Let’s be clear. Not every unwelcome comment is legal harassment. Under the Equality Act 2010, conduct must have ‘the purpose or effect’ of either violating someone’s dignity, OR creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. 

Tribunals apply an objective test by asking would a reasonable person consider the conduct had that effect? It’s not enough that the complainant subjectively found it offensive, the conduct must objectively cross the line. Tribunals also balance competing rights, including freedom of expression. Trivial incidents or minor offence don’t meet the threshold. 

It goes without saying though that you shouldn’t wait for conduct to reach a legal harassment threshold before acting. Part of being workwise and creating a good workplace is addressing inappropriate behaviour early, before it escalates. 

These new protections only apply to employees (people working under contracts of employment where you operate PAYE) and to workers (that’s the specific legal category between employee and self-employed). 

This is broader than some other employment rights (like Statutory Sick Pay, which only applies to employees). Workers have some employment rights, including protection from harassment, but not others. Examples of workers might include agency temps, zero-hours contractors, or casual staff who aren’t genuinely self-employed but don’t have full employee status.–Many people who work as ‘freelancers’ in film and TV, actors, crew, lighting designers, DOPs, other creatives, may actually be ‘workers’ in legal terms, even if they’re paid through self-employment or limited companies and even if you and they consider the relationship ‘freelance’. 

While this article focuses on the new Equality Act duties, it’s important to remember that all businesses also have duties under health and safety legislation to protect the health, safety and welfare of anyone affected by work activities. These duties apply regardless of employment status; they cover employees, workers, and the genuinely self-employed, as well as visitors and members of the public. 

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, you must assess risks to health and safety and take reasonable steps to control them. This explicitly includes risks from violence, harassment and abuse. The Health & Safety Executive makes clear that protecting people from work-related stress, which can result from harassment and bullying, is a legal requirement. 

So even if someone working for you is genuinely self-employed (and therefore not covered by the Equality Act harassment protections), you still have health and safety duties toward them. If a genuinely self-employed freelancer on your production experiences harassment that affects their health, safety or welfare, you could still be in breach of health and safety law. 

Practically, it makes sense to take a consistent, comprehensive approach to preventing harassment across your entire operation. Good policies, risk assessments, training, reporting mechanisms, and complaint procedures should protect everyone working with or for you, regardless of their status. This is not only legally prudent but also simpler to implement and helps create a genuinely safe and respectful work culture. 

CIISA will be the screen industries’ own independent standards body. It will provide an independent reporting and resolution service for bullying, harassment, discrimination and sexual misconduct. 

While CIISA’s reporting service is expected to launch in 2027, it is already working with industry stakeholders to develop standards and best practice guidance. When operational, CIISA is likely to provide: 

• A confidential reporting mechanism for anyone working in the creative industries; 

• Support and guidance for those experiencing or witnessing misconduct; 

• Independent investigation and resolution services; and 

• Training and resources for businesses. 

CIISA will operate alongside the statutory frameworks (Equality Act protections and health and safety duties), providing sector-specific support that recognises the particular challenges of screen industry working practices. Screen industry businesses should monitor CIISA’s development and consider how their services might complement internal harassment prevention and reporting mechanisms

Currently, businesses must take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent sexual harassment of employees/workers. From October 2026, this strengthens to ‘all reasonable steps’. 

This isn’t just semantic. The change aligns the preventative duty with the existing legal defence available in harassment claims (the ‘all reasonable steps’ defence under section 109 of the Equality Act 2010). Previously, there was a discrepancy: you needed to prove you took ‘all reasonable steps’ to avoid liability for employee harassment, but only ‘reasonable steps’ for the preventative duty. This created confusion and potentially undermined prevention efforts. 

Under the strengthened duty, you must be thorough. What counts as ‘all reasonable steps’ will depend on your circumstances – size, sector, resources, working environment. But it means genuinely comprehensive prevention measures, not token efforts. 

If someone successfully brings a sexual harassment claim and wins compensation, the tribunal will automatically examine whether you breached the preventative duty. If you did, compensation can be uplifted by up to 25%. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) can also enforce breaches directly. 

This is the bigger change. For the first time since 2013, businesses will be explicitly liable if they fail to take all reasonable steps to prevent third parties from harassing employees/workers. 

Who are ‘third parties’? These could include: 

• Clients, commissioners, executives 

• Talent, actors, presenters 

• Contractors, suppliers, agencies 

• Members of the public (on location shoots, at events, festivals) 

• Anyone else your employees/workers interact with in the course of their work 

What’s covered?  

It’s broader than the employee harassment duty, which focuses on sexual harassment. Third-party protections cover all forms of harassment under the Equality Act 2010, covering all nine protected characteristics: 

• Sexual harassment (including harassment related to sex or gender reassignment) 

• Harassment related to age, disability, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation 

• Victimisation (treating someone badly because they rejected or complained about harassment) 

The steps you can reasonably take regarding third parties are more limited than for your own employees (you can’t control third parties’ behaviour the same way). So tribunals will consider: 

• The nature of contact with third parties 

• The type of third party (e.g., regular client vs. random member of public) 

• The frequency of interaction, and 

• The working environment and your control over it 

Don’t worry, you’re not expected to police everyone’s private conversations or foresee the unforeseeable. But you must take reasonable preventative action based on known risks. 

