BP South Africa has initiated a process of negotiating a sexual harassment policy with the unions involved. The parties have had some discussion on having trained sexual harassment officers whose limited duties are to mediate on subtle forms of sexual harassment, advise the victim or perpetrator about options available to parties in dispute in order to resolve the matter, referral of both parties for counselling and serve as a support system for both parties. Amendment Bill of 1997 While the approaches discussed above go some way to addressing sexual harassment in the workplace, still other avenues of potential redress exist which could be utilised by sexual harassment grievants. One such avenue lies in workplace health and safety legislation. Both the World Health Organisation and the International Labour Organisation stress the importance of considering women's health not only in relation to maternity protections, family planning and counselling, but also on psychological health at work which has serious physical and psychological effects which include severe occupational stress leading to depression and other nervous disorders.
Stress can result in occupational accidents due to a lack of concentration.
Addressing sexual harassment with Health and Safety legislation was necessitated by the needs of some SHEP clients who have no desire to take legal action against the perpetrator for fear of losing their jobs. What they need from the perpetrator is some compensation for physical and psychological damage. In situations where the victim wants to take legal action against the perpetrator, financial assistance from the legal aid is inaccessible since the legal aid scope does not cover sexual harassment cases. These two pieces of legislation only recognise injuries and diseases arising from the use of dangerous machinery and chemicals in the workplace. Their scope should be broadened to include sexual harassment.