Following a series of suicides among France Telecom workers -
because of alleged stresses caused by management practices - the
company has temporarily suspended its plans to restructure the
workforce.
As many as 25 of the company’s workers have committed suicide over
the past 20 months. One worker threw himself off a bridge in the Alps,
after being moved from a back-office job to one in a call centre.
Another jumped from a window in her office at the end of the working
day.
Both left notes blaming unbearable work conditions and enforced job
changes. Yet another stabbed himself in the stomach in front of
colleagues. The three cases are typical examples of what has been
happening.
Trade unions claim that management – which is engaged in restructuring
France Telecom following privatisation, during which process over
22,000 jobs have been axed – is responsible because of what the unions
describe as a bullying management style and a brutal approach to
restructuring.
There has been political furore. The company has been called in by the
French Government (which is a 13% shareholder) to explain its actions
and the deputy chief executive, who was in charge of the
reorganisation, has resigned. The Financial Times reports that the
company has set aside €1bn to cover the costs associated with stress
resulting form the restructuring programme.
The spate of suicides has attracted worldwide media attention, with the
Financial Times reporting on the impact of the suicides on the France
Telecom brand. The Economist magazine has noted that the suicide rate
in the company is about the national average. The French suicide rate,
at 14.6 per 100,000, is the third highest in Europe.
PREVENTION POLICIES
Whatever about that, the fact is that the spate of suicides must act as
a warning to organisations to ensure their work practices do not lead
employees to commit suicide.
Workplace suicide has been an issue in Japan for some years (see Panel)
and in America the Occupational Safety & Health Administration
(OSHA) records workplace suicides (there were 251 workplace suicides in
America in 2008).
The fact that these suicides are happening in an EU member state, which
operates under the same basic health and safety legal structure as
Ireland does (the Framework Directive) means that Irish employers need
to consider if their workplace health and safety policies address the
issue and Irish policymakers need to ensure that information and
guidance is available to employers.
EAP expert Maurice Quinlan, director of the EAP Institute, advises that
employers should have suicide awareness prevention policies in place.
Quinlan says that under the SHWW Act 2005, both employers and employees
have duties in relation to mental health.
Employers are, he says, required to put in place policies to protect
the safety and health, including mental health, of employees and
employees are required to notify their employers, if they became aware
of a mental impairment that might expose them or others to danger (SHWW
Act 2005, s23.4).
It is not just a question about having prevention policies, according
to Quinlan. “Suicide in Irish workplaces is not”, he says, “a frequent
occurrence, but when it happens it can have a major impact”. Employers
should have pre-prepared critical incident policies, in order to
address the trauma suffered by employees who witness suicides.
RESOURCES
We are, Quinlan says, “entering into a climate where there will be an
increase in work-related suicides”. He warns the loss of a job may tip
some people over the edge. He says employers should watch out for signs
of potential suicides. Such signs may include deterioration in
performance, isolation and depression.
Discussing resources to aid employers to develop policies, Quinlan
mentions a publication by the National Office for Suicide Prevention, Suicide
prevention in the workplace: a resource for organisations/workplaces
responding to and supporting persons who are at risk of suicidal
behaviour. The publication deals with the development of guidance.
It includes guidelines for staff. It is available form the National
Suicide Prevention Office (phone 01-6352179 or 01-6352039 or email
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
). The guidelines are not available online.
The National Office for Suicide Prevention is an agency operating as
part of the HSE. The HSE published a national strategy on suicide
prevention, Reach Out: National Strategy for Action on Suicide Prevention 2005-2014.
The strategy identifies the workplace as a setting that can act for
suicide prevention by: firstly supporting positive mental health
promotion; secondly by responding in a supportive way when employees
are under stress or strain for whatever reason; and thirdly by
developing protocols of response when suicidal behaviour occurs. The
strategy makes it clear that employers have responsibilities in this
area. The strategy also points out that the HSA has a statutory role in
supporting workplace mental health promotion and suicide prevention.
The HSA’s psychologist, Patricia Murray, says that all suicides are
tragedies. She notes that there are many factors that can cause or
contribute a suicide, such as age, gender and family situation. The HSA
looks at the issue “from the orientation of work”. Mentioning the
Authority’s Work Positive pack as a resource, Murray says that
employers have a duty “not to create stress that can impact negatively
on a worker’s health”. Work Positive can help organisations identify
potential problems.
LEGAL LIABILITY
The issue of who is responsible for mental injury at work was addressed
by Ursula Connolly, a law lecturer in NUI Galway, when she spoke at a
conference on law and mental health. In the course of the lecture,
Connolly referred to the case of Corr v IBC Vehicles
in which the English Court of Appeal held that an employer could be
found liable for the suicide of an employee. The judgment, which was
appealed, was upheld by the House of Lords (see HSR, April 2008, pg12)
In an earlier case (Pocock v East Essex Mental Health National Health Service Trust), a claim by the widow of a nurse, who committed suicide because of the stress he was under at work, was settled (see HSR, April 1998, pg12).
While these cases are not binding on Irish courts, Irish employers
should note that the judgment in the Corr case would be a persuasive
precedent in a case coming before the Irish courts.
Given the stance taken by the HSE in the national suicide prevention
strategy and the judgment of the House of Lords in the Corr case, any
employer who fails to put in place a suicide prevention policy is at
the least leaving themselves open to prosecution and not putting
themselves in a good position to defend civil claims.
That is aside from the negative publicity that may ensue, which can
impact on the company’s reputation as a brand, as the Financial Times
suggests is happening in the case of France Telecom.
|
