Food firms should review ‘whistleblowing’ policies
But with the law covering whistleblowing changing this week (June 25), employers need to review their policies on whistleblowing to ensure they are compliant with the new rules, warned a legal firm.
According to Simon Rice-Birchall, a partner with law firm Eversheds: “Most importantly for all for employers, they could be held liable for the bullying of, or discrimination against whistleblowers by colleagues, unless they can demonstrate they did all they reasonably could to prevent this.”
He pointed out that the new provisions “very much up the ante for employers and all may want to think twice about reviewing existing policy [on whistleblowing].”
Rise in whistleblowers
The FSA’s annual report of food Incidents for 2012 published today (June 28) noted a rise in the number of whistleblowers contacting the organisation during the year. A total of 81 cases originated from whistleblowers during 2012 – up from 54 the previous year.
Of these incidents, 41 related to the sale of unfit food and 23 were for general hygiene issues.
But from June 25, the law has been changed such that legal protection will be afforded only for employees who report wrong-doing by their employer or ‘blow the whistle’, when they raise allegations of public interest, reported Eversheds.
Disputes over personal issues, such as pay or performance management which lack a public-interest element, will no longer be protected under this legislation, said Eversheds. At the same time, the element of ‘good faith’ required by current provision is to be removed.
Motivated by personal reasons
However, an Eversheds study revealed that one-third of whistleblowers in companies surveyed were motivated by personal reasons rather than public interest. Eversheds conducted a study of 135 employers to gauge awareness amongst businesses, including those in the food and drink sector.
Key findings were:
• 40% felt current whistleblowing law was not working.
• 55% had no plans to change current practices in the next six months.
• 35% had encountered allegations by whistleblowers in the last two years.
• Nearly one-third had experienced allegations that whistleblowers had been either ostracised or picked on.
Rice-Birchall said: “Current legislation is not working either because it is open to abuse by employees, thereby diminishing its effectiveness, or because employees are simply too scared to voice their concerns, unaware or mistrusting of the legal protection offered.”
Employers liable
He added: “From next week, employers will be vicariously liable for the maltreatment of whistleblowers by colleagues unless they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent this.”
Information provided by stakeholders, including whistleblowers, continues to be a valuable and growing source of intelligence for the FSA, enabling it to detect potential new food safety risks, it said. The agency operates procedures to protect whistleblowers from victimisation from their employers.
A total of 1,604 food and environmental contamination incidents in the UK were reported to and investigated by the FSA last year, according to the FSA’s annual report. This figure was 110 down on 2011 but higher than in many previous years. The three largest contributors to these incidents were microbiological contamination (20%), environmental contamination (15%) and natural chemical contamination (13%).
While the number of allergen-related incidents appears to have risen by more than half since 2010, statistics suggested that legislative changes relating to gluten might have been a major contributory factor, said the FSA.
FSA chief executive Catherine Brown said: “We hope that this annual report encourages food businesses and consumers to notify us promptly of incidents and of any other potentially-useful intelligence they have. This will enable us to act swiftly to protect the public and the food industry and, in so doing, increase public confidence in food safety.”
