Staff care central to code of conduct talks says trainers' chief

Racing owes a duty of care to those working in the sport with collaboration on a cross-industry code of conduct the next step in underlining this, according to one of those involved in the process.

The issue of sexual harassment, in particular, was highlighted during the Horseracing Industry Conference at Windsor last week, when Dr Eleanor Boden made a presentation detailing the experiences of racing staff, where yards where shown to be a main focus for such behaviour.

Rupert Arnold, chief executive of the National Trainers Federation (NTF), said it was only right the sport provided a duty of care to its employees, and highlighted an existing code of conduct in place between the NTF and the National Association of Racing Staff (Nars).

The policy, created in 2018, outlines how bullying and harassment are unacceptable in a work environment, with a grievance procedure also in place. It adds that senior staff make it known that “harassment and bullying are understood by all to be unacceptable”.

Arnold said: “We are involved in the consultation into the code of conduct as are racing’s other stakeholders, which is an important process.

“We also already have a dignity at work policy in place between the NTF and Nars which focuses on how people behave in the workplace. In any environment, whether it’s a workplace or anywhere, people should be expected to behave in an appropriate way towards each other. An employer always has a duty of care to employees, and that’s why we have that in place as a matter of normal practice.”

Dr Boden acknowledged in her presentation that “we are in a sexual harassment epidemic” in society, and Arnold agreed that the issue was a wider one than for racing alone.

“On a wider point, I wouldn’t have thought racing is any more prone to problems in this area as anywhere else,” he said. “I think it has also been recognised there’s been a deterioration over the last few years in the way people speak to and behave towards each other in terms of the tone and dialogue, particularly on social media.”

A code of conduct has also been in place since the summer for members of the Professional Jockeys Association, in which jockeys are informed not to discriminate against others nor engage in abusing behaviour towards others.

The code also outlines a checklist for social media use, telling members to “remember that the internet has a long memory”.

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'Who am I going to tell?' – sexual harassment epidemic crosses into racing

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