A new code of practice on whistle-blowing could provide a defence for companies facing legal or regulatory penalties, one of its authors said this week.

Guy Dehn, head of the charity Public Concern at Work, said that implementing the first British Standards code on arrangements for whistle-blowing would show that an organisation had taken ‘reasonable precautions and shown due diligence’ to alerting executives about malpractice.

The code, published this week on the 10th anniversary of the Public Interest Disclosure Act, guides organisations on how to run, promote and review effective whistle-blowing arrangements. It includes advice on setting up fail-safe channels of communication, and how to handle problems such as anonymity and whistle-blowers with ulterior motives.

The code takes account of the differences between European and US laws, Dehn said.