It shall be the duty of a safety and health officer:-
(a) to advise the employer or any person in charge of a place of work on the measures to be taken in the interests of the safety and health of the persons employed in the place of work;
(b) to inspect the place of work to determine whether any machiney, plant, equipment, substance, appliances or process or any description of manual labour used in the place of work, is of such nature liable to cause bodily injury to any person working in the place of work;
(c) to investigate any accident, near-miss accident, dangerous occurrence, occupational poisoning or occupational disease which has happened in the place of work;
(d) to assist the employer or the safety and health committee, if any, pursuant to regulation 11 of the Occupational Safety and Health (Safety and Health Committee) Regulations 1996 [P.U.(A) 616/96] in organizing and implementing occupational safety and health programme at the place of work;
(e) to become secretary to the safety and health committee, if any, as specified under subregulation 6(2) of the Occupational Safety and Health (Safety and Health Committee) Regulations 1996, and perform all functions of a secretary as specified in that Regulations;
(f) to assist the safety and health committee in any inspection of the place of work for the purposes of checking the effectiveness and efficacy of any measures taken in compliance with the Act or any regulations made under the Act;
(g) to collect, analyses and maintain statistics on any accident, dangerous occurrence, occupational poisoning and occupational disease which have occurred at the place of work;
(h) to assist any officer in carrying made by the employer or any person in charge of the place of work on any matters pertaining to safety and health of the place of work, and;
(i) to carry out any other instruction made by the employer or any person in charge of the place of work on any matters pertaining to safety and health of the place of work.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
GUIDE TO DEVELOPING YOUR WORKPLACE INJURY AND ILLNESS PREVENTION PROGRAM
Decide who in your company will be given responsibility and authority to manage this program. In many cases, it’s the owner. Sometimes the plant manager or a ranking member of the management team is the one to develop and set up the program. It could even be an engineer, personnel specialist or other staff member.
The person assigned must be identified by name in your program. Your program’s success hinges on the individual you choose, and he/she cannot succeed without your full cooperation and support. Remember, though, that even when you appoint someone as your safety manager and delegate authority to manage the program, the ultimate responsibility for safety and health in your workplace still rests with you.
When considering responsibility, do not forget to include all of your employees. Give each employee training and responsibility to follow your safety and health procedures, and to recognize report hazards in his/her immediate work area.
ASSESSMENT OF YOUR WORKPLACE SHOULD BE CONDUCTED BY THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INJURY AND ILLNESS PREVENTION PROGRAM, AND/OR A PROFESSIONAL OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CONSULTANT.
The first is a comprehensive safety and health survey of your facility to identify existing or potential safety and health hazards.
This survey should evaluate workplace conditions with respect to: safety and health regulations and generally recognized safe work practices and physical hazards; use of any hazardous materials; employee work habits; and a discussion of safety and health problems with employees. The survey must be documented if made for the purpose of establishing an Injury and Illness Prevention Program.
Your safety and health survey includes:
Equipment
Make a list of your equipment and tools, including the principle locations of their use. Special attention should be given to inspection schedules, maintenance activities and your facility’s layout.Chemicals
Make a list of all chemicals used in your workplace, obtain material safety data sheets on the materials used, and identify where they are used.Work practices
Detail specific work practices associated with equipment, tools and chemical use. Special attention should be given to personal protective equipment, guarding, ventilation, emergency procedures and use of appropriate tools.OSHA/FMA Standards
Review standards applicable to your type of operation, equipment, processes, materials, and the like. These standards are minimum requirements for workplace safety and health.
The next activity is an evaluation of your existing Injury and Illness Prevention Program to identify areas that may be working well and those that may need improvement.
Examine your company’s:
- Accident, injury or illness data.
- Worker’s compensation costs.
- Rates of employee turnover or absenteeism.
- Information on safety and health activities ongoing or previously tried.
- Company policy statements.
- Rules-both work and safety.
- Guidelines for proper work practices and procedures.
- Records of training programs.
- Compliance with requirements of California’s Right to Know Law and Hazards Communications Standard.
- Employee capabilities-make an alphabetical list of all employees, showing the dates they were hired, what their jobs are, and their experience and training. Special attention should be given to new employees and employees with handicaps. Joint labor-management safety and health committee activities.
- Other safety-related programs.
