Codes of Practice

1. Codes of Practice By Christopher Lawry

2. What is a Code of Practice? • A code of practice is a set rules/regulations that an organisation can set however they want. • The organisation’s members and/or workers will have to obey the Code of Practice. • Disobeying an organisation’s Code of Practice could result in being banned or fired. • A Code of Practice could include, for example, rules that define legal, ethical and moral issues. • A Code of practice could also include guidelines that help members or workers to do something, for example, the guidelines could explain what should be done in certain situations and how to do it

3. How are they distributed/ explained? • Many organisations provide a digital .pdf copy of their Code of Practice online or they just have their Code of Practice on a dedicated section of their website. • Some Codes of Practice are much more simple than others. This could be due to a lesser requirement for detail or the more complicated Codes of Practice could be from organisations whose work could often have legal conflicts if not carried out properly. • They could also print these as a booklet for their workers. • Each of the provisions in their Code of Practice will usually be split up and explained clearly, step by step. The way that many Codes of Practice are made makes for easy reading and referencing.

4. Who will have a Code of Practice? • Any organisation can and most likely will have a Code of Practice. • Here is an example of a Code of Practice from a large organisation(The BBC). • And this is a quote from the Code of Practice above – “The intention of the Code is to ensure that relations between the BBC and independent producers are conducted on a fair and transparent basis.”. This summarises what the purpose of their Code of Practice is. • A Code of Practice is important as it means that no one gets ‘left in the dark’ or mistreated and makes whatever business has been carried out, fair business.