Posted By Paul Oliver Just as there are numerous adverts telling us to spend a fortune on security & lighting for our homes to prevent possible burgulary, and governent departments telling us that burgulars aren't botherd about re-offendiung as it is highly unlikely they will be caught. Great world we live in, and we wonder why Jeremy Clarkson takes the mickey. Some so called safety proffesionals need reigning in.

Posted By Jonathan Breeze Just to throw a spanner in the works, consider this: Would you be happy with your 14 yr old child wandering about in the dark at 6.30 am? I'm not sure I would even though I did a round myself as a kid. While it may be acceptable in the 'burbs, transpose the situation to an inner city estate with drugs & a gun culture and maybe you would reconsider. Add to that a peceived increase in the risk of litigation and you can understand why a small business may take this decision. It's hard to make a decision based on the info that Laurie gives.

Posted By Jonathan Breeze Cross posted with Mike there who is saying the same thing. Also maybe it was based on advice from the insurer. Who knows?

Posted By Paul Oliver What ever happened to the quantification of risk? I know it sounds pretty horrendous delivery papers in the cold, wind and rain, but what inforamtion is used to carry out a risk assessment. Are we saying that paper rounds should be abolished because we have all gone soft. Yes we can all say we had milk rounds and paper rounds when we were kids, and look at us now. It's no wonder we have a nation of obese children, the NHS bursting at the seams and everybody getting wrapped up in cotton wool. Lets get real.

Posted By Lorna If I may add my tuppence worth, I read about this yesterday and if it is the same article, then this newsagent is only about 20 miles from where I live. My inital thoughts on reading the article was that it was a typical tabloid use of the words "health and safety" - after reading the story I came to the conclusion that the newsagent was stopping deliveries on financial and employment law grounds. He mentioned that he could not afford to buy jackets and safety boots(?). He was also concerned about young people being abducted. He seemed to have carried out a risk assessment and could not implement the control measures, so his alternative was to stop the deliveries. I did not get the impression that there was any involvement from anyone "from health and safety". (I'm prepared to be corrected) Another reason for stopping the deliveries was to do with the earliest start time for young people working (I forget what that was, perhaps it was 7.15) and the short time they had before the school bus came, meaning they wouldn't have to time to deliver all their papers. A bit like the poppies story - a fireman makes a decision, and health and safety professionals cop the blame! If in doubt, just say "it's health and safety" (and I never had a paper round - was too lazy to get out of bed any earlier than I had to)

Posted By fats van den raad That's it, I'm not going to work anymore!!To get to work I have to drive and I cannot guarantee that I will not have an accident, due to the fault of some maniac using the same road. The relatively few near miss incidents I have had in my driving past should have woken me up to this a long time ago!!!As a matter of fact I am not gonna set foot out of the house, seeing as I cannot guarantee that I don't get mugged or become the victim of an accident. Again, even though it hasn't happened to me, it has happened in my town, county and country, so my risk assesment can only draw one conclusion.... stay indoors. Better still, I'm not even gonna get out of bed, coz I cannot guarantee that I don't fall down the stairs, or slip,fall and drown in the bath or burn myself drinking my tea. Even staying in bed makes me nervous, coz I might fall asleep and not hear the smoke alarm in time, or the bed might break or I may get strangled in the bed linnen, but Hey, I gotta be somewhere......

Posted By Andy Petrie Fats, have you assessed the risk of a meteortie crashing through your roof while you are in bed. It may be safer to dig a deep shelter under your house to improve your chances. (although don't let Nirex find out or they'll be round with the trucks)

Posted By Ian Forster Where do we draw the line? Do we now stop the "pot lad" (glass collector) in the working mans club in case he cuts himself on a smashed glass, or the young girl who works in the local cafe at weekends incase she scalds her herself on a hot drink. I used to sell news papers at the ferry landing on the river Tyne, 6 O'clock start and nearly strangled by 2 sacks full of about 300 papers, but I learnt the value of money, I never lived off hand outs from mum and dad, (pocket money) I had my own independance, my own income and looking back give me a very good out look to life, if you want something hard work and time is the only way to get it. I think Fats sumed it up nicely, too many whats, ifs, and may be's. If the estate is too rough surely the police should address this problem, if its a busy road ride on the footpath, at 7 in the morning not a lot of people to hit. Common sense or just over the top?