After all the facts are gathered, look at how the information on your workplace corresponds with the standards, and with the critical components of an Injury and Illness Prevention Program: management commitment/assignment of responsibilities; safety communications system with employees; system for assuring employee compliance with safe work practices; scheduled inspections/evaluation system; accident investigation; procedures for correcting unsafe/ unhealthy conditions; safety and health training and instruction; recordkeeping and documentation.
An action plan is a specific, written description of problems and solutions-it can and should be changed to correspond with changes in the workplace.
A good action plan has two parts. One is an overall list of major changes or improvements needed to make your Injury and Illness Prevention Program effective. Assign each item a priority and a target date for completion, and identify the person who will monitor or direct each action.
The second part of an action plan involves taking each major change or improvement listed and working out a specific plan for making that change. Write out what you want to accomplish, the steps required, who would be assigned to do what, and when you plan to be finished. This part of the action plan helps you keep track of program improvement so that details do not slip through the cracks.
Put your plan into action, beginning with the item assigned highest priority. Make sure it is realistic and manageable, then address the steps you have written out for that item.
You can, of course, work on more than one item at a time. Priorities may change as other needs are identified or as your company’s resources change.
Open communication with your employees is crucial to the success of your efforts. Their cooperation depends on understanding what the Injury and Illness Prevention Program is all about, why it is important to them, and how it affects their work. The more you do to keep them informed of the changes you are making, the smoother your transition will be.
By putting your action plan into operation at your workplace, you will have taken a major step toward having an effective Injury and Illness Prevention Program. Remember, an Injury and Illness Prevention Program is a plan put into practice.
Schedule a review-quarterly, semiannually or annually-to look at each critical component in your Injury and Illness Prevention Program, to determine what is working well and what changes, if any, are needed. When you identify needs that should be addressed, you have the basis for new safety and health objectives for program improvement.
GOOD STRATEGIC DECISIONS AND ORGANIZATIONAL, THOROUGH PLANNING, HARD WORK AND EFFICIENT MANAGEMENT ARE KEYS TO PREVENT ANY INJURY AND ACCIDENT IN YOUR WORKPLACE.
How to Get the Ventilation That You Need in Your House?
Ventilation is one of the basic requirements of a good house. As fresh air is a must to ensure the health of those who live in the house good ventilation is a must. In tropical climes it is not difficult to follow ventilation options when building a house. You can incorporate a lot of windows and they will provide the necessary ventilation with natural wind blowing. In countries where there are harsh winters it is not possible to have many windows in a house
INFILTRATION
We get some fresh air from natural infiltration. This is the amount of fresh air that comes into your house through leaks, and is sometimes shown as house air changes per hour (ACPH). An air-change rate of 0.5 ACPH means that half the house air is changed every hour, or that the amount of fresh air that enters the house every two hours equals the volume of the house. Exfiltration, or the amount of air that exits the house, always equals infiltration — if it didn’t, the house would either implode or explode.
Figure 1 — Infiltration and exfiltration of air in a house
DISTRIBUTION
The fresh air needs to be moved around the house, particularly to rooms with closed doors (such as bedrooms). This distribution usually requires fans and ducting systems. Imagine a two-storey house with all the fresh air infiltrating or being delivered into the basement where the clothes dryer is running. Without distribution, the fresh air would be removed from the house by the clothes dryer before it reached the occupants on the floors above. Only the basement would receive fresh air.
Figure 2 — Distribution of air throughout a house
CIRCULATION
Even if fresh air is introduced to a room, it will often need some help to be circulated to all parts of the room. Rooms with lots of furniture or stored items are susceptible to having under-ventilation in some parts of the room. Fans can help here, too
Figure 3 — Circulation of air in a house
Is Ventilation Necessary?
Ventilation and good air quality are sometimes under-appreciated. If your furnace breaks down in the winter and the house starts getting cold, you will notice that problem within a couple of hours at the most. Insufficient ventilation will generally not be noticed as quickly as it takes time for symptoms, such as stuffy air, to develop.
A good time to check your indoor air quality is when you enter your house, before you get accustomed to the indoor air. Does it have a distinctive odour? Is it fresh and neutral? People moving to a house with good ventilation from a house with bad ventilation will recognize that the indoor air quality in their previous residence was not as good as in their new home.
