All employers in the UK must protect their staff from sexual harassment in the workplace. In England, Wales and Scotland, employers must proactively take reasonable steps to prevent it. Although this proactive element doesn't apply in Northern Ireland, employers can still be held liable in the event of sexual harassment if they failed to take reasonable steps to prevent it.

Employers in the UK can also be held liable if they fail to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment by third parties, e.g. customers.

Use this climate survey to identify any patterns of behaviour that your staff experience while they work for you and gather insights on situations and practices that increase the risk of sexual harassment.

A key part of fulfilling this obligation is to assess the potential risk of staff being exposed to sexual harassment - carrying out a survey will help you to do that more thoroughly. For this reason, use this document before completing our Sexual harassment risk assessment checklist.