One in four women suffer sexual harassment at work - including offensive jokes, unwanted flirting and sexual remarks

A survey of 6,600 female members of Unite found that just over half had witnessed sexually offensive jokes, unwanted flirting or sexual remarks.

One in four respondents said they had been sexually assaulted at work and a similar number reported being shown pornographic images by a manager or colleague.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Staff safety should be among the highest priorities for employers, but the results of our survey are damning and show women workers are being failed by bosses.

“Nobody should suffer sexual harassment in the workplace. Unite is committed to taking a zero-tolerance approach and we will put every employer turning a blind eye on notice.

“We will fight every step of the way to stamp out workplace harassment once and for all. Every worker deserves a safe working environment and should feel able to report harassment.”

Many respondents said they did not report harassment they had experienced or witnessed as they were worried they would not be believed or it would put their job at risk.

A woman working in the construction industry told Unite: “I was sexually harassed by my manager in a previous job for several months.

“I finally built up the courage to confide in the company owner who reassured me that I’d done the right thing by telling him.

“He sacked me the following morning… it devastated me and drove me away from working in the construction industry for many years.”