People need fresh air all the time, but the need for additional ventilation will change. In the middle of winter, when it is very cold or windy outside, the natural air-change rate of the house will be highest and you may not require additional mechanical ventilation.
Once the ventilation is ensured in those places where the air gets contaminated your house will be a better place to live.
Electrical Safety Tips
Follow these tips will ensure the safety of your love one and your workers.
Inside your home:
• Unless you are a qualified electrician you should never wire any part of your home, install
or move lights, switches or power points, rearrange electrical wires, carry out electrical
maintenance or replace frayed cords on appliances. Always get a qualified and registered
electrician to do an electrical safety check of your home before renovations begin or before
moving into a new home.
• Make sure you use an extension lead that is appropriate for the power loading you need.
Check that it has a three-pin plug and is approved by SIRIM. Extension leads with only two pin plug are not ‘earthed’ and are dangerous. If an appliance is faulty, a non-earthed plug can cause power to flow through your body with potentially fatal results. Fully unwind leads before you use them so that they do not overheat. Do not overload adaptors by plugging in too many appliances into one socket or power point.
• When painting around light fittings, do not remove the light plate as this will expose live wires even when the light is switched off. Mask around it instead.When tiling around light fittings, switches or power points, get a licensed electrician to remove the light plates and deactivate any exposed wires before you begin.
• Always install safety switches such as RCD (Residual Current Device) when using electrical equipment outdoor and have them checked regularly.
• Water and electricity do not mix.Never bring portable electrical appliances into the bathroom or wet area or use electric power tools in wet conditions.
• Check for wires before drilling into walls, floors and ceilings.When a metal drill comes into contact with concealed wiring, it can spell disaster; so always make sure you know where the wires are run first. Be particularly careful when drilling around power points and light switches.
• Inspect and test the electrical wiring installation at your home at least once every 5 years by
an Electrical Installation Contractor holding a valid certificate issued under the Electricity
Rules, 1999 and ensure that an Inspection and Testing of LV Wirings of Installation certificate
is issued by the Electrical Installation Contractor for the inspections and testing carried out.
Outside your home:
• Find out what is hidden beneath the earth surface before you dig. Always consult SESCO
to detect if there are underground power cables before you dig any holes. Always follow the safe work guidelines as it could save your life.
• When painting eaves, replacing or cleaning gutters, avoid getting close to the electrical wires that connect your home to the power pole. Always watch out for power lines when using ladders or carrying other tall or long objects.
• Never interfere with the electric meter or divert electricity from the main power lines to your home. It is not only illegal; it can also be extremely dangerous. The result can often lead to serious property damage, severe injury or even death.
• Never plant tree beneath a primary overhead power line operating at a high or extra high
voltage. Always make sure trees are planted at least 8 metres from the overhead power
lines.
Don't wait. Just change it before late.
In Malaysia, resident age above 17 years old able to take car driving license. Ministry of Transport through the department of road transport gazette that process of taking license start from 8 hours briefing, computer test, 3 hours briefing and 3 hours practical and lastly been tested by officer from department of road transport (JPJ) . Everybody know how to drive but not many know how to maintain their vehicle such as engine oil maintenance, water in radiator, tire pressure, tire treat and other.
Several driver just want their vehicle look great such as modified their sport rims of vehicle to bigger size than usual, custom the body kits, and others. But they didn’t realized that their vehicle condition located on the tire treat. If the tire treat in bad condition, let say their vehicle have to stop in emergency, the vehicle will not stop immediately (if use ANTI BRAKING SYSTEM “ABS” or not using ABS) but their vehicle will slide forward and will be involved in the violation with other vehicle, divider, or tree.
Such example, the accident happened three weeks ago in PLUS highway near Slim River, Perak. The Sport Utilities Vehicle, Toyota Hilux with a driver and four passengers involve in accident while raining day and after the investigation by police complete, that vehicle didn’t maintained the tire treat condition of that SUV, so that the tire burst and explode due to tread a thin and the unlucky SUV is out of control. Two from 4 passengers thrown out because that SUV spin before hit the divider.
Change your tire before any unplanned and unexpected condition happened to you or your love ones. Be a good and careful driver because you know how and when to maintained your vehicle.
WHY PPE is STILL ABANDONED BY THE EMPLOYER
What is Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)? Why we need PPE? When PPE should be used?
