Page 654 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 22 February 2012
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Research from the National Research Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Regulation at the ANU in Canberra also found that specific training in psychosocial risk factors was only a limited component in foundation training programs for workplace inspectors. The ACT currently has no specialist inspectors to deal with bullying and psychosocial hazards, as confirmed through questions I have put to the government.
Specialists will improve the complaint handling process, allowing bullying complaints to be investigated in a timely way and also in a way that is sensitive to psychological and social complexities. The complaint handling process is critical to ensuring victims receive resolution. Employing specialist expertise in bullying would also help with preventative measures, which is absolutely key in addressing bullying.
As I have emphasised throughout this process, bullying is a serious problem that needs a specialised response. There is a high rate of bullying in Australian workplaces, including in the ACT. The results of bullying are very serious both on people’s health and on the productivity of workplaces. The evidence across the country is that improvements need to be made.
There are some facts that need to be remembered with regard to the issue. Data tabled by the ACT government at the end of last year, in response to a Greens’ motion, revealed that between 1 January 2010 and 31 October 2011 there had been approximately 1,600 reported incidents of harassment, threats, verbal abuse, physical violence, bullying and assaults on government workers. In the same period there have been 48 compensation claims for injuries arising from harassment. Tomorrow the government is due to report back with more data on these matters. It will be interesting to see what comes from that data.
Australian research shows that approximately 70 per cent of employees were currently being bullied or had been bullied at some time in the past. The New South Wales Labor Council found that 74 per cent of the 840 respondents to its survey said they had been bullied in the workplace and over half thought there was a culture of bullying in their workplace. The Labor Council lists workplace bullying as the number one occupational health and safety issue.
Bullying is a serious problem in the ACT. The most recent state of the service report shows almost one in five Australian public service employees reported being subjected to harassment or bullying in the workplace. Data from work safe Australia reveals that bullying and harassment make up almost 40 per cent of accepted mental stress claims in the ACT public sector. In the ACT public sector there are consistently 100 or more successful claims per 100,000 workers. UnionsACT has reported receiving at least one complaint about bullying every week and frequently three or four complaints a week.
We have the advantage of seeing how the approach proposed in our bill has worked. Both Workplace Health and Safety Queensland and WorkSafe Victoria have decided that they need specialised expertise to deal with bullying and other psychosocial hazards. Queensland now has a psychosocial unit that includes registered
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