HRES 2303 Assignment 2: Workplace Bullying and Psychosocial Hazards

This report, written from the perspective of an Occupational Health and Safety Specialist, addresses the critical issue of workplace bullying. It begins by outlining the purpose of the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act and identifies the sections related to workplace bullying, emphasizing the importance of addressing this hazard from an organizational standpoint. The report delves into the concept of workplace bullying as a psychosocial hazard, providing examples of bullying behaviors and their impact on employees, including decreased self-esteem, increased stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as absenteeism. The role of the OH&S officer in identifying hazards, assessing risks, and implementing control measures is highlighted. The report outlines observable outcomes of workplace bullying, such as changes in behavior and frequent staff turnover, and proposes interventions like policy reviews, communication channels, and training programs. The report also covers the investigation process for bullying complaints and the importance of maintaining confidentiality and taking appropriate action based on the findings. This analysis draws upon course materials, including powerpoint slides, textbook chapters, and the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act, to provide a comprehensive understanding of workplace bullying and its management.

Running head: Occupational health and safety
Occupational health and safety
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1Occupational health and safety
Introduction
The main aim of the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Act is to protect the
workers from the health and the safety hazards by setting out a minimum standard for the
healthy and the safety practices in the workplaces around Alberta (Alberta government,
2010). These laws have been enforced by the help of infection, investigations, administrative
penalties, orders, prosecutions and fines. The part four of the document that is dangerous
work and discriminatory action contains sections about workplace bullying.
Bullying at work can be referred to as offending, harassing, socially excluding some
body or negatively affecting the work of some body. In this process an individual might
remain indulged in the both indirect and a subtle form of psychological violence Workplace
bullying can be considered as one of the most stressful phenomena that can take place in an
organisation. Mistreated workers have led to greater number of absent from work, poor self
esteem and evaluation of the health status. Bullied workers have reported that they have
lower level of job satisfaction, job induced stress and higher anxiety and the depression
scores. Workplace bullying increases the cost of an organisation, due to the increased number
of absenteeism and employee turnover.
It is the duty of an occupational health and safety officer, ti coordinate the health and
safety by identifying the hazards, assess risk to the health and safety. They are accountable to
put everything to appropriate safety control in place. An occupational health and safety
officers advises the managers and the workers in an effort to mitigate the hazards of the
workplace by removal, substitution, replacement and prevention.

2Occupational health and safety
Psychosocial Hazard
Workplace bullying is the verbal, social of the psychological abuse by an individual at
work. It is a targeted behaviour and can be spiteful, intimidating and spiteful. Some of the
examples of workplace bullying involves targeted practical jokes, being purposefully misled
about the duties of work, continuous denials of leaves or breaks, humiliation, threats ,name
calling, harsh or unjust criticism (Alberta government, 2010).
Workplace bullying needs serious attention, as it often becomes the main reason for
the turnover of the employees. Workplace bullying lowers the self- esteem, increases the
workplace and is also one of the main cause of anxiety and depression due to workplace
bullying. Apart from the psychological issue, the absenteeism among the staffs is often
caused by the health related issues due to bullying. In a study it has been agreed by the
employees that often the bullies are supported or protected by people that have the power to
do something. Workplace bullying is thus the effect of unequal power. Some of the stressors
at the workplace consists of heavy workload, unrealistic demands, and organisational
modifications, lack of recognition, harassment and poor interpersonal relationship. All these
stressors can be because of the bullying. All these stressors might cause anxiety in staffs,
related to the workload, the deadline, loss of job and several more.
Outcomes in the workplace
Organisation can apply certain measurable ways to assess the occurrence of any workplace
bullying.
 A co-worker might become quiet or might display certain changes in the behaviour
 A co-worker might feel left out of the office culture
 Frequent turnover of the staffs, reduced retention of the employees.
 Frequent monitoring and interference in the assigned tasks. Unnecessary criticism.

3Occupational health and safety
 A co-worker might find documents, files or other items going missing.
Interventions in the workplace
Some of the interventions that can be taken are as follows-
 Reviewing of the legislation and the policies regarding the workplace bullying. There
has to be an easy communication channel and support systems for complaining about
bullying and incivility.
 All the bullying complaints needs to be processed fairly
 A zero-tolerance policy should be established to make it clear to the colleagues that
any incident of bullying will not be tolerated.
 Building self-confidence and capacities in the employees.
All the employees should be trained in respectful communication protocols and the
consequences for not adhering to them. Skills training can be provided to the employees to
respond to the incidents of aggression, civility and bullying. Employees should be trained to
identify inappropriate behaviours that might cross the line to bullying.
As an OSHA manager, it is necessary to review the incident, taking statements from
the witnesses and tally with the case. The investigator should investigate the details of the
complaint, the process and their rights. The investigator should maintain confidentiality of the
situation. If the alleged bully admit to their behaviour, then appropriate steps should be taken.
If the alleged bully disputes the allegations, then investigation should be carried out for
determining the actual facts.

4Occupational health and safety
References
Alberta government, (2010). OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
AND SAFETY ACT. Access date: 6.3.2020. Retrieved
from:http://www.qp.alberta.ca/1266.cfm?
page=O02P1.cfm&leg_type=Acts&isbncln=9780779800865&display=html