Rank: Forum user 
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Has an employer got a duty of care to allow their employees to leave work early in order to get home safely ?
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Rank: Super forum user 
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In short, No! But moraly it's a good thing to do, especially in retail, If the staff can't get home the customers can't get in and there is little point staying fully staffed for nothing. The other advantage is if you let them get home safely you'll know they will be fit and able to come back when weather permits.
We are currently conference calling all of our area managers every two hours to review the situation and are closing stores and sending the staff home where prudent to do so.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Nice try Safety Smurf. The Employer has a duty of care for his/her employees, but the extent of this duty is purely contextual and under normal circumstances would not extend to allowing employees home early due to inclement weather. Now, a caring employer might just be persuaded by a erudite employee.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Apologies, I meant Mungry and not Safety Smurf.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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My step son was allowed home early, 3pm this afternoon and got the train part way home. His next trip should have been the bus but they have all been taken off the road, so there he was, 5 miles from home and stranded in the snow. He walked the 5 miles home 'cos there was no way I was driving to get him. Is that a duty of care? Whose responsibility would it have been if he had an accident during his normal working hours even though he was not in work? I do know the answer!
He now has a problem of getting back to work tomorrow, no buses so another 5 mile walk to the station. Then another return trip after work.
Tomorrow, if the snow/ice are really bad I think people should stay at home, because of the potential problems getting home.
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Rank: Forum user
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It all depends on your employer and their attetude to safety in general if in normal weather conditions the employer is willing to allow the employee to carry out a task in an unsafe manner (or turn a blind eye to get the job done) then a bit of snow wont make a difference to them, these are the employers who need educated and in times like these is when they are found out for what the really are. BA-HUMBUGS
JMc
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Rank: Super forum user 
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It makes me laugh when people ask whose responsibility is it then Ad there was no way I was going to pick him up. He's your step son. If it was my son/stepson who was working then I would think it was his responsibility to get there just like it was in the summer (I know what summer). Would it have been the responsibility of the employer to give him water to carry on the way home because it was hot.
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Rank: Forum user 
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The attitude of thinking people should stay at home would not be considered acceptable within my workplace. Likewise letting people off early to get home. We are an acute healthcare provider and therefore if people stayed at home or left early then we would not have sufficient staff to attend to our existing patients and cope with the increased emergency attendances which occur in this type of weather.
Also what about emergency services staff, power suppliers etc? Don't forget these people as they are expected to make every effort to get into work and thankfully they do so!
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Rank: Super forum user
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The point is to let non essential personnel off, so that essential personnel can keep the country running. Although it's beyond me how every year we end up in the same mess every time it snows.
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