Prevention of Bullying

Other specific tools can help analyze the workplace. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has voluntary and advisory guidelines relating to workplace violence, stress reduction, conflict resolution, risk assessment, and health issues related to this hazard. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has similar resources available. Many other private organizations will provide information and leads to professionals who practice the services needed. Of course, all of these organizations should be used throughout the process of developing and implementing the plan. 

Management must take corrective action, uphold company policy, and administer disciplinary procedures up to and including termination. The rules and policies should already be in place to set and communicate expectations, measure performance against those expectations, provide feedback, manage poor performance with corrective actions, and document everything. 

Bullying is a form of organizational violence and a potential source of work-related stress. Bullying is primarily an employee relations issue, best dealt with by employers internal and disciplinary procedures before it becomes a risk to an employee s health. 

Bullying is usually viewed as occurring to schoolchildren but often happens in the work environment. As with children, adults feel threatened or ill at ease in reporting perceived incidents of workplace bullying. Probably many adult workers even fail to recognize that a behavior could be construed as bullying. 

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT A PRACTICAL APPROACH 

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In addition to more intensive evaluation and intervention services, the child psychiatry fellows have begun to be involved in prevention activities. One set of activities relates to the prevention of bullying, based on the recommendation of the Advisory Council that this has become a pressing problem in the school. In the beginning of the school year, the fellows developed a show on handling interpersonal conflict. They role-played conflictual and then positive behaviors in a variety of interpersonal situations associated with student conflict. After the fellows modeled a positive response to conflict, student volunteers did the same. 

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