Addressing sexual harassment toolkit

The NFCC is currently developing a toolkit to address sexual harassment in the workplace and is seeking feedback on it. This toolkit forms part of our ongoing work to enable FRS to educate and develop their people around equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) topics.

The toolkit follows the new statutory obligation for employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of employees in their course of employment, which came into effect on 26 October 2024.

To support this work, NFCC previously issued a short briefing note, providing more information on what the duty is, what steps FRS can take and what support is in place.

Since then, we have worked with subject-matter experts from across the fire sector to develop two new resources as part of the toolkit:

• Template Risk Assessment– The risk assessment identifies workplace environments in fire and rescue services at risk of sexual harassment and outlines steps towards prevention, serving as a template for services to adopt and build upon.

• Policy Guidance – This guidance supports the development of a workplace sexual harassment policy and includes considerations for updating existing policies, as well as a template model statement for fire and rescue services to adopt and incorporate.

Before we add these resources to the toolkit, we would like to gather your feedback, focusing on the content and language of both resources. Once feedback has been compiled, a review and edit process will take place to incorporate suggested changes, where relevant.

Please note, the revised version of the resources may be altered to ensure the design complies with accessibility criteria.

To access and review the new resources, please click on the links below:

• Template sexual harassment risk assessment

• Addressing sexual harassment – policy guidance

To compete the consultation survey, please click here:

• Addressing sexual harassment toolkit consultation survey

This consultation survey will close on Wednesday 5 March 2025. If you have any issues or require assistance to access resources or participate in the consultation, please contact: PCLhub@nfcc.org.uk.

Many thanks for taking the time to respond, your feedback is appreciated.