Prevention of Bullying & Violence at Work
The guidance note provides practical information on how to protect employees from the risks to health and safety caused by workplace bullying and occupational violence.
Why has WorkSafe Victoria released a Guidance Note?
The general duties of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 apply to both workplace bullying and occupational violence. This is because bullying and violence can create a risk to both the physical and mental health of employees. The introduction of this guidance note provides a clear message that bullying and occupational violence are occupational health and safety hazards that workplaces should be addressing.
Laws
When workplace bullying or occupational violence occur, a number of laws can be relevant. WorkSafe's Guidance Note provides specific information on how the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 applies to these situations.
The Guidance Note also contains information on when other jurisdictions may apply to situations of bullying and violence in the workplace. The Guidance Note's appendix outlines some of the relevant laws including anti-discrimination legislation, criminal law and industrial legislation.
Nothing in the operation of the Guidance Note affects the rights and obligations of any parties under other legislation.
Implementation evaluation
At the launch of the guidance note, the Minister for WorkCover announced that its implementation would be reviewed 12 months after its release to ensure the guidance note had been used effectively and appropriately.
The evaluation focused on part one of the Guidance Note – Preventing Workplace Bullying. The evaluation findings are summarised in the Summary of Evaluations on Workplace Bullying and Guidance Note report - download summary (.pdf, 63kb)
The overall results are also available as a presentation - download presentation (.ppt, 98kb)
The evaluation involved a range of research activities:
- A survey of employees which measured incidence and changes in perception on bullying in Victorian workplaces - download survey (.pdf, 163kb)
- A survey of employers which examined employers’ level of awareness on bullying and how to prevent it - download survey (.pdf, 173kb)
- In-depth interviews with various stakeholders which examined perceptions of how WorkSafe Victoria deals with bullying - download survey (.pdf, 54kb)
- A survey of WorkSafe Victoria Inspectors which examined issues relating to enforcement and the Guidance Note - download survey (.pdf, 30kb)
- Case studies which looked at how workplace issues relating to bullying are actioned once they are referred to WorkSafe Victoria - download case study (.pdf, 81kb)
