Posted By Jeffrey Watt Richard I approve of your caring attitude towards your staff but I would suggest that the employer does not have a duty in this case unless the risk is somehow caused by them (the employer). I'm sure some staff drive home, is your duty different to them? Do they require free breakdown assisstance in case they run out of petrol somewhere? I would have thought no. As employees we are owed a duty of care when going about or work but I feel we are not owed a duty going to and from it. Other learned colleagues may be more up to date on the Case Law than I and offer a different opinion. Best of luck Jeff

Posted By Kieran J Duignan Richard A reliable and valid answer to the questions you raise are possible only after a very thoroough written assessment of the specific risks arising to employees. I suggest that you make such an assessment in the hypothetical (at present) scenarios in which a 'young' female, Asian employee, a middle-aged gay or lesbian employee and an old male, British employee are separately assaulted and each of them killed on their way home from work on a dark, wet night. You can apply the usual methodology of the scale of the hazards and likelihood of the risk. I cannot personally see any basis for neglecting to conduct the written risk assessment of the kind outlined above, NOW, in case you need to present it as court evidence in the event of injury, death or - more likely - post-traumatic stress disorder after an incident. Without reliable risk data of this kind, if you were challenged by a claim, an expert witness could validly question the quality of your compliance with the relevant Regs, in the light of available scientific (i.e. social psychology) knowledge about the risks you are statutorily obliged to assess and manage. The principle 'If you think education is expensive, wait till you see the cost of ignorance' also applies. Without employee education about risk management, that is based on thorough, well-researched and competent risk assessment, any incident could trigger enormous anxiety which in turn will undoubtedly affect productivity. As you can perhaps imagine, I'm writing as a chartered psychologist and qualified counsellor (and registered ergonomist) as well as a CMIOSH, who has faced employees who have suffered 99.9999% avoidable traumas due to employer negligence. While sensitive counselling can help them recover, my experience as an expert witness in such cases moves me to wave a very, very large RED FLAG in response to your enquiry. Helen's reference to the Suzy Lamplugh site is valuable. It's also worth knowing that they used specialist ergonomic consultants to assist them to identify the legal issues and, in technical jargon, to analyse the 'interfaces' to be controlled.