Mary Henry (Independent)

I thank Senator O'Toole for sharing his time with me. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. The Bill is most welcome, as is the enormous progress that has been made in promoting workplace health and safety in recent years. I wish to address the problem of bullying that can occur in the workplace. Bullying is now recognised as a serious problem, not just for the individuals concerned but also for the organisations where it occurs.

On reading the Bill, I was glad to note in section 8(2)(b) that the general duties of the employer include,"managing and conducting work activities in such a way as to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, any improper conduct or behaviour likely to put the safety, health or welfare at work of his or her employees at risk". In addition, as Senator O'Toole indicated, it imposes duties on employees, a welcome a development. Section 13, which lists the duties of an employee provides, for example, in subsection (1)(e) that the employee will "not engage in improper conduct or other behaviour that is likely to endanger his or her own safety, health and welfare at work or that of any other person".

Health and safety issues in the workplace should not be confined to addressing physical dangers. We must also consider that people can also suffer emotional distress in work. Great credit is due to Dr. Mona O'Moore and Jacinta Kitt of Trinity College, Dublin, for their extensive work on bullying in the workplace. They have discovered that a significant level of bullying takes place here and Ireland is no better than anywhere else in this regard.

One of the most distressing conversations I can recall with a patient involved a 54 year old man who told me he felt sick with fright at the prospect of going to work every day because of a person in the workplace with whom he had to deal. He decided not to take redundancy as his firm had hoped and was left in a position in which he was extraordinarily vulnerable.

Many bullying victims are men and whereas women are bullied by men and women, men tend to be bullied by men. Bullying is a most destructive behaviour which usually involves repeated aggression and verbal, psychological and physical abuse and can be carried out by an individual or group of individuals. Isolated instances of aggressive behaviour, although they should not be tolerated, should not be described as bullying. Only inappropriate, aggressive behaviour which is systematic and ongoing is regarded as bullying.

Bullying does not only happen on the factory floor. Many of the case studies carried out by Dr. O'Moore and Dr. Kitt have been at the managerial and professional levels. Bullying has a dreadful effect on victims and impacts badly on the organisation in which it takes place. It may involve manipulation of the victim's reputation by rumour, gossip and ridicule. In addition, victims are often prevented from speaking or expressing themselves and are overlooked with loud voice criticism and obscenities. Social exclusion and isolation of victims is another problem. Manipulating the nature of the job or the ability of the victim to perform the work by overloading the amount of work he or she receives or withholding information, setting meaningless tasks or not allocating work to the victim can have serious consequences. Physical abuse and threats are also common.

The issue of suicide and associated problems were raised earlier. Unfortunately, in a significant number of cases of suicide relatives of the victim believe he or she was bullied either at school or work. The issue of bullying must, therefore, be addressed. While a safety statement may not be the appropriate forum for doing so, codes of practice, about which employers and employees must be conscious, could be introduced in the workplace.

I am concerned that we are not making sufficient progress in the area of bullying. I have been approached by people with adult children of academic brilliance who were bullied, in some cases by people who were less clever than the victim but held senior positions in various departments. Bullying victims suffer stress and ill health in their daily lives and are affected in numerous other ways, including by conditions such as depression and high blood pressure.

It has been found that organisations which have allowed bullying to take place suffer from reduced efficiency, quality and quality control, low staff morale, an atmosphere of tension and high staff turnover rates. Any employer with high staff turnover should identify problems in the workplace. High rates of absenteeism, declining productivity and profits, a lack of creativity and initiative and an increasing number of cases taken to industrial tribunals are the products of bullying. These factors demonstrate the serious impact bullying can have on productivity. If these matters were brought to the attention of employers, I am certain they would take great care to ensure bullying did not take place in their workplace. No one wants such behaviour on their premises.

Employers should publish and strongly promote a policy statement that bullying is unacceptable behaviour and develop procedures for reporting, noting and investigating incidents of such behaviour. They should also develop a programme of support for those affected by bullying behaviour and introduce disciplinary procedures or rehabilitative measures for those who engage in bullying. These suggestions feature in a paper written by Dr. O'Moore on bullying in the workplace. It is interesting that she recommends rehabilitative measures as well as disciplinary procedures for those who engage in bullying. She also recommends regular evaluation of the effectiveness of anti-bullying programmes.

I welcome the Bill and hope my comments will be noted. I am certain the elimination of such anti-social behaviour from the workplace is part of the thrust of the Bill. Bullying is a major problem which has serious mental and physical effects on the victim and is of no value to the organisations in which it takes place.