December 2005
Bullying Is A Serious Issue
A psychiatrist treating a teenage girl who died from an overdose told an inquest last week that bullying from work colleagues at a fast food takeaway contributed to her mental breakdown.
The 18-year-old who worked behind the counter on a part time basis had claimed she was ridiculed by colleagues who squirted mayonnaise in her shoes, prodded her with corn sticks and set her uniform on fire. She was diagnosed with a "severe depressive illness with psychotic tendencies" after she endured death and rape jibes and physical attacks at work in the months before her death. Determined not to give up on the job in the face of the intimidation, she complained to the manager, but the problems did not stop. A month before her death she wrote to the company’s regional managers but they failed to reply to her letter.
The consultant psychiatrist told the inquest: "We know stress was there and can spur a depressive illness. Very stressful events can precipitate a depressive illness if someone is vulnerable. On balance of events, they played a role." "The stressful events could have led to her depression," he added.
It is no longer acceptable for the senior management of any company to ignore the risks of bullying and its potential consequences, nor is at acceptable to claim that “they are isolated instances and that the individuals have been dealt with.” Bullying is an organisational problem and will always occur when there is insufficient awareness of the issue and insufficient level of management control and action.
It is the management’s responsibility to assess and document the risk of bullying and to implement the appropriate management systems and levels of controls. Only then will they create an environment where the bully cannot operate and the more vulnerable members of staff will feel safe. This responsibility is no different to the management’s responsibilities for all other aspects of health and safety at work. The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) are placing more and more emphasis on the management of stress, including bullying, and will continue to look hard at organisations who do not adopt a proactive approach to the mental as well as the physical welfare of its employees.
Stress in the workplace can become a vicious circle as more stress is placed on the staff that have to cover for colleagues who are absent as a result of stress related illness. The potential costs in terms of lost productivity and possible tribunal cases means that the investment in the minimisation of stress in the workplace makes good business sense.
Awareness raising and training in how to recognise and deal with stress are both important, but on their own they are insufficient. The organisation needs to create a support structure that allows people within the organisation to feel able to discuss issues as they arise and not let tensions build up.
For confidential advice on the effective management of bullying and the organisational causes of work place stress and how to address them contact Steve Stones on 024 7632 3260.
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