AGWA 2025 Safety Calendar September Topic: Toolbox Talk Appropriate Workplace Behaviour

Published 17 September 2025

Safety

Training on  Appropriate Workplace Behaviour

AGWA Safety September topic of the month

This month's focus is Psychosocial Hazards

Published On
17 September 2025
30 min read

In the September Topic of the Month Post we looked at Psychosocial hazards. They are those hazards that may cause psychological and/or physical harm and arise from or relate to, the way jobs and tasks are managed, organised, or supervised, the working environment or equipment at a workplace, social factors such as social interactions and workplace relationships. Since 2022, these have been regognised as workplace hazards in the same way as musculoskeletal disorders, falls form heights etc. 

 

I also outlined  a subcategory that you may not think about when reviewing WHS in your workplace: sexual harassment.  To remind you, from 12 December 2023, a PCBU has  a positive duty to eliminate workplace sexual harassment, sex-based harassment and subjecting a person to a hostile work environment on the grounds of sex. This means that the focus has shifted from managing a situation when sexual harassment has occurred to actively preventing it. They must ‘take proactive and meaningful action to prevent’ this from happening in their workplace. At the same time, they have lowered the criteria for finding sex-based harassment.

 

These topics are a bit hard to talk about and we often don't know how to start the conversation. This Toolbox Talk is written to help workers and their managers understand the need to be aware of their behaviour and to get some conversations started. People may not realise that their behaviour is not appropriate, so this is a good starting point. 

 

Let's manage controlling psychosocial hazards together and make sure that every worker gets to go home at the end of the workday!

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Session 1 Sexual harassment; sex-based harassment and a hostile work environment on the grounds of sex

  1. Group discussion: Why are we talking about this in a safety toolbox talk?

Sexual harassment (and the other 2 categories) have been included in psychosocial hazards for a while, but since December 2023, workplaces now have a 'positive duty' which means you need to actively prevent these behaviours rather than deal with complaints. This means they are part of your risk management process and part of the WHS responsibilities. 

Actively preventing means that workers need to be trained and understand what is appropriate behaviour and what isn't.

Session 1.1 Sexual harassment

    • Discussion: Sexual harassment is 'unwelcome behaviour of a sexual nature, in circumstances where a reasonable person would anticipate that the person who is harassed might feel offended, humiliated or intimidated by the behaviour'.
    • Let's look at the following behaviours and talk about if it is ok in a workplace or not.
  • unwelcome physical touching, staring or leering
  • repeated or inappropriate requests to go on dates
  • requests or pressure for sex or sexual acts
  • emailing, displaying or texting pornography, suggestive material or sexual jokes
  • sexual comments in person, online or in writing, including explicit comments or more subtle innuendo
  • indecent text or social media messages, phone calls or emails, including the use of images or emojis with sexual connotations
  • sharing or threatening to share intimate images or video without consent
  • sexualised gifts, images or videos
  • intrusive questions about a person’s private life or physical appearance
  • sexual gestures, indecent exposure or inappropriate display of the body
  • actual or attempted sexual assault.
    • Discussion:  Answer: These are all examples of sexual harassment. Even if you think it is a joke or harmless fun, it doesn't matter, if it is unwelcome to the person, then it isn't ok.

Session 1.2 Creating a hostile work environment on the grounds of sex

    • Discussion: A workplace environment 'is hostile if a person behaves in a way that a reasonable person would expect might be offensive, intimidating or humiliating to someone because of their sex, or a characteristic generally associated with people of their sex'. 
    • Let's look at the following behaviours and talk about if it is ok in a workplace or not.
  • conduct involving gendered stereotypes, such as making women workers responsible for organising the morning tea functions
  • making demeaning comments about anatomical attributes or topics such as pregnancy, menstruation or menopause
  • the display or circulation of obscene, sexist, pornographic or sexual photos, materials, posters or gifts
  • making sexist, derogatory, suggestive or sexual comments, jokes or banter
  • using sexist, derogatory, suggestive or sexual nicknames for others in the workplace
  • sexual gestures or indecent exposure
  • sexist, derogatory, suggestive or sexual emails, phone calls, text messages or online interactions – including the use of emojis with sexual connotations.
    • Discussion:  Answer: These are all examples of creating a hostile work environment on the grounds of sex. It doesn't have to be directed at a specific person and it doesn't matter of everyone thinks it is ok or funny. 

Session 1.3 Sex-based harassment

    • Discussion: This means 'unwelcome behaviour of a demeaning nature that happens because of a person’s sex, or a characteristic generally associated with people of their sex, in circumstances where a reasonable person would anticipate that the person who is harassed might feel offended, humiliated or intimidated by the behaviour'.
    • ‘Demeaning’ means disrespectful or degrading.
    • Let's look at the following behaviours and talk about if it is ok in a workplace or not.
  • asking intrusive personal questions based on a person's sex (for example, inappropriate questions about menopause, menstruation or genitalia) 
  • making inappropriate comments and jokes to a person based on their sex
  • displaying images or materials that are sexist (showing prejudice or discrimination on the basis of sex), misogynistic (strongly prejudiced against women) or misandrist (strongly prejudiced against men)
  • making sexist, misogynistic or misandrist remarks about a specific person
  • verbally abusing or insulting someone on the basis of their sex
  • requesting that a person engage in degrading conduct based on their sex
  • bullying, physical threats, attacks or other hateful conduct motivated by a person’s sex.
    • Discussion:  Answer: These are all examples of sex-based harassment. People may not speak up but they may still feel demeaned and uncomfortable. 

Session 2 Eliminating or reducing the risk

  1. Discussion: Where are workers likely to be exposed?
  • at the workplace
  • when workers are working remotely (such as offsite or from home)
  • at staff drinks or gatherings (whether in the workplace or elsewhere)
  • in the workplace after hours or during a lunch break
  • between colleagues outside the workplace and outside of work hours
  • during work-related travel (eg, for a conference)
  1. Discussion: What should you do if you experience this behaviour?
  • ask the person to stop and tell them that is is unwelcome
  • remove yourself from the situation
  • report it to your supervisor or manager
  • formalise the complaint via procedure outlined in your Policy
    • tell workers about your specific workplace procedure and explain what they need to do
    • PCPU tips on how to handle inappropriate behaviour: 
      • You've already started by having these conversations as part of this Toolbox talk!
      • Have a clear policy in place outlining what behaviour will not be tolerated and the consequences.
      • Have a clear procedure for complaints and investigations and make sure everyone has access to it. 
      • Be encouraging of staff asking questions and reporting incidents. Take it seriously and don't brush it off.
      • Remind workers that just because a person doesn't speak up immediately, doesn't mean they they didn't feel uncomfortable about that behaviour. They may have been too embarrassed to say anything.
      • Act on inappropriate behaviour immediately you become aware. Call it out and empower your managers to be able to do the same. 
      • Continue to train all workers on these topics, both formally and informally.
      • Send an unequivocal message from the entire leadership team that sexual harassment is unacceptable in the workplace. This communication can no longer be hidden in an induction pack, it must be clearly visible.
      • Remember to lead by example. You must walk the walk as well as talking the talk! 

Always remind workers that safety is everyone’s business, and they responsible for their own safety as well as looking out for their mate’s.

 

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact [email protected]