Its not a fear of the activity its a fear of litigation, maybe we could do some extreme litigation events, whoopie.

Risk assesments are there for a reason, to make you aware of a risk , then you can make an informed decision.

John Tarr, Nottingham,

Awful!

We should let companies send their people on high-risk activities and potentially kill them, maim them, with impunity - plenty more employees out there, eh what?

The law simply requires what should be done in the first place - an employer should take reasonable care that they - or the people they are paying for these events - take a REASONABLE level of care not to hurt them, or others.

England is not a sad place, hospitals and funeral parlours are.

m talbot, london, uk

Never read such tosh in days. Provided that all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure that the company providing the activity has a robust health & safety management system in place - as should be done for any sub-contractor, then there should be no fear of successful prosecution if something does unfortunately go wrong. Liability would rest with the activity provider.

John Webster, Kirkwall, Orkney

For every person that enjoys this sort of thing, there will be another person who finds enforced "team-building" utterly ghastly. It doesn't matter whether it's bungee-jumping or quilting. The whole concept is of debatable value.

Sophie, London, UK

This article does tend to miss the point of the regulation. No-one has spent precious parliamentary time and resources governing how corporates spend their bonding time. This legislation is designed to prevent some of the worst injustices the justice system has seen. Just cast your mind back to the Zeebrugge disaster. No-one was prosecuted there because, despite numerous failings, it was essentially impossible to find a 'corporate mind'.

If people are worried (and I do wonder how legitimate that fear is) they should lobby for an addition to the law permitting individuals to effectively accept the risk of the activity in certain limited circumstances.

Simon, birmingham, uk

The two most dangerous words in the English language are indeed "Health" & "Safety". What a load of rubbish.

Alan, Midlands,

Extreme cookery classes! Group drumming! Get a bloody life!! This is chuffing rediculous! I can't even begin to express the level of frustration I'm feeling right now. Angry doesn't even nearly cover it. I can tell you that as someone who runs a small business, the reason we organise go-karting sessions / quad bikes etc is because the employees LIKE it! I offer them a choice and they choose to do it. They enjoy it for heavens sake, and it makes work a fun place to be. Importantly, there are significant benefits to organising such activities and these seem to have been ignored in this 'All risk is bad' culture. I'd happily throttle the nannying muppet who dreamt up this legislation.

DG, Huntingdon, UK

Cookery - with all those sharp knives, hot ovens, unguarded hobs, raw (possibly contaminated with pathogenic micro-organisms) materials?

Art - sharp, pointy sticks with bristles (and all the allergenic potential), paint, which spilled on the floor will create a slipping hazard and will certainly require a COSHH assessment?

Bill Q, Derby,

“Companies need to be looking and, yes, they should be worried,” Nasar Farooq, of Croner Consulting, a health and safety specialist, said. - Gosh, I wonder why he might say that?

I'm not so sure that cooking is a good idea either - knives, hot plates, ovens must surely all be pretty dangerous things. That might leave knitting, but then again all those sharp objects...

Anyway, no need for the pathetic inhabitants of sorry Albion to worry about conquering an empire or even fighting any wars in future. The only problem is all the molly-coddled little darlings will fall over from the effects of inactivity.

Charles, Hong Kong,

My daughter was on a work retreat and broke her collarbone, sholder blade and a rib in Auckland, NZ. The company were wonderfully supportive but I think the workers are often tired from working to cover the work they can't do due to the retreat and need more down time during the retreat - not extreme sports. My daughter was blokarting - a land yacht on wheels. I don't think she would want to go painting though! I have to say that until then she was having a great time!

Leonie, Auckland, NZ

What a nannied, timid, and pathetic place Britain has become. How sad.

How very,very sad.

Martin O, Shalimar, Florida, USA