Sexual Harassment: responsibilities under the WHS Act

WorkSafe ACT has recently identified a community need for greater understanding of how to manage sexual harassment and other psychosocial hazards as part of their workplace risk management.

Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act) it is the responsibility of the PCBU to manage the hazards and risks associated with sexual harassment in the workplace.

Sexual Harassment:

Sexual harassment is any unwelcome behaviour that is sexual in nature. It can be physical, verbal, or non-verbal.

Sexual harassment makes someone feel offended, humiliated, or intimidated. It exposes workers to significant stress that can lead to psychological injuries, such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Management of WHS Duties:

The risk of workplace sexual harassment should be managed in the same as any other physical or psychosocial hazard.

Workplaces must undertake a risk assessment of working conditions to meet their WHS obligations. A comprehensive risk assessment should:

1. Identify the hazards that may increase the risk of sexual harassment occurring.

Example: Workers are telling their supervisors they don’t feel safe in a storage area away from the main workplace where there is no lighting.

2. Assess how the identified hazards might cause harm to workers, how severe the harm could be and how likely harm is to occur.

Example: Low light and lack of witnesses may enable people to conceal their location and behaviour – so there is an increased risk of sexual harassment. There may be a low chance of this occurring, but the risk of harm is very high if it does.

3. Control the hazard by introducing steps to reduce the risks of harm. You must consult with workers before you implement any control to ensure they consider it is effective and appropriate.

Example: Installing lights, a security camera system and ensuring workers are always sent to the area in groups may significantly reduce the risk of sexual harassment occurring.

4. Review the current controls to make sure they are effective, and workers feel safe with the implemented controls. WHS controls should be constantly reviewed. Reviews are required under the WHS Act in the following circumstances:

Where a new hazard or risk is identified
if a control measure is not adequately minimising the risk
before a significant workplace change occurs for example a change to the work environment or systems of work
where consultation indicates a review is necessary, or
if a HSR requests a review.

Recording your Risk Assessment:

You should record your risk management process and the outcomes, including your consultation with workers. This allows you to demonstrate you have met your work health and safety duties and will assist you when you need to monitor or review the hazards you have identified and controls you have put in place.

Your records may include the outcomes of consultation, the hazards you identified, how you assessed the risks, the control measures implemented, and the training provided.

You should select a method of recording the risk management process and outcomes to suit your circumstances. For example, you can use a risk register such as the one in the Code of Practice: How to manage work health and safety risks.

It is also useful to have a record of the processes used to investigate and resolve issues. You could choose to include only high-level information in the general risk register where you are concerned about the need to maintain confidentiality.

A work health and safety inspector may ask to see a copy of records relating to the risk management processes if they visit your workplace. If you do not have a written record, you will need to demonstrate by other means how you have met your duties.

What to do if Sexual Harassment is reported to you:

You should report all sexual harassment to your manager, human resources team or WHS representative. When these internal processes fail, you can report your concerns to WorkSafe ACT, and our psychosocial team will look into it. You can even report it anonymously.

You can call WorkSafe ACT on:

Business hours: 13 22 81
After hours: 0419 120 028

You can also contact ACT Policing if you want to make a report about the sexual harassment.

Further information:

For additional information please visit the following pages: