Girls arriving and leaving work early morning late evening

[OneCheeryGoldMoose]

I know I'll probably be told off but just for traffic posting on here.

My husband and I run a company and we have two younger girls who run the office with us.

Husband and I are going away for three weeks for a wedding and making a family holiday of it as it's over the other side of the world.

We have an office that's on an industrial estate and is very dark and not well lit in the mornings and evenings- and we start early due to the nature of the business 5.30/6am to get all the boys in and out with job pack if they are required on the day.

Normally we pick the girls up on the way in and drop them home during the winter for safety as they are local.

I know it's probably over the top of me but we are worried about them feeling safe getting in and out on their own in the mornings and evenings (it is a sketchy South London Industrial estate)- does anyone have any suggestions to make them feel a bit safer. We have a ring camera set up on the door of the office.

None of the boys can bring them in as they have material to pick up.

You sound like a lovely boss.

I haven't read the whole thread I'm afraid but can see some weird unappreciative comments.

I would offer taxi on account/ company Uber account as optional for them especially for mornings.

Have a good holiday.

So the lone working policy should cover them being in the workplace too for these exact eventualities. For example one of the girls gets ill & so there is only one going in.

yes had employers risk assess how people were commuting in. Most employers should do this, for example if everyone travels by tube & there is a strike/lines are closed for whatever reason, there should be a contingenct plan such as having a back up office/other methods of travel/call in other staff to replace those that can’t get there/WFH etc.

its not just the travel to work either its the being in the workplace in what the OP says is sketchy. Someone breaks in or assaults them on the premises falls to the OP for their welfare at work.

that being said the OP is doing what they think is sensible to help & getting all kinds of stupidity thrown at them

I was responding to the post I quoted, which stated that this was your responsibility under duty of care. It isn’t, and I know you understand that, but I was replying to the poster who seemed to think it was.

Travelling to work isn't Lone Working.

Someone mentioned going out to places that might be a bit dodgy as being RAs, that's because you're being sent there specifically rather than just travelling to your set place of work

Businesses may offer advice or extras like taxis after a certain time, making sure people finish together so they can walk to transport together, working shifts so people who give each other lifts can be on together etc but those are just offered, not expected.

People get attacked on their way to work whether it's a dark industrial estate or catching the Tube. You can't blame the employer for that.

Employees also disregard risk assessments all the time because they think they know better.

But nice little dig about people not working, when most of the advice here is probably from people with far more experience of this stuff

Do you mean men and women?

What’s with calling adults boys and girls?

Sorry if I missed the point

It’s the end of January love, loads of them are feeling all mardy and tired and the weather has been crap. That’s the only reason I can think of that your post is full of sanctimonious arseholes. They’ll get happier when the weather picks up!

No I don't. I mean the girls in the office and the boys on the road.

As has been stated multiple times and many other posters have commented how common this is in trade businesses.

Boys and girls is also how they refer to themselves.

If one of the employees is ill. Then the lone worker policy should kick in because the OP said that there would only be the two of them there at that time (with the OP away) & why no one else could take them. So there would only be one employee in the building on there own.

lone worker policies/risk assessements/BCP. Should be essential policies in every business to cover off the worst eventualities and what they should do in those situations, 1 for peace of mind, 2 for safeguarding the business, employees and customers. 3. If a claim against the OP happens they can defend it, like your example of an employee ignoring a risk assessment, the liability then sways away from the OP. No risk assessment or policy leaves the OP open (again using my example of them being in the building alone & not commuting)

You could at least attempt to drag yourself into the 21st century

Eh? Yes I’ve read the whole thread. I know you’re going to pay the taxis, good on you! But good on them too.

Why if those she’s talking about are perfectly fine with it? I’m called a ‘girl’ in my office, I’m 42. I’ve managed not to whine like a baby about it and the ‘lads’ call themselves ‘lads’ without having a little cry.

Yes. It would kick in once they got to work. Which is irrelevant to how they make their way there.

If they are going to start risk assessing their travel in and include "we drive them in" then they open themselves up to issues around insurance on the vehicle, when do they start work etc...

Can I come work for you you sound nice

Could you potentially organise them on Uber??

Actually, I've dealt with plenty of Lone Working and risk assessments where the way the employee accesses and leaves the site has been taken into account - in schools, the NHS and private companies (including ones on industrial estates).

True, after they're off the clock and no longer connected to the site/not doing something for the business, that's not relevant, but the going from very public areas to isolated ones with poor lighting, potential spots for attackers/thieves/robbers/vandals/protesters, etc to hide in to wait for somebody with keys or to attack is definitely part of planning for staff and business safety, just as whether they're going to the bank with cash or carrying valuable confidential information or equipment/stock in a relatively secure vehicle or walking down an unlit path in the dark to get a mile to the nearest bus stop is.

Just ignore the unkindness. Sometimes you can't do right for being wrong on here and honestly it's lovely that you care. So many employers don't.

Why are you so gleeful? It makes it look as though you’re not in good faith here?

That’s ok.

Would be good to get the Ubers to and from in these dark mornings and evenings. Thank you for caring about your staff. In my last job one of my colleagues, a young woman in her 20's raised with our (male) awful manager that she would be alone in the office in the evening and it wouldn't be safe. He suggested if there was a problem to climb out of the window to escape. Fecking dick.

I guarantee if you gave them a pay rise during the time you’re away and said that they could spend it on Ubers, which is what you’d suggest, but if they choose not to - that’s their prerogative and money is still theirs…. They wouldn’t be booking Ubers!

Why wouldn’t it have been safe to be in the office alone @CelestialCandyfloss

Because the office was a) adjacent to a mens toilet down a corridor and cut off from other offices b) not able to be locked c) if the colleague was there on her own (she was young and physically small) there were numerous unknown people, including adult students able to physically access the location. No security pass doors were active in that part of the building. Anyone could come in.