The Concept of Workplace Bullying: Implications from Australian Workplace Health and Safety Law

Abstract

Workplace bullying is a significant issue in modern workplaces, with potential health consequences for individuals who are exposed, and increasing costs to organisations. This article examines the treatment of workplace bullying in Australian jurisdictions, and considers how health and safety legislation has been applied in such cases, in order to inform regulatory guidelines and regulatory action. The notion that bullying behaviour must be repeated, common to most conceptual definitions and guidelines of safety regulators, is somewhat inconsistent with the precedent and intent of health and safety law. Requiring behaviours to be repeated could actually expose workers to risks to their health and safety. Although there are good reasons for requiring the repetition of behaviours, from both conceptual and practical standpoints, further consideration of how theory, policy and legal practice can learn from one another in preventing and managing workplace psychological hazards is required.

Key words:

• occupational health and safety
• risk management
• workplace bullying

Notes

1. Janet O. Chan-Mok is a former Project Officer at The WorkCover Authority of New South Wales (WorkCover NSW), Australia. This research project was part of her post-graduate study at the University of NSW, and was supported by WorkCover NSW. The opinions expressed in this article are her own and do not represent the views of WorkCover NSW.

2. An outline of two civil cases relevant to workplace bullying in Australia and the UK is available in Freckelton (2008).

3. In the state of New South Wales (NSW), the predecessors of the WHS Act were the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 and Occupational Health and Safety Act 1983. Cases considered for this article were judgments brought under both pieces of legislation.