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Multi-sectoral guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment at work Warsaw, 26 April 2012 Susan Flocken E

First Regional Seminar of the Project: Social Partners in Education concerned about Violence in Schools: How to Prevent and Mitigate Third-Party Violence and Harassment in Schools. Multi-sectoral guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment at work

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Multi-sectoral guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment at work Warsaw, 26 April 2012 Susan Flocken E

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  1. First Regional Seminar of the Project: Social Partners in Education concerned about Violence in Schools: How to Prevent and Mitigate Third-Party Violence and Harassment in Schools Multi-sectoral guidelines to tackle third-party violence and harassment at work Warsaw, 26 April 2012 Susan Flocken ETUCE Coordinator

  2. “Mutual respect for the dignity of others at all levels within the workplace is one of the key characteristics of successful organisations.” (European Framework Agreement on Violence and Harrassment at Work, 2007)

  3. Did you know? • Between 1 and 7,2% of workers in the EU are exposed to physical violence from service users/customers • The percentage for third-party violence varies significantly between EU countries • Only few countries have an official definition of third-party violence • Education is amongst those sectors with the highest risk of third-party violence • Yet the number of countries/schools having developed specific policies remains low

  4. Reasons for not having national or sectoral initiatives to deal with third-party violence

  5. Interesting Statistics2 • 3% of teaching professionals have suffered physical violence at the hands of people from the workplace • 5% report exposure to physical violence from people outside the workplace (e.g. pupils) • Teaching associate professionals report higher levels of exposure to physical violence from colleagues (7.3%) and non-colleagues (7.8%) than teaching professionals. • Teaching professionals (13.5%) and teaching associate professionals (13%) report being subjected to threats of physical violence rather than to actual violent acts

  6. Third-Party Violence Concerns the Social Partners Third-party violence • not only affects individuals but also the organisation/ school and the economy • has a negative impact on • dignity of school staff and health (anxiety, lack of sleep, etc.) • Leads to low staff morale, absences from work, retention and recruitment difficulties, high staff turnover • Can create a negative work environment that is unsafe for the public, for school staff and pupils The fight against violence in schools will have a positive impact in the fight against violence in society as a whole.

  7. ETUCE Action Plan Four main relations have to be taken into account: pupil-pupil pupil-teacher teacher-teacher parent- teacher (parent could also be substituted by any other third party e.g. siblings, former students, etc. external to the workplace).

  8. Definition of Third-Party Violence according to the Multi-Sectoral Guidelines 2 aspects: Third-Party & Violence • Violence meaning agression, e.g. phsyical or verbal • Third-party is a legal concept: A party (a person) outside the relationship between two parties (people) legally bound by a (employment) contract, i.e: 1st party - an employer e.g. local education authority/head teacher) and 2ndparty - an employee (e.g. teacher, educator, school staff) Third-parties can be parents, pupils, members of the wider public, etc.

  9. Definition of Third-Party Violence - continued The European Agency for Occupational Health and Safety (EU-OSHA) defines Third-Party Violence as: “physical violence, verbal aggression, or the threat of physical violence where the aggressor is not a work colleague, e.g. the person, customer, client or patient receiving the goods or services”

  10. Formsof Third-Party Violence

  11. Specificitiesof Third-Party Violence in Education • Role of teaching (staff) • Tension for teaching staff as provider of education and at the same time evaluator of student’s performance • Long-termrelationship (pupils and their respective parents/family) • Education as public good and legal obligation - pupilscannotbebannedfromschool as customers/clients from shops

  12. EU Context • EU Social Policy strives to create more jobs and of better quality and a safe and healthy working environment as an essential element of the quality of work.  • Council Directive 89/391/EEC of 12 June 1989 on the Introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work • Community Strategy for Health and Safety at Work 2007 – 2012 (under review) is the basis for the European Agency on Occupational Health and Safety (EU-OSHA) in Bilbao. It aims at cutting by a quarter work-related accidents in the EU.

  13. Council Directive 89/391/EEC Both employers and employees have obligations: duties assigned to employers: workplaces must satisfy the minimum safety and health requirements (as laid down in Annex I); inform, consult and seek the participation of workers on the matters covered by the Directive, duties assigned to employees: take care as far as possible of his/her own safety & health & that of other persons affected by his/her acts or commissions at work in accordance with the training & instructions given by the employer.

