Sexual Harassment in the Hospitality Industry: Legislation, Practices, and Impact

Operational Health
Management
Running head: Healthcare 0
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Healthcare 1
Introduction
The health of workers is an important aspect of every organization. During the
performance of the job, a worker may come across many risk and hazards. Here this is necessary
to state that there is a difference between health and safety hazards. The lead difference between
the two is that safety hazards are immediate and sudden. Such incidents affect workers all of
sudden and by eliminating such hazards, an organization may protect the majority of its workers.
On the other side, health hazards are hard to access and the same affect different people in a
different manner. These hazards may have a delayed impact on the health of employees. Many of
the times, it has been noted that organizations do not put much focus on health hazards, which
creates an issue. Different organizations have a different type of health risk that may differ
according to the nature of activities. For the preparation of this report, the hospitality industry of
Australia has been selected as industry and the health hazard selected is sexual harassment. The
objective of this report is to understand the subjective issue in the context of the hospitality
industry, and the legislation related thereto. Further, the industrial practices relating to the
elimination of this hazard will also be discussed.
Sexual Harassment
Firstly, the meaning of sexual harassment is necessary to understand. In order to answer this
question, this is to state that sexual harassment can be understood as a form of any unwelcome
sexual behavior which is intimidating, offensive and humiliating for the victim
(Au.reachout.com, 2019). Sexual harassment includes the following:-
 Touching and grabbing

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 Making sexual comments
 Making sexual gestures
 Cracking sexual jokes
 Displaying sexual content
In the hospitality industry of Australia, sexual harassment is an emerging health hazard.
According to preliminary research collected from workers of this industry, it has been found that
around 89% of the workers have experienced one or more incidents of sexual harassment in their
working lives. Half of such workers agreed that their experience of sexual harassment made
them feel unsafe at work (Topping, 2018). On a daily basis, workers make complaints regarding
this issue in different organizations. Sexual harassment comes under the category of health
hazards as workers/employees feel depressed, stressed, or anxious. This may cause harm in many
of the ways. Workers start feeling isolated, self-esteemed, and less productive. All these factors
reduce the confidence level of employees, which affect their mental health in a negative manner.
The lead reason for sexual harassment in the chosen industry is the odd shift timings of
workers. In addition to this, employees are often required to serve liquor and it makes the
atmosphere more noisy and festive. This is the reason that employees often face abusive
behavior from the side of customers. Further, according to the proof presented by The Guardian,
a quarter amount of total sexual harassment have done by managers. The environments of this
industry have bars, nightclubs, and hotels and this gives the belief that sexual advances are
norms. In conjunction with this, female workers are considered as a mean of attraction and
entertainment and they are required to wear the uniform of a particular fashion
(Barandrestaurantcoach.com, 2019). Such uniforms are an often-short dress that provokes sexual