2. Duty of prevention

Therefore, key processes highlighted under duty of information within the Duty of Care Maturity Model matrix are:

Recruitment

Induction / Onboarding

Training

Risk assessment

Pre-departure briefings for travellers

• The process of hiring new people into an organisation.

• A course designed to formally introduce someone to a new job or position upon recruitment.

• A course that aims to teach a person or group of individuals a particular skill or type of behaviour.

• A process through which the organisation identifies the different security and safety threats that could affect staff, assets and programmes; identifies how the organisation and staff may be vulnerable to these threats; and then analyses risks according to the likelihood and impact to determine the degree of risk involved.

• A meeting for giving information or instructions prior to travel.

2. Duty of prevention

“Employers must anticipate accidents and act accordingly…a lack of guidelines, or guidelines that do not meet the relevant requirements, could be taken as the result of negligence, or a refusal to face reality, on the part of the employer.”23

Additionally, the employer must take all necessary prevention measures and that these should be adapted to the organisation. Employees should be protected from external threats, e.g., mobbing, but also internal ones, such as harassment.

A key learning from the Dennis v NRC case was that it was not illegal for employers to place their staff at risk in order to pursue a legitimate aim. Instead, the court emphasized the need to follow the principle of proportionality when undertaking these activities. The higher the risks that staff are exposed to, the higher the obligation on the employer to put in place processes to treat the risk.24

In summary, this study interprets the duty of prevention to entail putting in place day-to-day risk treatment measures that reduce the likelihood and impact of identified risks. This includes predeparture measures for travellers and ensuring the organisation is insured against risks.

23 Chavanne (2012), p. 13. 24 Merkelbach and Kemp (2016).