Do you know what to do when you see something happen that is discriminatory or a form of harassment? EllisDon, in collaboration with the Canadian Construction Association (CCA), recently held a virtual bystander intervention training program to raise awareness and provide industry partners with tools to promote inclusivity on construction sites and offices.
“The bystander intervention training program was developed to equip people with the tools to help in situations where you believe someone is or may be bullied or harassed,” explained CCA president Mary Van Buren in an email to the Diamond Demolish.
“These situations can take people by surprise and so it is helpful to have an approach to empower each one of us to speak up.”
Jennifer Khan, head of inclusive diversity with EllisDon, said the session taught people what they need to know and what to do when a situation like this arises.
“We’re trying to change the culture by giving people tools to take action,” said Khan. “That’s exactly what bystander intervention is all about.
“They give you five different options that you can use to your preference in your own environment that is safe for you to intervene when you see harassment and discrimination happen.”
The 90-minute training session was led by New York City-based Hollaback, a non-profit organization that raises awareness about how to combat workplace harassment.
“We partnered with them to be able to offer this session but then we had this realization…EllisDon is one part of the construction puzzle, so even though EllisDon might know what to do when something happens, in order for us to really change the industry everybody needs to know,” said Khan.
It drew more than 700 participants from various sectors and organizations.
“People want safe and respectful workplaces — places where they are welcomed, happy to be a part of and contribute to,” said Van Buren. “This training is useful for people of all levels and experience to be part of the solution and make some positive change in the industry.”
One of the key takeaways from the session were the 5 Ds of bystander intervention, which are different methods that can be used to support someone who is being harassed, emphasize that harassment is not OK and demonstrate to others that they have the power to make the community safer as well.
The 5 Ds are:
- Distract — say something to change the subject, diffuse the situation;
- Delay — turn to the person who has been treated inappropriately and say something in support or speak with them after to check in and see if they’re OK;
- Delegate — advise another person so they can take the appropriate action;
- Document — write down what you heard/saw and share it with the person or another person in authority; and
- Direct — address the situation in the moment.
“Each person no doubt took away an important tip,” said Van Buren. “For example, sometimes it’s the little things, like shaking your head ‘no,’ that shows support to the person being disrespected. The other takeaway is that you can approach each situation differently, empowering you to move to an upstander rather than a bystander.”
For too long the industry has accepted various forms of harassment and discrimination for various reasons, Khan said.
“Whether it’s because they experienced it, they’ve seen people before them experience it, they think that it’s funny, they think that it’s not a big deal or they don’t have the education to know that it’s not right,” she explained. “We wanted to draw that line to say, ‘this is acceptable behaviour and this is not.’ Now there are hundreds of people that you work with that will know what to do and will not only call out bad behaviour but will actually take action.”
EllisDon collaborated with the CCA and other partners to customize the session and the scenarios used.
“We came up with eight different scenarios that we would ask people’s opinion on,” Khan said. “Some of the responses that we got back in our feedback survey was this has been needed for so long.
“Ninety-eight per cent of survey respondents indicated that they have a better sense of what disrespectful behaviour looks like and 97 per cent said they would know how to safely intervene next time they see harassment happen.”
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