  14. Community Strategy for Health and Safety at Work 2007 – 2012 Aim: cutting by a quarter work-related accidents in the EU by guaranteeing the proper implementation of EU legislation; adapting the legal framework to changes in the workplace and simplifying it; promoting the development and implementation of national strategies; encouraging changes in the behaviour of workers and encourage their employers to adopt health-focused approaches; finalising the methods for identifying and evaluating new potential risks; improving the tracking of progress; promoting health and safety at international level.

  15. EU Context • Cross-industry Autonomous Framework Agreement on Harassment and Violence at Work, signed by the European social partners UNICE, UEAPME, CEEP and ETUC (and the liaison committee EUROCADRES/CEC) in March 2007 • The social partners organised 2 major conferences in Brussels in 2008 & 2009 with the support of the European Commission where research results into third-party violence and good practices were presented

  16. The Multi-Sectoral Guidelines1 • The social partners from the sectors education, public services, health care, commerce and private security agreed to start negotiations with the aim to achieve a joint outcome • After several meetings between January and June 2010 and the European Social Partners reached an agreement. • In September 2010 at the European Liaison Forum, the social partners signed the multi-sectoral guidelines.

  17. The Multi-Sectoral Guidelines2 Structure: • Introduction (definition, description) • Aim: support & develop joint actions to prevent, reduce & mitigatethird-party violence • Steps to identify, prevent, reduce & mitigatethird-party violence: policyframework • Implementation & nextsteps (commitment & dissemination, awareness-raising, monitoring & follow-up)

  18. The Multi-Sectoral Guidelines3 Key Elements: • Underline the value of joint work of the social partners to prevent and reduce third-party violence • Identify, exchange and build on best practices • Flexible tool that can be adapted to the various national circumstances

  19. Joint Multi-Sectoral Project • In the final part of the guidelines, the multi-sectoral social partners agreed to implement a joint EU-funded project • The activities of the project started beginning of 2011. • Structure of the project • Preparation: steering committee composed by the EU social partners and an external expert to finalise the work programme – 2 preparatory meetings • Translation of the guidelines into the relevant EU languages • Main events: • Regional workshops according to geographic and language repartition in London, Rome & Prague • Final Conference in Warsaw in October 2011

  20. Results of the Joint Multi- Sectoral Project • Furtherimplementation and follow-up of the guidelines • Promotion of the Guidelines in Member States at all appropriatelevelstakingaccount of the national practices • Exchange amongst national representativesfrom the sectorsinvolved on the prevention of third-party violence in their countries and across the EU • Inspiration through the exchange betweensectors, countries, employers, employees • Translation of the documents into the various EU languages to befound at: http://www.eurocommerce.be/content.aspx?PageId=41864

  21. Key Elements of good practice A clear definition Preventative measurs including Managing expectations by providing clear information regarding the nature and level of sercvice users/customers (teaching staff/pupils) should expect Designing ‘safe workplaces’ through risk assessment, includng: Ther provision of ‘tools’ aimed at safeguading employees Workplace design Process designand work organisation Training and awareness raising Clear monitoring repor and follow-up Provision of support to victims Proceedures for policy evaluation and review

  22. Key Elements of Training Raising awareness of potential threats of abusive behaviour Awareness raising of relevant policies and their responsibilities Information about reporting, monitoring, follow-up proceedures Information about support and counselling services available to victims of third-party violence Techniques for identifying and dealing with aggressive behaviour and potentially violent situations

  23. Link to the Education Social Partners’ Project Final Paragraph of the multi-sectoral guidelines (IV Stage 3) Give a progress report in 2012 to the respective sectoral social dialogue committees and entrust the European Social Dialogue Committees of the respective sectors (education) to prepare a joint report

  24. Aim of the education social partners’ project • Provide education stakeholders with concrete guidelines on how to deal with third-party violence & harassment • Raise awareness on the issue amongst teaching staff/member organisations • Improve teachers’/teacher unions’ expertise concerning third-party violence in/around schools • Promote the exchange of information and best practices on tackling third-party violence in schools • Support national teacher unions to tackle the issue, e.g. implementation of school codes of conduct etc.

  25. www.edu-osh.org www.etuce-csee.org European Trade Union Committee for Education - ETUCE Bd. Du Roi Albert II, 5 B-1210 Brussels T + 32 2 224 06 91/92 F + 32 2 224 06 94 secretariat@csee-etuce.org Thank you for your attention

  26. Third-Party Violence • Case studies • Criteria for selection of schools 1.Good practices of cooperation with unions, employers, parents and other stakeholders on the prevention of 3rd party violence 2.Good practice where a school has reacted to an incident of 3rd party violence 3. Good practice based on written policies/practices and/or practical implementation that deliver a safer environment for a whole school community

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