Preventing sexual harassment in the workplace
Published: 19/06/2025
Workplace harassment is a concern for all employers, regardless of industry. Legal duties are now in place to ensure organisations take proactive steps to prevent it.
The Work Protection Act 2023 came into effect in October 2024, placing a duty on all employers to take reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of their employees. The law requires businesses to be proactive in prevention, rather than only reacting if an incident occurs.
So, what does this mean for dental practices?
While sexual harassment may seem rare in dentistry, the wider concern across all industries is the high rate of under-reporting in the workplace.
According to the Government Equalities Office Sexual Harassment Survey, 29% of people surveyed reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment at work, yet only 15% reported their experience. So, can we really be sure of the rates of occurrence in our profession?
The new duty aims to help employers take steps to prevent sexual harassment from occurring and to empower and give confidence to team members to report concerns.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has outlined eight steps a business can take to meet the new duty. These include assessing and taking action to reduce risks, developing policies, and knowing how to deal with third parties. Within their guidance, the EHRC stresses the importance of engaging the team in the process, involving them in the risk assessment, and ensuring that everyone is clear on what is considered appropriate and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace. Team members being able to contribute to the risk assessment will help managers understand their perspective, identify potential risks, and help the team feel involved in the process.
Training the team to understand what is meant by sexual harassment, the different forms it can take, and where it can happen is an important part of the preventive approach.
Ensuring that all team members know how to deal with these situations and how to report them within the practice helps build their confidence in speaking out about their experiences.
People who refrain from reporting sexual harassment at work often do so because they fear retaliation, think they won’t be believed, or don’t know how to report it or what the procedure is in their organisation. Involving the whole team in the EHRC’s eight steps of prevention will help ensure the practice is following guidance, make the team feel part of the process, and build their understanding and confidence should they need to raise any concerns about sexual harassment in the workplace.
The Denplan Academy team has developed a training module, ‘Preventing Sexual Harassment,’ that can be delivered as part of a tailor-made training day for your practice team.
It follows the eight steps recommended by the EHRC and explores different scenarios, allowing the team to identify types of sexual harassment and discuss approaches to them.
Book a tailor-made training day
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Sources
Sexual Harassment Survey - Government Equalities Office
Employer 8-step guide: Preventing sexual harassment at work | EHRC