It seems to me that "bullying" has been going on for many years and is not new to safety professionals. I'm specifically referring to the behavior of operational managers. Bullying seems to be less of a problem in the staff ranks and at the top levels of leadership in an organization. Of course, in smaller organizations, the bully could be the president or owner. Let me provide some thoughts on two types of bullying:
Underfunding: At several companies, I've had operational managers berate me because, as an ES&H professional, I was not making the organization any money. Their argument was made to show that safety can be a drain on the organization. So they feel that expenditures for safety need to be thoroughly scrutinized - often with the result that the authorization to spend money is never made. This is an underhanded tactic, an excuse, using the perceived contribution to the bottom line as a means of assessing the merits of safety proposals or requests.