Health and safety: workplace harassment

A Private Members’ Bill (the ‘Bill’) has proposed that the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (the ‘Act’) be amended to include the prevention of workplace harassment and violence by employers. Currently, the Act requires employers to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of employees as far as reasonably practicable.

The proposed Bill, scheduled for a second reading on 7 March 2025, goes further and would add specific obligations to address violence and harassment in the workplace. These would include the adoption of proactive and preventative measures to protect all full and part-time staff members (including volunteers, job applicants, interns and apprentices) against:

• Gender-based violence
• Sexual harassment
• Psychological and emotional abuse
• Physical and sexual abuse
• Stalking and harassment, including online harassment
• Threats of violence.

The provisions proposed by the Bill overlap with and codify what employers are already required to do under their proactive duty to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, under the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 (the ‘2023 Act’). We previously covered this duty in a Workplace Law article in November 2024, which you can access .

The 2023 Act, which came into force on 26 October 2024, requires employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees in the course of their employment, including harassment by third parties. The Bill would introduce additional responsibilities for employers, creating a broader framework that addresses a wider range of abuses.

We anticipate that the Bill is likely to require employers to undertake risk assessments to measure the risk of violence and harassment within the workplace. There will not be a “one size fits all” approach, as employers will have to assess the risk of violence and harassment within their specific working environment. The Bill would require employers to take proactive measures to:

• Prevent violence and harassment in the workplace
• Make provisions for protections for women and girls in the workplace
• Require the Health and Safety Executive to publish a Health and Safety Framework on violence and harassment in the workplace, including violence against women and girls in the workplace.

If the Bill becomes statute, employers who do not comply with the law could face enforcement action by the Health & Safety Executive, which could include criminal convictions and unlimited fines (rather than the uplifts to tribunal awards and enforcement action by the Equality and Human Rights Commission under the 2023 Act).

It is important to remember that whilst Private Members’ Bills rarely become law, employers may still wish to consider practical steps they could take to help prevent the risk of harassment and violence in the workplace. This can include, but is not limited to:

• Fostering a culture of respect in the workplace, ensuring all staff and third parties are aware that violence and harassment will not be tolerated. Regular staff training on recognising the signs of harassment, what constitutes harassment, and their reporting obligations if they are the victim of or witness violence or harassment
• Conducting risk assessments and implementing appropriate measures based on the outcomes of those risk assessments
• Enforcing an open-door policy where staff have the opportunity to report any instances of harassment or violence in a confidential manner (if they wish to do so)
• Keeping incident logs which are regularly reviewed to recognise and address specific trends of violence or harassment
• Updating violence and harassment policies in the workplace in line with the proposed amendments.

If you require any advice on any of the issues mentioned within this article, do not hesitate to get in contact with the employment team at Thomson Snell & Passmore.