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is consider as any devices/equipment which worn by the workers aims to protects them against the health and safety hazards at the workplace. Hard hat, safety shoes, safety harness, goggle, respirator, face mask and hand glove are the common PPE worn by the worker. PPE is a last line defense based on hierarchy of control and the use of PPE should not be given a false thought of security to the wearer because the risk is not eliminated but only prevent the hazards from being in contact with the worker.
Despite of the limitation at the workplace, the use of personal protective equipment may, in certain circumstances, be the only practicable protection. When this is the case these equipment must be properly selected, used and maintained so that adequate protection will be provided to the wearer.When we talk about PPE, there always in our mind this is the easiest way to protect the worker and cheapest solution to comply with the regulation. But in the real situation why there are some employer still refuse to provide a PROPER PPE for their workers? One of the reasons to this problem is some of the PPE are too costly especially for those imported with the tax range between 5% to 30% and a lot of the PPE used by at the workplaces are still imported.
The employer has to provide PPE to all of their workers and sometime more than one type of PPE is required depending on the risk. As an examples “ Company A employed thirty (30) construction workers and all of them should be provided with proper PPE including hard hat, safety shoes, hand glove, safety harness and safety goggle. All of this PPE need to maintain so that it can give adequate protection.” This condition will burden the employer and for those who have no intention to safety matter will used this reason for not providing and maintain the proper PPE for their workers.There are a lot of solution to overcome this problem and one of the most relevant is from the government commitment by abolish or reduce the tax of In order to promote the uses of PPE at the workplace.
Marine Safety
Cooking Safety at Boat
Well, many of you will want to know what makes me an expert on cooking safety. I don't cook much, still have all my fingers, some of my hair.But, seriously, cooking accidents are especially dangerous aboard a boat, and a few precautions can reduce the risk to you and your boat.
Alcohol Stoves
Some older vessels still have alcohol stoves. NEVER fill a hot stove. On a pressurized stove, let the stove cool before bleeding off pressure and filling. On a cartridge or canister type stove, let the canister cool before filling, and ALWAYS remove the canister from the stove before filling. Remove extra alcohol from the area where you are cooking. Keep spare fuel tightly capped, and stowed where the container will not rust through. Wipe up spilled fuel immediately. And, keep a small spray bottle filled with water near the stove. A fine mist will tame alcohol flare ups, and repeated mist sprays will usually extinguish a small cooking fire. DO NOT use a straight stream; this will only spread the burning alcohol, or grease, to other areas.
Liquid Propane Gas and Compressed Natural Gas
If you use liquid propane gas (LPG) or compressed natural gas (CNG), check the appliances and all supply lines regularly for leakage. Be sure regulators and solenoids, if equipped, are working properly. If you use LPG, the preferred tank location is above decks, away from openings where escaping vapors could enter the enclosed spaces of your vessel. If your tank is in an enclosure, designed for LPG storage, be sure the vents are free of blockage and there are no openings that will allow gas to seep into the bilge. Check the tanks frequently. If a tank is damaged, or severely rusted or corroded, replace it. With CNG, refuse to accept exchange tanks that are damaged or deteriorated. And, shut off the supply at the tank when the system is not in use.
Install a gas vapor detector in the engine and bilge spaces of the boat if you use LPG. Vapors are heavier than air, and a leak can go undetected, while filling your bilge and engine spaces with explosive vapors.
Barbecues
Some people combine business and pleasure by having a gas barbecue on board, either the type that uses the small disposable cylinders. Always store the cylinders above decks, and take the same precautions you would with larger tanks. These cylinders, containing sixteen to twenty ounces of LPG, can put enough gas vapor in your boat to destroy it at the slightest spark. Consider a mesh bag tied to a deck stanchion or railing where the cylinders will not be damaged yet receive plenty of ventilation. If your deck cooking arrangement is plumbed into the LPG/CNG gas system of the vessel, it deserves the same respect and care as the galley stove. Check the supply lines regularly for damage or corrosion.
If you use charcoal for occasional deck cooking, be sure it's COMPLETELY cool before disposing of the coals. While the briquettes can be only warm on the outside, the centers can still be glowing hot, sometimes for up to eighteen hours after cooking. I have personally witnessed fires started like this. And, don't use flammable liquids, such as gasoline, for igniting the briquettes. Use starter fluid, starter cubes or similar to ignite your fire.
