Columnist Julie Corney Essential safeguards: whistleblowing T he MRS standards team has continued to add to the essential safeguards series of guidance, with the aim of guiding our members in the prevention of harm, a key construct of the MRS Code. The latest addition to the series covers whistleblowing. What is whistleblowing? treated unfairly or lose your job because you blow the whistle. You can raise your concern at any time about an incident that happened in the past, is happening now, or you believe will happen in the near future. Youre protected by law if you report any of the following: Someones health and safety is in danger Risk or actual damage to the environment A miscarriage of justice A business is breaking the law for example, does not have the right insurance, or is breaching Covid-19 rules on hygiene, face coverings, social distancing, and so on You believe someone is covering up wrongdoing. Whistleblowing is the act of disclosing information about wrongdoing in the workplace. This could mean highlighting possible unlawful activities in an organisation, failures to comply with legal obligations, or miscarriages of justice, or reporting on risks to the health and safety of individuals or to the environment. Such activities could be a violation of a law, rule or regulation, or a threat to public interest, such as fraud, health and safety violations, or corruption. By blowing the whistle, individuals may highlight illegal activity in the workplace, and may protect others in future. Personal grievances (for example, bullying, harassment, discrimination) are not covered by whistleblowing law, unless a particular case is in the public interest. These cases should be reported via employers grievance policies. Whistleblowing and the law Who to tell and what to expect The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 provides legal protection for individuals who disclose information to expose acts such as criminal acts. The equivalent legislation in Northern Ireland is the Public Interest Disclosure (Northern Ireland) Order 1998. The legislation made substantial amendments to the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Employment Rights (NI) Order 1996 in Northern Ireland to protect whistleblowers from dismissal and detrimental treatment by their employer. In some cases, workers may bring a case before an employment tribunal, which can award compensation. As a result of the legislation, some employers have developed internal whistleblowing procedures, although the legislation does not enforce this. If you, or your employer, do not already have a whistleblowing policy in place, negotiate to create a policy that encourages workers to feel confident in raising concerns, and establish a fair investigative process. If you have a concern, you can tell your employer they may have a whistleblowing policy that tells you what to expect if you report your concern to them. You can still report your concern to them if they do not have a policy. There are other options if you do not want to report your concern to your employer for example, you can get legal advice from a lawyer, or tell a prescribed person or body. On the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (Beis) website, there is a list of the prescribed persons and bodies to whom you can make a disclosure, and a brief description about the matters you can report to each prescribed person. If you decide to blow the whistle to a prescribed person or body, rather than to your employer, you must make sure that youve chosen the correct person or body for your issue. What counts as whistleblowing? As a whistleblower, youre protected by law you should not be Making your claim anonymously You can tell your employer or a prescribed person or body anonymously, but they may not be able to take the claim further if you have not provided all the information they need. 68 Impact ISSUE 33 2021_pp68-69 Legal.indd 68 26/03/2021 10:21