Psychological Hazards: The Brodie Panlock - Case Study Example

Health and Social Care Name A Report Submitted Institution Course Professor Date: Health and Social Care Assignment Topic 3. Psychological hazards: The Brodie Panlock Case Although there is no single accepted definition of workplace bullying, section 55(A) of Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act describe it as any behavior that is systematic, repeated and directed towards an employee or a group of employees. This implies that, a reasonable individual, having regard to their circumstance would expect to humiliate, victimize, undermine or threaten and create a risk to health and safety. Bullying behavior can be aggressive and obvious. Examples of such behavior include physical assault, spread of rumors, abuse, teasing, displaying degrading materials and intimidating a person among others (Clarke & Cooper, 2004, pg.56). Workplace bullying places the health, career and well-being of an individual at risk. It also interferes with the work performance of an individual and creates a working environment, which is toxic. Statistics reveal that about one in every six people working in Australia bullied. According to WorkSafe Victoria, 6000 people report bullying cases in a period of 1 year. One such case was of a female worker called Brodie Panlock. The Brodie Panlock case was one of the many sad cases to be reported in the history of Australia. The case which got so much public attention involved the death of a teenage girl by the name Brodie Panlock. Brodie, a 19 year old waitress working at Café Vamp, a small restaurant located in Melbourne Victoria, committed suicide after being bullied by her workmates. From the case report, Brodie was subjected to extremely intimidating and aggressive treatment at the hands of her employer and co workers. Sources say that the teenage waitress had been called ugly and spat on multiple times and even had fish oil poured on her hair and clothes. Evidence from a former workmate describes manager Nicholas Smallwood and co-worker Rhys MacAlpine as relentless in their efforts to demean the victim. The coroner said the two covered her with chocolate and dismissed her as worthless. Additional information from a co-worker named Nicola Wood revealed that, Ms Panlock engaged in an intimate relationship with Smallwood and put up with the bullying as she sought approval and acceptance. In one incidence, the victim took rat poison as she tried to commit suicide after her boss rejected her in the year 2006. After the incidence, her bullying co workers put poison in her bag and told her to go take it. The four men who were charged in the case under the Health and Safety Act pleaded guilty to workplace bullying. Nicholas Smallwood, 26, Gabriel Toomey, 23, and Rhys MacAlpine, 28 all pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates Court for failing to take reasonable care regarding the health and safety of an individual. The owner of Café Vamp pleaded guilty to two charges, which included failing to maintain and provide a working environment that is safe. The magistrate dealing with the case described the actions of the four men as the most serious bullying cases ever reported. In addition, Magistrate Lauritsen said that the working environment of Hawthorn’s Café Vamp was very poisonous, and the persistent bullying of the waitress was in the worst category and yet nothing was done to stop it. Owing to the nature of the case, Magistrate Lauritsen convicted and fined the four defendants, including the director of the company, which owns Café Vamp a total of $115,000. Smallwood was fined $45,000, Toomey $10,000 and MacAlpine $30,000. The café’s owner, Da Cruz, 43, received a fine of $30,000 as his company was fined $220,000. Brodie’s death and the Work Safe prosecution of the café employer and workers illustrate many issues that relate to occupational health and safety. The case revealed a lack of respect for workers by their employers and fellow colleagues. The male workers actively bullied Ms Brodie and failed to stop the abuse. Regardless of the OHS obligations on workers and employers, these individuals made Brodie feel unsafe and humiliated to the degree that the only alternative left for her was to jump off an apartment building. Following the public and private humiliation of Brodie Panlock, the Australian government introduced new laws where bullies could be imprisoned for a maximum period of 10 years. Although it is not entirely clear whether these provisions would reduce the number of bullying cases, it sends a strong message to both employers and employees. For a PBCU operating a chain of cafes, it is advisable for both employer and employees to a verse themselves with the new laws regarding workplace bullying. After the prosecution of the men involved in the Brodie Panlock case under the Health and Safety Act, the Australian government declared that similar cases in the future would be charged under the Brodie Law. The new law adds serious workplace bullying together with cyber bullying to Crimes acts. This is because none of the offenders were charged with serious criminal offence that would be under the Crimes Act 1958. Through Victoria’s anti bullying legislation, which commenced in June 2011, the offence of stalking and conduct that amounts to extreme bullying carries a maximum penalty of a 10 year punishment. The introduction of this law meant that the criminal justice system would be equal to respond to serious bullying cases in the community. In addition, the law raised awareness in Victoria regarding the serious nature of bullying and the damaging consequences it carries (Department of Justice 2011). Brodie’s law covers all forms of serious bullying including verbal bullying, physical bullying, psychological bullying and cyber bullying. It applies bullying, which occurs anywhere in the community such as workplaces, sporting clubs, schools, and the internet. According to this law, bullying is characterized by course of conduct, which can include behavior like threats and offensive and abusive words or conduct. Serious bullying includes; conduct or behavior that is intentional or reasonably expected to cause victims of bullying, engage in suicidal actions or thoughts that involve self-harm. The new legislation on bullying targets employees who engage in bullying unlike the previous laws, which targeted employers. The new laws ensure severe punishment to all individuals who