Be sure to have a fire extinguisher in the galley area, so it is ready for use if needed. Don't mount it over the stove, where you won't be able to reach it if there is a fire. Keep an extinguisher on deck near your cooking area too.
A fire on board can be a terrifying ordeal for all. Cook safely, and you won't have all those extra guests, from the Coast Guard, Harbor Patrol or from the fire department, on your boat at chow time. They really won't mind not being invited.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Fall And General Safety Issues
Falls
· Anything above shoulder level should be retrieved with the use of a step stool or ladder.
· Chairs should always be used flat on the floor and not leaning back. Chairs with a "leaning" feature shouldn't be pushed beyond their limit which may result in over-balancing.
· Chairs and boxes should never replace ladders or step stools
· Pathways should be kept clear
· Electrical cords and wires must be kept out of pathways
· When seated, excessive twisting, leaning back, and bending over should be avoided.
· When filling drawers or shelves, always fill from the bottom, up, allowing the weight to keep it from tipping over
· When finished with drawers or doors, make sure to close them
properly to prevent bumps and tripping. Open only one drawer or door at a time.
· Filing cabinets should be placed in low-traffic areas.
· Any cabinets or bookcases over sixty four inches high should be secured to the wall to prevent tipping.
General Safety Issue Practices
Guard or tape any furniture corners or edges that are sharp.
· Keep the work environment clean. Throw away trash and empty the cans often, and keep floors free of obstacles and unnecessary items.
· Immediately report any defects in the workspace such as loose tiles, broken railings, broken doors, broken steps etc.
· Refrain from participating in any form of horseplay.
· Keep sharp objects such as scissors, tacks, and razor blades in closed containers.
· Use the right tool for the job.
· Any neckties, long hair, jewelry, and other loose clothing should be kept well clear of any moving machinery parts.
· Air vents and air registered should be kept unobstructed.
· Furniture, equipment, or other materials should not be positioned in a way that they obstruct air movement or thermostats.
· Any pest control related problems should be reported immediately.
· Pest control chemicals should be used only by experts.
The most important way to prevent safety issues in the workplace is to use common sense at all times.
Sexual Harassment at The Workplace
IM ATTENTION TO THIS TOPIC BECAUSE IM FEMALE
Sexual harassment is one a part of osh issue at the workplace, and always happened to the female. Form the statistics, view the survey carried out in a number of industrialised countries showed that the proportions of female employees who had been subjected to sexual harassment in those countries ranged from 42% to 70%.Which means 10 out of 7 female workers were being sexually harassed in the workplace.
There is ample evidence everywhere that a high percentage of sexual harassment cases occurring in the workplace goes unreported. Due to embarrassment, helplessness and fear of being ridiculed or, worse still, of losing their jobs, most of the victims of sexual harassment were prevented from raising the problem and therefore had to suffer in silence.In Malaysia the unfortunate victims are presently facing distressing constraints to report sexual harassment because there is no established procedure to guide them how and where to report. At the enterprise level, very few employers have so far provided complaints or grievance procedure for reporting sexual harassment.
Sexual harassment adversely affects employee morale and job performance. It reduces productivity and increases the rate of sick leave and absenteeism among affected employees. Moreover, many female employees who face sexual harassment choose to resign from their jobs rather than fight or endure the offensive conditions. This results in a higher rate of employee turnover with all the associated costs in training and lost production. The greatest danger of sexual harassment is that when it goes unchecked it can spread throughout an organization like an infectious disease.Malaysia needs to have such national programme to ensure that our workplaces are free from offensive and intimidating environment caused by the spread sexual harassment.
The purpose of the Code of Practice is to provide practical guidance to employers, employees, trade unions and others relevant parties on the protection of the dignity of men and women at work. The aim is to ensure that sexual harassment does not occur and, if it does occur, to ensure that adequate procedures are available to deal with the problem and prevent its recurrence.
Trade unions should co-operate with employees in carrying out promotional and educational programmes for the employees and in the implementation of in-house mechanism to prevent and eradicate sexual harassment in the workplace. The inclusion of specific clauses on sexual harassment in collective agreements as a means of dealing with the problem jointly between the employers and the trade unions has become a common practice in the industrialized countries. Such practice should be encouraged in this country.
What is SEXUAL HARASSMENT?
Sexual harassment means: Any unwanted conduct of a sexual nature having the effect of verbal, non-verbal, visual,
psychological or physical harassment:
(i) that might, on reasonable grounds, be perceived by the recipient as placing a condition of a sexual nature on her/his employment; or
(ii) that might, on reasonable grounds, be perceived by the recipient as an offence or humiliation, or a threat to his/her well-being, but has no direct link to her/his employment
How many CATEGORIES of sexual harassment?
There are 2 categories:
(i) Sexual coercion – is sexual harassment that results in some direct consequence to the victim’s employment. An example of sexual harassment of this coercive kind is where a superior, who has the power over salary and promotion, attempts to coerce a subordinate to grant sexual favours. If the subordinate accedes to the superior’s sexual solicitation, job benefits will follow.
Conversely, if the subordinate refuses, job benefits are denied.
(ii) Sexual annoyance-is sexually-related conduct that is offensive, hostile or intimidating to the recipient, but nonetheless has no direct link to any job benefit. However, the annoying conduct creates a bothersome working environment which the recipient has to tolerate in order to continue working. A sexual harassment by an employee against a co-employee falls into this category. Similarly, harassment by a company’s client against an employee also falls into this category.
What do we mean by WORKPLACE?
Sexual harassment in the workplace includes any employment related sexual harassment occurring outside the workplace as a result of employment responsibilities or employment relationship. Situations under which such employment-related sexual harassment may take place includes, but is not limited to:
• at work-related social functions;
• in the course of work assignments outside the workplace;
• at work-related conferences or training sessions;
• during work-related travel;
• over the phone; and
• through electronic media
What are the FORMS of sexual harassment?
• verbal harassment : e.g. offensive or suggestive remarks, comments, jokes, jesting, kidding, sounds, questioning.
• non-verbal/gestural harassment : e.g. leering or ogling with suggestive overtones, licking lips or holding or eating food provocatively, hand signal or sign language denoting sexual activity, persistent flirting.
• visual harassment : e.g. showing pornographic materials, drawing sex-based sketches or writing sex-based letters, sexual exposure.
• psychological harassment : e.g. repeated unwanted social invitations, relentless proposals for dates or physical intimacy.
• physical harassment : e.g. inappropriate touching, patting, pinching, stroking, brushing up against the body, hugging, kissing, fondling, sexual assault
What should the employers do to COMBAT sexual harassment in the workplace ?
The employer should provide:
• a policy statement prohibiting sexual harassment in the organisation;
• a clear definition of sexual harassment;
• a complaints/grievance procedure;
• disciplinary rules and penalties against the harasser and against those who make false accusation;
• protective and remedial measures for the victim; and
• promotional and educational programmes to explain the company’s policy on sexual harassment and to raise awareness of sexual harassment and its adverse consequences among the company’s employees, supervisors and managers.
What are the REMEDIES available?
•To encourage victims to report sexual harassment, there should be adequate measures to ensure maximum confidentiality so as to minimise embarrassment to the victim especially at the time of reporting and in the course of investigation into the complaint.
•In a case where the victim of sexual harassment has suffered a loss, such as a demotion or a denial of a promotion, it is appropriate to restore such person to his or her proper position on the job.
•The victim should also be compensated for any monetary loss arising out of a denial of employment-related benefits which were rightfully due to him or her.
•Where the complaints is found to be unjustified and baseless, appropriate remedy should be granted to the accused person if there has been any loss suffered by such person.
POLICY STATEMENT PROHIBITING SEXUAL HARASSMENT
A policy statement on sexual harassment is a documented message from the management to the employees expressing the company's policy, philosophy and commitment to prevent and eradicate sexual harassment in order to create a positive and conducive working environment in the organization.
The policy statement should come from the top management to ensure its acceptance and compliance by the shop-floor employees, supervisors and managers throughout the organization.
The policy statement should contain at least the following matters:
(i) a declaration prohibiting sexual harassment in the organization:
(ii) a caution stating that sexual harassment constitutes a breach of the company's policy and will incur diciplinary actions up to and including dismissal;
(iii) a directive stating that supervisors and managers have a positive duty to implement the policy and to demonstrate leadership by example
COMPLAINT/GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
Although an effective preventive action and programme may be successful in deterring sexual harassment, but problems are bound to arise. Therefore, there is a necessity for the establishment of a complaint or grievance procedure to deal with each problem as and when it arises.
