IOSH’s criteria for blocking vexatious people on social media

Introduction

Our IOSH social media channels provide a platform for our members, customers, training providers, staff, OSH professionals, and the wider public to come together to share information and ideas. To protect the integrity of this community we ask that all our followers act responsibly and communicate with IOSH and the rest of the community positively, behaving in a polite and constructive way.

Purpose

This webpage aims to provide guidance to the IOSH Social Media and Community (SM&C) team on blocking an individual from our social media channels because of vexatious behaviour.

Criteria for blocking vexatious people

The following behaviours can lead to a person being blocked:

language which contains swear words. This includes the use of asterisks or other symbols to mask the spelling of an expletive and the use of acronyms and standard SMS text terminology to abbreviate the expletive.
promoting products, causes or campaigns that do not relate to the substance of the post or thread.
messages that could be considered unwanted, unprofessional, defamatory, obscene, offensive, deliberately provocative, inflammatory, or unlawful.
personal criticism of other users, bullying, aggressive, discriminatory or nuisance behaviour.
impolite or inappropriate postings made towards others.
posts that pursue or promote a grievance against any individual or organisation.

Next steps

The SM&C team will block the social media accounts of individuals that behave in the ways below. The team will contact them via a direct message (DM) to inform them that they will be blocked with a link to this webpage.

using language which contains swear words. This includes the use of asterisks or other symbols to mask the spelling of an expletive and the use of acronyms and standard SMS text terminology to abbreviate the expletive.
promoting products, causes or campaigns that do not relate to the substance of the post or thread.

The SM&C team will escalate negative messages or complaints as outlined below to the Brand and Reputation Manager or Governance Manager, who will then review the incident or incidents and confirm if this social media account needs to be blocked. A DM will be sent to inform them that they will be blocked with a link to this webpage.

messages that could be considered unwanted, unprofessional, defamatory, obscene, offensive, deliberately provocative, inflammatory, or unlawful.
personal criticism of other users, bullying, aggressive, discriminatory or nuisance behaviour.
impolite or inappropriate postings made towards others.
posts that pursue or promote a grievance against any individual or organisation.

Any necessary follow-on actions will be decided by the managers referenced above.

Process map

Example of vexatious behaviour: Using language which contains swear words. This includes the use of asterisks or other symbols to mask the spelling of an expletive and the use of acronyms and standard SMS text terminology to abbreviate the expletive.

Step 1: SM&C team will DM the individual to let them know that they are going to be blocked and will send them a link to this webpage.
Step 2: SM&C team will block the account.
Step 3: SM&C team will log this incident on the ‘Social media queries’ Trello board. On the Trello card, they will add the date, channel, screenshot of the individuals post and the DM from IOSH.

Example of vexatious behaviour: Promoting products, causes or campaigns that do not relate to the substance of the post or thread.

Example of vexatious behaviour: Messages that could be considered unwanted, unprofessional, defamatory, obscene, offensive, deliberately provocative, inflammatory, or unlawful.

Step 1: SM&C team will escalate to Brand and Reputation Manager or Governance Manager.
Step 2: Brand and Reputation Manager or Governance Manager will review, make a decision, and let the SM&C team know the outcome.
Step 3: If the outcome is to block the account, then SM&C team will DM the individual to let them know that they are going to be blocked and will send them a link to this webpage.
Step 4: SM&C team will block account.
Step 5: SM&C team will log this incident on the ‘Social media queries’ Trello board. On the Trello card, they will add the date, channel, screenshot of the individuals posts and the DM from IOSH.

Example of vexatious behaviour: Personal criticism of other users, bullying, aggressive, discriminatory or nuisance behaviour.

Example of vexatious behaviour: Impolite or inappropriate postings made towards others.

Example of vexatious behaviour: Posts that pursue or promote a grievance against any individual or organisation.