engage in bullying by categorizing bullying as a criminal act (Einarsen, 2011, pg.126). In recent times, the Prime Minister of Australia announced a parliamentary review regarding issues of workplace bullying. The review would focus on areas concerning the prevalence of workplace bullying and the experience of victims of workplace bullying. The role of workplace culture in responding to and preventing bullying, the adequacy of existing support service and education in responding and preventing workplace bullying. The most appropriate methods of ensuring bullying cultures cannot be transferred from one workplace to the other and the possible improvements to national evidence base on bullying. The review demonstrates how this workplace hazard is on the nation’s agenda. Brodie’s death was a tragic reminder to the society about the serious consequences bullying has on victims, their families and the community as a whole. The death illustrated the obvious limitations in the laws and conduct in serious bullying. When dealing with suicide that arises from work related issue, many people experience difficulties from different areas. For example in the case of Brodie’s death, her family experienced the loss of their daughter. Losing an individual that is close to you is naturally painful. Her parents were grieving and at the same time finding a justice for their dead daughter. This means they had no time to grieve appropriately, as they were busy filing charges and attending court cases. The other difficulty arises from lack of compensation from the source of the suicide. Most companies and businesses would refuse to take the blame for the death of their employee citing that they did nothing or did not know the issues that caused the action (Healey, 2011, pg. 57). Work related suicides may arise from different factors. These factors include work stress, unspecified work problem, argument with a colleague, performance pressure, lack of job satisfaction, long working hours, fear of retrenchment or even workplace bullying. Owing to the variety of factors leading to suicide, it may be uncertain which factor was the main contributor to the suicide. The uncertainty makes it hard for employers and other employees to deal with the issue at hand. Therefore, solving the issue or problem that leads to suicides may be a challenge meaning the issue would remain unsolved. Additionally, since dealing with psychological problem requires more of a personal approach of managing a mental and healthy lifestyle; it becomes hard for workplace organizations to deal with the issues. The other type of difficulty arising when dealing with work related suicide is injustice. Most of work related suicide cases go or remain unsolved due to the hardship of obtaining evidence. Since such cases remain unsolved or are ignored, the family of the victim together with the victim experience injustice as nothing can be done about it. Consequently, circumstances force these people to move on and forget the deceased experienced. Additionally, people experience financial loss when dealing with work related suicides. For example, those affected by the death incur financial costs when organizing funeral and burial arrangements. Young workers aged 15 to 24 working in all types of employment either casual, labor hire, work experience or part time, have the highest rate of injuries. If one is employing supervising or managing young workers, it is crucial for them to recognize that they are at an elevated risk of physical and psychological hazard. Therefore, employees need to pay interest to the need of young employees in their workplace. Employers should consider their age as one of the risk factors when controlling risks and identifying hazards in the workplace. By law, employers are required to give a workplace healthy and secure for each employee, including young workers. Young workers must be properly supervised and trained and provided with sufficient information and data regarding work safety and how they could work safely. Oade (2009 pg.86) suggests that since young workers are usually still developing mentally and psychologically, managers or employers should not give them tasks that may be beyond their capabilities. Most of the times, young workers may not be able to do assigned tasks. This may be because they have not been correctly skilled or supervised. Instead of punishing them or scolding them, employers should investigate on the main issue resulting to the poor performance. Additionally, young workers usually lack knowledge, experience and skill of responding appropriately to protect them or understand the risk associated in the task they are doing. In such a case, employers must ensure full support and development of these workers by other workers and themselves (2009, pg 88). In providing training and supervision to young employees, employers must ensure employees can demonstrate competence before they begin working and must explain to them about health and safety procedures and policies. On the other hand, supervisors should ensure that these workers are always closely and competently supervised. As an employer, the law requires one to share health and safety information to all workers including the young employees. When dealing with young workers, employers must ensure that: 1. Young workers know how to report hazards or unsafe conditions or in the workplace, and that they feel comfortable while doing it. 2. They always encourage young workers to share information regarding workplace health and safety information as well as discuss issues affecting them while at work 3. They discuss all the risks associated in the workplace to the young workers as a way of equipping and training them. 4. The working environment is safe and free of hazards, which might destroy the young workers and cause their productivity level to decrease. A person conducting an undertaking’s primary duty of care or business or has the duty of ensuring workers and other persons at the workplace are not exposed to any health and safety risks, which arises from the business or the undertaking. This provision is imposed as the primary duty of the person conducting a business under section 19 of the Work Health and Safety Act. The act defines health in terms of both psychological and physical health. This means the employers should ensure with reasonably practicability that the health and safety measures extend to the emotional and mental health of workers (Workplace