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It’s the first time third parties will be coming onto site regularly whilst the staff are working, as usually deliveries are made after everyone has left for the day, and pick-ups are from a separate area.
It’s just occurred to me, does this change anything regarding the sexual harassment duty that was brought into law last year? At the time, my client introduced a policy and training for their staff but there was nothing about third parties in it.
A. The Worker Protection Act amended the Equality Act 2010 on 26 October 2024, and it requires employers to take reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of their workers. An important part of this is assessing the risks of sexual harassment and taking reasonable action to prevent it from happening. As an anticipatory duty, your client is bound under this to take steps before any issues arise; they must not wait until sexual harassment takes place to do so.
As third parties will now be coming onto site and having direct contact with their warehouse staff, your client will need to review their risk assessment and add in potential risks of sexual harassment posed by those third parties. Things to consider are the regularity of contact, the form that contact will take, and how and where the customers will access the site and travel through it. That way, your client can make sure all relevant elements of the new retail counter are assessed.
Technically, the Equality Act 2010 does not impose liability for third party harassment on employers. However, the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) “Sexual harassment and harassment at work: technical guidance” makes it clear that the anticipatory duty includes sexual harassment carried out by third parties.
This means that employees and workers cannot bring a claim against their employer under the Equality Act if they have been sexually harassed by a third party under the new duty. However, they can complain to the EHRC that reasonable steps are not being taken to prevent sexual harassment by third parties by their employer. Under the EHRC’s enforcement duties, this could lead to action against the employer.
Some general measures your client could consider include notices around the site regarding zero tolerance of sexual harassment of its workforce. They could also add a statement on any communications, such as order confirmations and where the customer selects the option for warehouse pick-up when ordering, that customers attending site that sexual harassment of its staff will not be tolerated. They might also consider saying that customers who are found to have sexually harassed their staff will not be permitted back on site.
Your client will also need to update their sexual harassment training to include information on third party harassment, such as how their workforce can complain about it and that they are protected from it. They may also consider introducing a specific third-party harassment policy now it is something their workforce are more likely to encounter.
It’s important to regularly assess the risks of sexual harassment in the workplace and make changes to the reasonable steps to prevent it as is necessary. A re-assessment should also take place, as is recommended here, when something changes in the workplace that could impact the risk of sexual harassment within it.
