As an employer, you have the same health and safety responsibilities for home workers as for any other workers. When someone is working from home temporarily, as an employer you should consider:
- How will you keep in touch with them?
- What work activity will they be doing?
- Can it be done safely?
- Do you need to put control measures in place to protect them?
Lone working without supervisionThere will always be greater risks for lone workers with no direct supervision or anyone to help them if things go wrong.Keep in touch with lone workers, including those working from home, and ensure regular contact to make sure they are healthy and safe.If contact is poor, workers may feel disconnected, isolated or abandoned. This can affect
stress levels and mental health.
Working with display screen equipmentThere is no increased risk from display screen equipment (DSE) for those working at home temporarily. So employers do not need to do home workstation assessments.You could provide workers with advice on completing their own basic assessment at home. A practical
workstation checklist (PDF)- Portable Document Format will help but employers do not have to provide this for those working temporarily at home. Other simple steps you can take to reduce the risks from display screen work:
- breaking up long spells of DSE work with rest breaks (at least 5 minutes every hour) or changes in activity
- avoiding awkward, static postures by regularly changing position
- getting up and moving or doing stretching exercises
- avoiding eye fatigue by changing focus or blinking from time to time
Specialised DSE equipment needsEmployers should try to meet those needs where possible.For some equipment (eg keyboards, mouse, riser) this could mean allowing workers to take this equipment home.For other larger items (eg ergonomic chairs, height-adjustable desks) encourage workers to try other ways of creating a comfortable working environment (eg supporting cushions).Our
brief guide has more information.Stress and mental healthHome working can cause work-related stress and affect people’s mental health.Being away from managers and colleagues could make it difficult to get proper support.Keep in touchPut procedures in place so you can keep in direct contact with home workers so you can
recognise signs of stress as early as possible.It is also important to have an emergency point of contact and to share this so people know how to get help if they need it.