Employees/workers can bring tribunal claims against you for failing to prevent third-party harassment. The EHRC can also take enforcement action. 

The Employment Rights Act 2025 also gives the Government power to make regulations specifying particular steps that employers must take to meet the ‘all reasonable steps’ duty.  Currently, the law doesn’t mandate specific actions. From 2027/28 (after consultation), new regulations could require things like: 

• Carrying out risk assessments 

• Publishing anti-harassment policies 

• Implementing specific reporting mechanisms 

• Following particular complaint-handling procedures 

Even if new regulations specify certain mandatory steps, you will still need to take ‘all other reasonable steps’ appropriate to the circumstances. The regulations set a floor, not a ceiling. 

You have until October 2026, but preparation should start now. Here’s what to prioritise: 

Conduct thorough risk assessments, identifying where harassment risks exist in your specific operations: 

• Which roles involve isolated working? (Location shoots, night filming, travel) 

• Where do power imbalances exist? (Junior staff with senior talent/executives) 

• Which roles have high third-party contact? (Coordinators, runners, event staff) 

• What’s your history? (Past complaints, informal concerns, exit interview feedback) 

• Are there sector-specific risks? (Festival environments, location shooting in public spaces) 

Document your risk assessment and review it regularly, especially when working practices change. 

Develop clear, comprehensive anti-harassment policies, ensuring that they cover: 

• What constitutes harassment (with examples) 

• That it applies to harassment by anyone (employees, third parties, all protected characteristics) 

• Zero tolerance commitment from leadership 

• How to report (multiple routes, including confidential options) 

• Protection against retaliation 

• How complaints will be handled (timely, impartial, confidential) 

• Consequences for harassers 

Make clear the policy applies to short-term contracts, on-location work, and interactions with third parties. Clarify that NDAs cannot prevent reporting harassment or cooperating with investigations. 

Implement multiple, accessible reporting mechanisms 

People need different routes to report depending on the situation: 

• Line manager (but what if the harasser is the line manager?) 

• HR or designated safeguarding contact 

• Confidential hotline or external reporting service 

• Anonymous reporting option for those who aren’t ready to come forward formally 

For productions, ensure reporting mechanisms work on location and for short-term staff. Contact details should be visible on call sheets, in crew handbooks, and at production offices. 

Provide training to all staff, covering what harassment is, how to report it, that the business takes it seriously, protection against retaliation.  Ensure managers and supervisors know how to recognise harassment, respond to disclosures, handle complaints sensitively, maintain confidentiality, and prevent retaliation. Senior leadership should appreciate their critical role in setting culture and responding to serious issues. 

• Training should be regular (not just induction), tailored to screen industry contexts (location work, third-party interactions, power dynamics), and documented. 
   

Establish clear complaint-handling procedures.  When harassment is reported, you need a fair, prompt, thorough process to: 

• Acknowledge the complaint quickly 

• Take interim protective measures if needed (separate harasser from victim) 

• Investigate impartially (ideally by a trained investigator with no conflict of interest) 

• Keep complainant informed about process and timelines 

• Maintain confidentiality (only share information on need-to-know basis) 

• Take appropriate disciplinary action if harassment is substantiated 

• Support victim and monitor for retaliation 

For third-party harassment, you may have less control over consequences (after all you can’t fire a client), but you can still act by refusing to work with them, insisting on changed behaviour, providing support to a victim. 

Address third-party risks proactively.  Given how common third-party interactions are in screen work, specific measures might include: 

• Contract clauses: Include anti-harassment requirements in contracts with clients, agencies, talent, suppliers. Make clear you expect professional behaviour and reserve right to take action if breached. 

• Briefings: Brief visiting executives, talent, third parties on expected conduct before they start work. 

• Supervision: Don’t leave junior staff alone with senior third parties in isolated settings. 

• Escalation protocols: Give staff clear guidance on what to do if a third party behaves inappropriately (who to tell, when to remove themselves from situation). 

• Environmental controls: For public-facing work (location shoots, events), have security or supervision present, clear signage about acceptable behaviour, rapid response to issues. 

• Post-incident action: If third-party harassment occurs, investigate, support victim, and consider refusing future work with that third party or requiring changed behaviour. 

Create a speak-up culture and protect against retaliation. Policies and procedures mean nothing if people are too scared to use them. So leadership must: 

• Visibly commit to zero tolerance (not just in policies, but in actions) 

• Act decisively when harassment is reported 

• Explicitly protect against retaliation (making this a disciplinary offence) 

• Monitor for signs of retaliation after complaints (blacklisting, contract non-renewal, exclusion) 

In industries with lots of short-term contracts and informal networking, fear of career damage is real so let’s address it head-on. 

Monitor, evaluate, and improve by tracking 

• The number and nature of harassment complaints 

• How complaints were resolved and timelines 

• Training completion rates 

• Exit interview feedback (are people leaving due to harassment?) 

• Staff surveys on workplace culture and safety 

Use this data to identify patterns, address hotspots, and improve your approach.