Rank: Forum user 
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I've finally got confirmation that the 20 odd people our firm has sent to the middle east are NOT residents out there but consultants from the UK business.
Can anyone point me to sources for how far the duty of care stretches? It would appear more planning goes into workers heading up north then has happened going to the middle east.
These guys have been out there since before I joined the company; just a month ago; but as far as I can see nothing has been done.
Well out of my comfort zone on this so any advice appreciated
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Nimble, I'm not sure that UK legislation would be much help in this regard and relying on local laws in some parts of the world is not likely to provide much protection.
Perhaps a better approach is to tackle this as a business risk issue: these employees are presumably a very valuable resource whose wellbeing should be paramount. Their ability to function effectively is essential to your business (is it?) and essential to the fees your employers will be collecting for their service. Thus any harm which may occur will be costly and therefore needs to be prevented.
And this is on top of any humanitarian or moral considerations.
There is a variety of literature available on the internet on this topic ranging from Foreign Office advice via insurers documents and individual company publications.
Whilst some parts of the ME are extremely volatile, others are relatively stable but the immediate working/living environment of your colleagues is the important consideration. Getting your Senior Management "on board" is a job that must be tackled very quickly.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Rank: Forum user
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Rank: Super forum user 
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The way I am reading this is that these people are normally employed in the UK and as such their employer is bound by UK standards of care - predominantly a risk assessment of both their work and welfare needs to be undertaken (or they are given sufficient competence, instruction and process to do this themselves when away). Remember the employer cannot just pass this over to someone else as the duty is personal to the 'employees'.
The results of this assessment might include controls such as existent parallel standards in the hosting country - or not as the case may be. Such standards may be legislated for or within contract control (eg oil and gas industry), and may be very similar to either UK or US codes.
In short you have to do something - but just what is determined by the circumstances, the locality and of course the level of control and (OSH) processes given to the individuals themselves.
Some good sources above and other contributors might offer policies or safeguards on additional issues such as (regrettably) kidnap and ransom which need to be considered as 'normal risks' in some places.
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Rank: Forum user
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Thanks for all the help folks;
always fun exploding a huge can of worms with massive financial impacts weeks into a new job!!!!
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Something to bear in mind is that if one of them were to die overseas there would be an inquest. How would your employer bear up under coroners' questioning? There may be no formal legal duty here but coroners can be quite insistent, plus of course the relatives get to ask questions as well...
John
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Rank: Super forum user
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Hi Nimble
I was once the regional [Europe Africa and the Middle East] OHS manager for an American international consultancy and before any of our staff or contractors set off anywhere and particularly to the more 'hazardous' areas, there had to be a health and safety plan in place addressing all foreseeable risks along the lines of the IOSH booklet referred to above.
There was excellent practical guidance in place in the company's OHS Policy manual. It was the primary responsibility of the Project team management to put this plan together.
The upshot was:-No plan-no go.
There were often heated discussions about which standards to apply with some [often senior people from US] recommending the lowest/local until the tougher US/UK/EU or ILO were insisted upon. Does Bhopal ring any bells?
So, keep at the top management to ensure a proper system is in place.
Regards
Mike
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Rank: Forum user
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Thanks for all the positive support and advice.
Its been under the gun; almost literally; since arriving at this massively deceptively sold contract.
Enjoying fighting all the cr@p but sometimes it can get on top of you;
Thanks folks
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