Mr. Mick Clifford:

Very briefly with regard to waiting for investigations, my experience of dealing with some of them is that they are left in suspension. They are in a scenario whereby even their fellow workers are suspicious of them and they are not really sympathetic until such time, perhaps, as it has been shown that the disclosure the person made had a basis and was being done for the greater good of people in the workplace. That suspension leads to great stress for individuals who are left like that.

The other issue is whether investigations are approached as a matter of containment as opposed to looking at wider systems. By and large, I have found that if the management perceives the investigation as in any way - even remotely - reflecting badly on it, in that scenario all it is interested in is the containment option - get it done, ensure you go through the process and then, effectively, just sweep it aside. That is the experience I have had in dealing with people in that respect.