18 October 2023
SafeWork NSW has launched its first four-year Strategy (2023-2027) to help support NSW businesses in preventing workplace sexual harassment and other gender-based harmful workplace behaviours.
Through this Strategy, SafeWork NSW will educate NSW businesses on their duties to prevent and respond to workplace sexual harassment before it occurs and take appropriate enforcement action to protect NSW workers.
The Strategy will be led by the new SafeWork NSW Respect at Work Taskforce – one of the first Australian work health and safety regulators to establish a dedicated team focused on addressing gender-based harmful workplace behaviours.
SafeWork NSW expresses gratitude to the over 60 stakeholders including worker, union, government and business representatives across 18 industries who provided their valuable insights to inform the Strategy.
The Strategy comes with a dedicated NSW Government website with resources for workers and businesses on how they can help prevent sexual harassment in their workplace and what they can do if they experience workplace sexual harassment, which can be accessed here.
To ensure this work is informed by the latest research and evidence, the SafeWork NSW Respect at Work Taskforce and NSW Government’s Centre for Work Health and Safety have invested in cutting-edge research on evidence-based and prevention-led interventions to address workplace sexual harassment.
This research project is a collaboration between the Respect at Work Taskforce, the Centre for Work Health and Safety, RMIT University and The University of Newcastle. More information can be found here.
Quotes to be attributed to Head of SafeWork NSW Trent Curtin:
“Workplace sexual harassment is unacceptably common with one in three Australians in the past five years reporting experiencing it, and affecting 41 per cent of women and 26 per cent of men.
“Everyone deserves to have a workplace which is free from bullying, harassment and all forms of discrimination. Through this Strategy, SafeWork NSW will help equip NSW businesses to create safer and respectful workplaces.”
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