Due to of the sensitive and personal nature of sexual harassment complaints, employers should develop a separate complaint procedure to deal specifically with such complaints. The normal complaint procedure is often unsuitable for sexual harassment complaint.
A complaint procedure should provide measures to protect victims from further embarrassment in the course of reporting and investigation into the complaint.
A complaint procedure should contain at least the following elements:
(i) a step-by-step procedure for reporting and processing of a complaint with a suitable time-limit for each step;
(ii) an investigation procedure; and
(iii) an appeal procedure to enable dissatisfied party to appeal against the outcome of an investigation to a higher authority.
PROMOTIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES
Prevention is the most effective tool and employer can use to eradicate sexual harassment in the workplace. Preventive action includes:
(i) Communication,
(ii) education, and
(iii) training.
Merely developing a corporate policy and preventive mechanism on sexual harassment is not sufficient. It is the dissemination of the policy and mechanism among the employees in the organization that is of paramount importance.
In addition to the need for communication, the employer should provide a programme by which employees and supervisors could be educated in the area of sexual harassment.
The employer should also provide special training sessions for supervisory and managerial staff to train them to recognize potential problem and learn how to deal with them as and when they arise. The necessity to provide training is much greater for those who are assigned to function as investigators and counsellors.
The lastly, if u involved with this situation what you can do?
Firtsly,
When you are deciding what to do, remember that every situation is different.There is no one best thing to do. You should always report the sexual harassment to your employer. You then have the option to use your company’s sexual harassment complaint process, file a charge with a state or federal agency, and/or go to court.
It is important to talk with a lawyer or legal services organization like Equal Rights Advocates to discuss your choices (see “Resources”).They can help you to understand your choices, their benefits and risks as well as the strengths and weaknesses of your case.
Say “No” Clearly
Tell the person that his/her behavior offends you. Firmly refuse all invitations.If the harassment doesn’t end promptly, write a letter asking the harasser to stop and keep a copy.
Write Down What Happened
As soon as you experience the sexual harassment, start writing it down.Write down dates, places, times, and possible witnesses to what happened.If possible, ask your co-workers to write down what they saw or heard, especially if the same thing is happening to them.Remember that others may (and probably will) read this written record at some point. It is a good idea to keep the record at home or in some other safe place.Do not keep the record at work.
Report the Harassment
Tell your supervisor, your human resources department or some other department or person within your organization who has the power to stop the harassment. If possible, tell them in writing. Keep a copy of any written complaint you make to your employer.It is very important that you report the harassment because your employer must know or have reason to know about the harassment in order to be legally responsible for a co-worker, client or customer’s actions. Even if your harasser was your supervisor, you may need to show that you reported the harassment to your employer or give a good reason why you didn’t.
Start a Paper Trail
When you report the sexual harassment to your employer, do it in writing.Describe the problem and how you want it fixed.This creates a written record of when you complained and what happened in response to it. Keep copies of everything you send and receive from your employer.
Use the Grievance Procedure at Work
Many employers and schools have policies for dealing with sexual harassment complaints. You may be able to resolve the problem through this process.To find out your employer’s policies, look in your employee manual/personnel policies and/or speak to a human resources officer. It is important to follow your employer’s procedures.
Involve your Union
If you belong to a union, you may want to file a formal sexual harassment complaint through the union and try to get a shop steward or other union official to help you work through the grievance process. Get a copy of your union’s grievance policy and see if it discusses the problems you are experiencing. If you use your union’s grievance procedure, you must still file a complaint with a government agency if you want to file a lawsuit in federal or state court.
File a Discrimination Complaint with a Government Agency
If you want to file a lawsuit in federal or state court, you must first file a formal sexual harassment complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and/or your state’s fair employment agency (in California, this is the Department of Fair Employment and Housing).(See “Resources” section for contact information.)If you are a federal employee, follow federal guidelines on how to lodge a sexual harassment complaint. You can obtain these guidelines from the Federal Labor Relations Authority.
File a lawsuit
After you file a formal complaint with the EEOC or your state’s fair employment agency, you can also consider filing a lawsuit.You can sue for money damages, to get your job back, and you can also ask the court to make your employer change its practices to prevent future sexual harassment from occurring.
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