Inappropriate electronic content in the workplace can lead to heavy fines and prison sentences for directors that fail to prevent pornography, and other unsuitable material, finding its way onto office desktops.

Here then is a checklist covering the policies, procedures and systems that need to be in place to prevent companies suffering at the hands of irresponsible employees. For more information on auditing and protecting your company from the dangers of unsuitable electronic content, contact Robert May at ramsac on 0870 756 9001.

Checklist

• Publish a clear and unambiguous acceptable usage policy for Internet and email.
  Give employees their own copy and display the policy in the office at a prominent location. Detail what material is considered unacceptable and what the repercussions could be for employees found in breach of the policy. Be firm but fair.
  
• Include ‘acceptable electronic systems usage’ in all new employee literature.
  Make sure your Human Resources’ function realizes the importance of communicating this message.
  
• Have a structured, enforceable disciplinary procedure.
  Should you need to take action, make sure you can reference exactly which part of the acceptable usage policy the employee is in breach of.
  
• Implement software and systems that block access to potentially dangerous websites and e-mail content.
  At the very least, any company with Internet access should have a firewall and anti-virus software installed. Content filtering software can be extremely cost effective and can be configured to allow access to a limited range of websites.
  
• Work with your IT function to develop a PC ‘screening’ process
  Screen hard discs and server data stores for inappropriate content. This can pick up potential employee indiscretions before they become serious.
  
• Standardize desktop applications.
  By limiting employee access to only business-related software programmes, you’re removing channels through which they can access unsuitable content.
  
• Restrict access to the Internet at certain times of the day.
  After hours Internet abuse is a common problem. By removing access to PCs and the Internet out-of-hours, potential abuse of systems can be avoided.
  
• Impose restrictions on how much control employees have over their PCs.
  If you’re running a network, configure individual PC user rights so that only authorized employees can install and modify software. If not, make it company policy that employees do not modify their machines.
  
• Make sure all staff realise the seriousness of the issue.
  How many people would walk down a busy street openly reading an adult magazine or bring such a magazine to work to read at their desks? Make sure your workforce understands the threat posed to their jobs – both by dismissal and business performance – of unsuitable electronic content appearing on PCs.