Bullying

If a worker feels singled out for unfair treatment by a boss or colleague, they are probably being bullied. There is no complete list of bullying behaviour and no single kind of bully. Bullying can be described as unfair, offensive, intimidating or insulting behaviour that is meant to undermine, humiliate or injure someone. Examples are:

• constantly criticising competent staff, removing their responsibilities or giving them trivial tasks
• shouting at staff
• picking on people in public or in private
• blocking promotion
• regularly and deliberately ignoring or excluding someone from work activities
• setting a person up to fail by overloading them or setting impossible deadlines
• attacking a person's professional or personal standing
• regularly making jokes about the same person

Symptoms include anxiety, headaches, nausea, ulcers, sleeplessness, skin rashes, irritable bowel syndrome, high blood pressure, tearfulness and loss of confidence. As a duty holder, make it clear that you find bullying unacceptable, and encourage team members to talk to you if they are at risk or are being bullied.

Chemicals and harmful substances

Chemicals and harmful substances can be found at home and at work: glues, paints, cleaning agents, fumes from soldering and welding, grain dust, and bacteria. The hazard pictograms of the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) tell you what kind of danger a substance carries:

Chemicals can enter the body in four ways:

• Absorption. Contact with bare skin and eyes. Some substances, such as fuels and oils, pass through the skin, and others enter through cuts and grazes.
• Injection. A puncture of the skin, deliberate or accidental, for example by a contaminated needle.
• Ingestion. Swallowing contaminated food or drink.
• Inhalation. Breathing in harmful gases and dusts, such as asbestos, which stay in the lungs and cause diseases such as asbestosis.

Some substances have a workplace exposure limit (WEL), a level that must not be exceeded. The limit is given in the safety data sheet that comes with a harmful substance. Staying under the limit does not guarantee protection, because people differ in how susceptible they are. Some substances are more harmful than others. Some harm quickly, some need a large dose, and some take years of exposure.

As a duty holder you must make sure that the risks from harmful substances in your areas are managed. You should:

• set up processes that limit the release and spread of the substance
• consider every way in which people can be exposed when you design controls
• control exposure to a level that fits the risk to health
• choose the most effective and reliable controls: replace the substance with a safer one, use it in a safer form, use as little as possible, enclose and ventilate, and use proper working methods
• provide PPE where exposure cannot be controlled in another way, with training
• check that the measures work
• inform and train workers about the hazards and what to do if exposed
• make sure the controls do not create other risks
• introduce health surveillance where it is needed

Encourage your team to wear gloves, goggles and other suitable protection, to use the right mask or breathing apparatus that is clean, undamaged and well fitted, not to eat or drink where hazardous chemicals are used, and to wash hands and change clothes before eating, drinking or smoking.

A study aid, not published or endorsed by IOSH or OSHA. Laws and limits differ between countries.