actually making a formal complaint
Safe Work NSW alone have investigated over 200 matters in the last year with a high proportion of technology related issues, with women disproportionately affected
Over reliance on policies and treating these issues as ‘behavioural’ without a focus on the systems and design of work, which may influence risk
Intersectionality is a key issue and a term we must all get familiar with. Intersectionality highlights how different aspects of a person's identity—such as race, gender, class, sexuality, and disability—intersect and make sexual harassment incidents for some individuals more complex, frequent and severe than others. This clearly influences risk and workplace demographics must be a consideration in psychosocial and sexual harassment risk assessments
Utilising a WHS risk management framework framed by leadership commitment is effective in identifying and addressing underlying causes in the physical and online environment
Address barriers to reporting through person-centred, trauma-informed, simple and confidential (formal and informal) reporting options with ensuring timely response and monitoring of data over time
Not only is there a moral obligation to support respectful, inclusive, equal and diverse workplaces, there is now a WHS legal imperative, taking a WHS risk management approach with meaningful consultation with your workers is the place to start. For those organisations in QLD be aware that you need to have a sexual harassment prevention plan in place by March 2025.
If you’re a HR, HSE, risk professional or leader needing assistance to navigate through this topic, do reach out to us at info@sharedsafetyandrisk.com.au for support.
