Workers are sometimes harassed by third parties, such as customers or clients. Where possible your employer should protect you from such harassment and take steps to deal with any situations like this. Many organisations provide visitors and visiting workers with guidance on health and safety matters. It may be appropriate to ask your employer to include some comments on your organisation's attitude to harassment.

If you are being bullied or harassed, you should take any action you decide upon as quickly as possible. There are a number of options to consider:

• get advice from the Acas helpline, Citzens Advice Bureau or a bullying helpline
• talk to colleagues to find out if anyone else is suffering or has witnessed what's happened to you
• see someone who you feel comfortable with to discuss the problem, perhaps someone in HR or a company counsellor
• talk to your trade union or staff representative
• keep a diary of all incidents: record dates, times, witnesses, your feelings, etc
• keep copies of anything relevant, eg letters, memos, emails, notes of meetings
• inform your employer of any medical help you seek
• If you are able, tell the person to stop whatever it is they are doing that causes you distress, as they might be unaware of its effects – you might want to ask someone else to act on your behalf
• Through the Acas Helpline (08457 47 47 47) you can get advice on specific problems, and explore alternatives to an Employment Tribunal claim, such as mediation or Pre-Claim Conciliation, where appropriate.  
• consider writing a memo to this effect if you can't confront the person
• if you make a formal complaint, follow your employer's procedures – if you have a union representative or other adviser, ask them to help you state your grievance clearly

You can find further details in our Advice leaflet - Bullying and harassment at work: Guidance for employees. You can also find bullying help sites on the internet; try searching under 'workplace bullying'.

There are a number of key considerations that should help to prevent this behaviour:

• Develop and implement a formal policy: this need not be over-elaborate, but you should consider involving staff when writing it
• Set a good example: the behaviour of employers and senior managers is as important as any formal policy
• Maintain fair procedures for dealing promptly with complaints from employees
• Set standards of behaviour with an organisational statement about the standards of behaviour expected; this could be included in the staff handbook
• Inform employees that complaints of bullying and/or harassment, or information from staff relating to such complaints, will be dealt with fairly and confidentially and sensitively.

There are more details and suggestions on these considerations in our Advice leaflet - Bullying and harassment at work: a guide for managers and employers .

Bullying and harassment create an unhappy and unproductive workplace where you may have:

• poor morale and poor employee relations
• loss of respect for managers or supervisors
• poor performance
• lost productivity
• absence
• resignations
• damage to company reputation
• tribunal and other court cases and payment of unlimited compensation

Through the Acas Helpline (08457 47 47 47) you can get advice on specific problems, and explore alternatives to an Employment Tribunal claim, such as mediation or Pre-Claim Conciliation, where appropriate.