Abstract
In February 2022, Rio Tinto released their report on the Workplace Culture throughout their company operations, Report into Workplace Culture at Rio Tinto. Key findings from this report include 30% of women and 7% of men reported being sexually harassed in the workplace. This appears to be a large difference, but 45,000 workers that are 80% male means that 2700 women and 2500 men were sexually harassed at work. Both of these numbers are too high and we need to address this inappropriate behaviour but a lot of the focus is on the experiences of women and men are essentially being silenced and not being included in the conversation or potential solutions. The report also stated that 50% of the workers reported being bullied at work too. Racism was reported at an overall rate of 11% but the study found that the rates of racism were variable across the company and dependant on the country location. Rates of racism are significantly higher in South Africa where 30% of all workers and Australia where 40% of aboriginal men reported experiencing racism.
In July 2021 the Parliament of Western Australia began an inquiry into sexual harassment against women in the fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) mining industry.
The inquiry is focussed on four key areas of concern.
- Determine if there is a clear understanding of the prevalence, nature, outcomes and reporting of sexual harassment in FIFO workplaces.
- Determine if existing workplace characteristics and practices, including workplace cultures, rosters, drugs and alcohol policies and recruitment practices, adequately protect against sexual harassment.
- Determine if current legislation, regulations, policies, and practices are adequate for FIFO workplaces in Western Australia.
- Review actions being taken by industry and government to improve the situation and are there any examples of good practice?
The results of this inquiry are due to be tabled by the 28th of April 2022 so this talk will include the results of the inquiries determinations. In addition, some of the many public submissions made to the inquiry from individuals and companies will be discussed.
This talk will also look at how the strategies from the allyship and bystander intervention based DIGGER training program can be used to help shift the workplace culture to address these types of issues.
One of the key recommendations from the Rio Tinto report (B3) includes all of the goals that the DIGGER Program has been addressing for years already including:
- Definitions of core forms of inappropriate behaviours in the workplace and their impacts on targets, coworkers and the company. Specifically, discussions around sexual harassment, bullying, and racism.
- Education around active bystander intervention strategies for the workplace to provide enterprise wide common language and common goals
- Provides guidance on essential information to record after an incident and encouragement to find an appropriate and safe avenue for reporting.