As an employer, you have the same health and safety responsibilities for those working from home as you do for those working in the employer’s premises. Although the home environment may not pose the same risks as an office, factory or warehouse etc, there are nevertheless other risks that homeworking can create. An employer needs to investigate these and take appropriate measures to deal with them, to ensure the well-being of the employee.
When you have an employee working from home, either permanently or on a temporary basis, you should consider;
- How will you keep in touch with them?
- How often will you contact them?
- What work activities will they be doing?
- For how long will they be carrying out those activities?
- Are homeworkers getting the required rest breaks?
- Are those activities being conducted safely?
- Does the employee have the right tools/equipment to do the job?
- Are those tools/equipment suitable and safe?
- Is the environment safe to be able to do the activities safely?
- Is an inspection of the home environment necessary?
- Do you need to put into place, control measures?
Mental Health
Most commonly, the problems facing homeworking are lone working, working with display screen equipment and stress and mental health.
Working from home will often mean working in a home office/kitchen/bedroom, away from other members of the family, and without direct management supervision or contact. Employees may feel alone, isolated, with no help or support when they need it. This can cause stress, anxiety and affect their performance. It is important that employers establish a regime of communication with homeworkers. Not only will this give the employee a welcome distraction, it also reassures them that management are aware of your presence at home, you’ve not been forgotten. It also allows the employee to raise concerns that they may have about their activities, tools or equipment. If this does arise, an employer should visit the employee to discuss matters further. Remember, if legitimate issues are raised, it is your statutory duty to carry out changes.
Self-Assessment
Those working at home also face risks associated with display screen equipment. This includes laptops, PC’s. working desks and chairs. Where homeworking is expected to be temporary, the risks may be nominal (unless an employee has a pre-existing medical condition such as a back problem). But where it is long term, then employers are advised to carry out a DSE assessment. Initially, this should be a self-assessment (download the checklist from the HSE website), and if any issues are raised, then further investigations should be carried out, and control measures put in place. Simple steps include;
- Check if the DSE equipment supplied is adequate.
- Provide staff with DSE Self-Assessment Checklist.
- Advise staff to break up long spells of DSE work.
- Ensure that staff have an adequate chair to sit on. An ordinary house chair or dining chair will not be mobile or adjustable, therefore may not be suitable for those with back or posture conditions. Advise and inform staff on the importance of correct postures and avoiding awkward movements.
- Advising staff on the importance of getting up and carrying out simple exercises and stretching movements.
- Avoiding eye fatigue – the importance of blinking and occasionally changing eye focus by concentrating on a distant object.
