Prevention Of Sexual Harassment – Best safety practices while moving to a new office

With offices restarting or organizations shifting to newer premises, Prevention of Sexual Harassment/PoSH at the workplace has become more mandatory than ever before.

Some of the practices to implement for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment are listed below.

Mandatory Practices

Posters on PoSH should be displayed in the workplace in specific areas, i.e., reception notice board and in the cafeteria/pantry notice board on every floor of the offices.

1. For every premise, an Internal Committee to handle sexual harassment complaints should be mandated.
2. Ensure at least one IC representative is present per floor for employee safety and security.
3. Educate employees on the Prevention of Sexual Harassment practices, and provide mandatory training to keep them up to date with the laws.

CCTV Checks for Premise Safety

1. Ensure CCTVs are present to capture even the blind spots to prevent sexual harassment occurrences at the workplace.
2. The management should ascertain that the CCTV backups are taken for at least 3 months.
3. Ensure CCTV’s focus even the emergency exits to capture/prevent harassment incidents.
4. Designate an admin to do random checks on the CCTV.

Voluntary Practices for Employee Safety

1. While putting up posters and quotes on PoSH at the workplace, ensure that catchy quotes on safer workplaces are also displayed.
2. No paintings/Sculptures that are offensive or distracting should be on display.
3. Ensure there are Unisex washrooms to provide safe workplaces and restrooms for trans-persons.
4. The conference rooms must have transparent glass cabins to avoid sexual harassment issues ‘Behind Closed Cubicles.’

Safety Practices for IT parks:

1. Ensure the common areas are covered under CCTV by the Building maintenance to avoid any unfortunate sexual harassment incidents.
2. The elevators, lobby, Entry exit Gates, Building entrances, common Food court, parking lots & basements should be well-lit, and every nook and corner of the office premises should be under surveillance.
3. Periodic checks on CCTV backups. Ideally, a workplace should have backup footage of three months. Have the contact details of the CCTV Admin handy.
4. Check with the building management if the Security guards, Housekeeping staff, Gardeners, and other Vendors frequently visiting the premises are also trained on the nuances of prevention of harassment. The building management must ensure they are aware of the PoSH practices. There have been instances where the Security staff themselves have been known to stalk and tease lady staff. The organization must ensure such incidents of sexual harassment are avoided at all costs.

To know more about Best Practices to move to a new Office and Prevention of Sexual Harassment(POSH) offerings by CecureUs, please write to us at connect@cecureus.com or call us at +91-7200500221