Prevention lab 2.0

There are many important changes, which affect safety and protection of employees in a workplace of these days. These changes are the reason why new psychosocial risk factors appear. With the planning of work, organizing and management, also with economical and social work conditions, risk factors that are connected with relationships between employees of the company or relationships between employee and employer increases the pressure and also it can seriously affect mental and physical health. Therefore, the project PreventionLab 2.0 eContent Lab for psychosocial risks at work prevention is a very meaningful project and it is not just to improve all mentioned spheres but also to offer some sources, which would support preventive activities of purposive groups. Such groups as: an electronic book about the psychosocial prevention of risk in countries that are participating in this project; the access to online courses; publications; the material of learning; forums; blogs, which are concentrated on themes about psychosocial prevention of risk in a workplace, where learners can share with their knowledge and experience; seminars, online conferences, etc. At the same time partners improved the textbook, which is useful for future students/users, because it will be able to find all instructions and recommendations in this textbook, how to behave with practical program.

Purposive groups of this project, which were able to improve their skills or to adapt new methodology sources using most important final results of the project – instructors of psychosocial risks in work; representatives of the prevention; employees/servants which are responsible for activities in companies; also psychologists; organizations that works in sectors of health and safety.

Prevention Lab 2.0 eContent Lab  for psychosocial risks at work prevention – the continuation of the project VISIONARY. VISIONARY was a project which was stimulated by ZEPF in 2000-2003 and seeking to create international and specific country’s internet portals about the violence prevention in schools. The main result of this project is VISIONARY practical program which allows teachers, parents, students, and specialists from different countries to share with different experience that is related with violence and aggression in schools. The project Prevention Lab 2.0 eContent Lab for psychosocial risks at work prevention gave methodical attitude of practical program – developed mutual and learning place of participation, which had different resources for the psychosocial risk prevention at work.

 European Social Entrepreneurship and Innovative Studies Institute successfully participated in a project PREVENTION LAB 2.0: eContent Lab for Psychosocial risks at work prevention.

Violence in work places is not a new and unknown phenomenon in Lithuania. Physical strength used against the employer is noticeable very fast therefore physical violence can be easily assigned to a violent incident and documented as a fact that have happened.

In Lithuania the exploration of work violence, which is a factor of work environment risk and which is a problem of safety and health was started in 2005. In those years in Lithuania Methodological instructions research of psychosocial risk factors entered into force. These factors engage Lithuanian employees to identify, explore, fix, and undertake required means to remove and decrease these risks. The first scientific article about psychological violence and it’s consequences to health was published in 2005. The fourth research of European work conditions was made in 27 countries of EU, including Lithuania, which enabled to see an index of work violence in European context.

Even 10 percent of Lithuania’s employees (data of 2008) experience danger of psychosocial risk in their workplace and they interact with factors that affect mental senses. About 8 ,8 percent of people interviewed during the research experienced harassment and intimidation. Many employees, especially women, have suffered all kinds of menaces and insults or other forms of psychological aggression. Harassment, jeers, bullying – very often today are used to throw out the employee from his workplace. In scientists’ dictionaries even a new word mobbing appeared, which describes this phenomenon, and which means “attack of herd”.

Data of 2009, when 1379 working respondents from all kinds of sectors were questioned, shows that teachers, employees from health care, social and publishing spheres are people who suffer violence more often than people from other spheres. We should pay the attention to the part that just relationship between employees was highlighted, but nothing mentioned about the relationship with clients. On the other hand psychological violence is often experienced communicating with other people, most often with clients. B. Pajarskienė believes that: “In the aspect of psychological violence, professions that are open from communicational viewpoint are mostly dangerous”.

There can be all kinds of solutions to these problems. According to J. Vveinhardt, Germany’s practice is praiseworthy when solving this kind of problems. She says that:

“Even before 10 years Germans had consultants of mobbing in many companies, who helped victims of mobbing to solve their problems. It is hard to tell if this kind of practise can be found in Lithuania because it often happens that a leader is also interested in oppression of a person and wants to send him away from his workplace. In this case, consultants of mobbing would not play his role.”

There could be a special training for personnel in organizations or in companies, how to help a victim in a particular situation. Even though the biggest part of employees do not contribute directly to insults and bullying of a victim, they observe the situation and do nothing to stop it and they become a passive participants. Even though “Lithuanian” mechanism of problems’ solution is already created – the assessment of occupational risk – it still does not work today. As B. Pajarskienė says:

“Employees still do not understand today that the serious assessment of psychosocial workplace would be very useful not just for employees, but also for the company itself in economical sense: people would become more motivated to work better and a bigger economical effect would appear.”

The main Lithuania’s standard acts of law, which are related with the violence and harassment in the workplace, are:

Labour code of the Republic of Lithuania

Law of the Republic of Lithuania on safety and health of employees

Law of the Republic of Lithuania on equal opportunities

Law of the Republic of Lithuania on equal opportunities to women and men

Law of the Republic of Lithuania on occupational health care

Programme of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania for 2004-2008

Criminal code of the Republic of Lithuania

Occupational regulations of risk assessment

For the list of occupational diseases and state register of occupational diseases of the Republic of Lithuania and it’s regulations

Research and record’s regulations of occupational diseases

Regulation of research reasons of professional diseases

Methodical instructions of psychosocial research of risk factors

Psychosocial factors of risk – mobbing – exists. It can be attested by research and by personal experience. However this problem is still being concealed and hidden, believing childish that if you close your eyes – it will disappear. Organizations do not let investigators to get in, they are afraid that received results could destroy their reputation and the colourful image made by publicity could be painted in grey.

Mobbing causes negative consequences not just for person’s mental and physical health, but also for organization: absenteeism of employees, their variation, decline of productivity and work efficiency, appearance of financial expenses, formation of negative reputation (image). Western countries are counting ten millions of euros of losses from economy, health, and social security system’s, which is made due to the mobbing. While just in one of our Social security and ministry of labour documents was found only one hint of mobbing, which was used as a synonym for intimidation. Companies, public organizations most often understand mobbing as it is a competition or “natural selection”.

Psychosocial risk in a workplace violates person’s rights and dignity, causes stress, and damages health. Such behaviour is not useless because it’s negative behaviour is experienced by employees, employers, and organizations. It can be said, that in this moment Lithuania is at the agreement stage of psychological violence in a workplace. There is a common agreement that violence in a workplace exists and it can be realized as a problem or it can just be ignored.

There is no integral juridical act, which would directly protect people who have experienced mobbing. But of course there exist separate articles, which regulate safety of employees and protect them from inhumanity, cruel and harming dignity behaviour.

So far we can be happy because juridical acts are being created in our country, which regulate attacks of psychological violence. The communiqué of European Commission against harassment and violence in a workplace was signed on 26 April of 2007. The first step was made, now we just have to believe that soon an appropriate attention will be drawn to a mobbing phenomenon in organizations and active actions will be taken, which can help victims of emotional terrorists.

This article is based on doc.dr. Jolita Vveinhardt and dr. Birutė Pajrskienė speeches found on the internet and laws that are connected with psychosocial risk and statistics