Multi-sectoral guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment related to work

Adopted in 2018 by the Sectoral Social Dialogue for Central Government Administration

EPSU, UNI europa, ETUCE, HOSPEEM, CEMR, EFEE, EuroCommerce, CoESS

December 2011

  1. Multi-sectoral guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment related to work
  2. Project workshops and conference
  3. Survey
  4. Report on use and implementation of agreement
  5. Information leaflets produced by TEHY

1) Multi-sectoral guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment related to work

1. The aim of the Guidelines is to ensure that each workplace has a results-oriented policy which addresses the issue of third-party violence. The Guidelines set out the practical steps that can be taken by employers, workers and their representatives /trade unions to reduce, prevent and mitigate problems. The steps reflect the best practices developed in our sectors and they can be complemented by more specific and/or additional measures.

2. According to EU and national law, both employers and workers have obligations in the field of health and safety. Although, the duty to ensure the health and safety of workers in every aspect related to the work lies with the employer , the employee also has a responsibility to take care, as far as possible, of their own health and safety and that of other persons affected by their actions at work, in accordance with their training and the instructions given by their employer. Employers also have an obligation to consult workers and/or their representatives and allow them to take part on all questions relating to health and safety at work. This reflects awareness that, in practice, a joint approach to health and safety is the most successful.

3. The signatory social partners from the local and regional government, healthcare, commerce, private security, education sectors are increasingly concerned about the impact of third-party violence on employees because it not only undermines an individual’s health and dignity, but also has a very real economic impact in terms of absences from the workplace, morale and staff turnover. Third party-violence can also create an environment that is unsafe and even frightening to the public and service users and therefore has a wide negative social impact.

Full text of the Guidelines (available in EN/FR/DE/BG/CZ/DK/EE/EL/ES/FI/HU/IT/LT/LV/NL/PL/PT/RO/RU/SK/SL):

 

2) Project with regional workshops and closing conference (2010/2011)

- Project website (run by Eurocommerce)

- Reports of regional workshops:

- Report of closing conference:

3) Survey on the use and implementation of the guidelines

The survey was addressed to EPSU affiliates from the sectors of HSS and LRG and to members of CEMR (LRG) and HOSPEEM (HSS) (May/June 2013)

- Questionnaire 3rd party violence for HSS members, as coordinated with HOSPEEM (word version to fill in, pdf version to read) - in EN, FR and DE; ES being translated and to be added

N.B.: The questionnaire addressed to the LRG colleagues comprises one additional question HOSPEEM decided not to include into the questionnaire. To be consistent within EPSU, the HSS affiliates, too, are invited to reply to this seventh question that reads: “7. Do you think the social partners in your sector or across all sectors should go beyond agreeing guidelines and conclude an agreement to make this important issue more effective?”

4) Report on the use and implementation of the agreement

This covers the five sectors covered by the multi-sectoral guidelines + Recommendations (21 November 2013) - in EN only

5) Information Leaflet Tehy (2013)

Finnish

Swedish

English