Health and Safety 1996). In order to do this, a PCBU must identify the hazards present in the business and which may expose a worker or an employee to health and safety risks. By developing an audit tool, the PCBU can use it to assess whether their existing systems are adequate enough for dealing with psychological hazards in their chain of cafes. Auditing is known to be an effective method of ensuring compliance and improvement in the performance of prevention system (Karapetrovic and Willborn 2000). When developing an auditing tool, the first task of the PBCU is to identify the types of psychological hazards that may be present at the workplace. After the identification, the nest step is that of developing ways and means for managing the hazards. Section 19 of the WHS Act states that, when a PBCU identifies any psychological hazards in the workplace, it is their obligation to manage the risk as far as reasonably practicable. Failure to manage the risk results to complains from workers, which would be treated by the Regulator as a response to the WHS issue. Audit tool Summary of audit elements 1. Health and safety policy statement (30pts) Employer commitment Employee responsibility Worker responsibility Supervisor responsibility 2. Identifying all psychological hazards, which in this case include: Poor support, Low control, Poor safety behavior, Occupational stress, Workplace harassment, Occupational violence, Drug and alcohol use and Fatigue (50pts). 3. Method of identifying psychological hazards include: • Understanding and analyzing workers complaints • Observing staff interactions • Involving staff (feedback) • One on one discussion with workers • Monitoring data trends 4. Assessing the impact of hazard (20pts) Rate of absenteeism Productivity level Turnover interviews Customer feedback Peak demands Staff engagement 5. Action to be taken in controlling the risk may be through reducing demand, increasing control or increasing support (30). Methods: Setting HR policies and procedures Improving supervisory skills Planning workload that meets customers need Clear performance accountability Provision of assistance Early and effective rehabilitation Communicating policies and availability of assistance Checking the understanding and implementation of changes Element Requirements Rationale Scores Employer commitment A statement of commitment to preventing and controlling occupational identified occupational hazards Demonstrates employer‘s dedication to eliminating workplace injury and illness. This is under the Ontario Occupational Health & Safety Act (OHSA) and Regulations Yes No Verify Employer responsibility A statement of responsibility for maintaining and implementing a safe and healthy working environment. Supervisor responsibility A statement of responsibility to ensure the maintenance of safe and healthy work conditions Worker responsibility A statement of responsibility to perform and work in accordance with the legislated standards and employer Safe Work Practices and procedure. Methods used identifying psychological hazards How effective have the methods been in identifying psychological hazards (tick) Scores Understanding and analyzing workers complaints Very effective Moderately effective Not effective observing staff interactions involving staff (feedback) One on one discussion with workers monitoring data trends Assessing impact of psychological hazards Rate of absenteeism High medium low Explain the reason for the answer Productivity level High moderate low Comparison of the level to previous periods Staff engagement in workplace High low no Elaborate through comparison of the reason for the staff engagement level Customer feedback regarding their treatment at the cafe Positive negative If there is any complains, customers should identify the employee who were dealing with them Actions taken for controlling risks identified Scores Setting HR policies and procedure How effective are these procedures? Do workers follow the procedures and policies Clear performance accountability Provision of assistance Has this action worked before? How effective is the action? Improved supervisory skills How did the improvement change the situation? What are the employees action towards this supervision Communicating policies and availability of assistance How effective has this method been? What are the reactions and behavior of employees towards this method Checking the understanding and implementation of changes What responsibility is assigned under this method? Identify opportunities for program improvement or reviews References List Auditing a Safety and Health Management System. (n.d.). A Safety and Health Audit Tool for the Healthcare Sector. Retrieved September 23, 2012, from http://www.hsa.ie/eng/Publications_and_Forms/Publications/Occupational_Health/Auditi ng_Healthcare.pdf Brodie's Law - Department of Justice. (n.d.). Welcome to the Department of Justice – Department of Justice. Retrieved September 22, 2012, from http://www.justice.vic.gov.au/home/crime/brodies+law/ Clarke, S. and Cooper, C. L. (2004). Managing the risk of workplace stress: health and safety hazards. London: Routledge. Dealing with workplace bullying: a guide for workers. (2006). West Perth, W.A.: Commission for Occupational Safety and Health. Einarsen, S. (2011). Bullying and harassment in the workplace developments in theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Healey, J. (2011). Dealing with bullying. Thirroul, N.S.W.: Spinney Press. Health and Safety Executive. Successful health and safety management: HSG65. Sudbury (UK): Health and Safety Executive; 2007: 14(3):127 Karapetrovic, S. and Willborn W. (2000) Quality assurance and effectiveness of audit systems. The International Journal of Quality & Reliability, 17 (6), p. 679. Kuusisto A. (2000). Safety management systems: Audit tools and reliability of auditing. [dissertation] Tampere (Finland): Tampere University of Technology. Oade, A. (2009). Managing workplace bullying: how to identify, respond to and manage bullying behavior in the workplace. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Psychological health for small business. (n.d.). Workplace Health and Safety Queensland. Retrieved September 23, 2012, from http://www.deir.qld.gov.au/workplace/resources/pdfs/psychhealth-smallbusiness.pdf Workplace Health and Safety (Scaffolding) Advisory Standard 1996: reader's guide. (1996). Brisbane: Department of Training and Industrial Relations. Read More