Working From Home Guidance

As you’ll be aware, under the law employers are responsible for health and safety management. Employers have a duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees. You should be aware that employers are still responsible for those working at home and must do whatever is reasonably practicable to protect them when working there too. Primary areas of responsibility are lone working, DSE and mental health.

Lone Working

If you have employees WFH, remote working, telecommuting, teleworking or simply working from home here are some things to consider:

• How are you planning to keep in touch and how often?
• What will they be working on?
• Can their work be carried out safely at home?
• Do you need to implement control measures to protect your employees?

DSE

Display Screen Equipment and how it is set up is important for productivity, health and safety. Using a laptop curled up on the sofa or on an ironing board is neither the most productive or good for the neck, back, hands, joints or eyes.  This and other homeworking habits can lead to pain and significant long-term ailments that can lead to illness, injury and time off work. Working with your teams to ensure they have the appropriate DSE posture and usage has many benefits.

Mental Health

Stress, feeling distanced, a lack of association and socialisation can all be detrimental to an employee’s health and an organisation’s productivity.

Some signs of stress include:

• mood swings
• being withdrawn
• loss of motivation, commitment and confidence

If you suspect an employee or employees of being stressed, act early, consider whether the stress is work related and if so, look to relieve pressure and to reduce and remove the causes.

The law is important, as are your employees and your organisation’s efficiency, effectiveness and output. Taking care of health and safety can pull all of these areas into focus.

Helpful Resources

Here are some resources to help you:

Click to download our downloadable Remote / Home Workers Assessment check sheet which can help highlight the variety of things you may need to consider.

HSE Information and a Toolbox Talk

The HSE has some essential information about:

Employee’s Responsibilities
Protecting Home Workers

Here’s a Toolbox talk – a short presentation with key facts about Keeping a healthy mindset when working from home that we have prepared.

Remember that at Harrier our friendly team is always available to simplify health and safety and strengthen your business.

Call us on 01332 460703 or email info@harrieruk.com.