Home workers working environments need to be risk assessed

As more and more employers and employees are taking advantage of the benefits of working from home, health and safety should not be forgotten as the employers duty to safeguard their employees from safety risks extends to when they are working from home.

The following regulation, the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 as well as many of the regulations made under the Act including the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the Display Screen Equipment Regulations 1992, the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 when assessing home working.

Employers should be careful to not fall into the “out of sight out of mind” attitude as they need to satisfy themselves that home workers who either work from home on a regular basis or those who do it on an ad hoc basis are working in a safe working environment. An area of particular concern is the assessment of DSE workstations for those working with computers.

Employers may need to visit an employee's home to carry out a risk assessment to ensure that any risks to health and safety are minimised and sufficiently managed.

If you are concerned about the health and safety of your employees who work from home then please contact Advantage Health and Safety