Health and Safety when working from home

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Introduction
This article will be useful reading for all employers who allow their staff to work from home, either regularly, or occasionally, and also for employees who work from home. If you are self employed and work from home, you will also find this article useful reading.

There are numerous Acts regarding health and safety at work, such as the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health, however, these don’t mention self employed people specifically. It is therefore important that you have some guidelines and don’t allow your home to become a hazard to you health or safety. However, The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA) does place a duty on employers, self-employed people and employees. Under HSWA, employers have a duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees, including home workers.

Health and safety considerations when working at home should be a priority. Your comfort at home is obviously increased compared to when you are at the office. Ensure that your health and safety awareness does not decrease merely because you feel you can ‘relax’ off when you aren’t being directly supervised.

You must be contactable
If you are working from home as en employee, most employers will want you to be “contactable”. Your specific terms depend on what is in your individual contract of employment, however, usually, this means immediate contract, by telephone. Some employer might only need you to be contactable by fax or email, depending on the type of job you do.

People posing risks while you work
Children, elderly people and other persons might cause additional risks to you while you work. While you may not be able to remove them (you are probably working at home for the dual purpose of looking after them after all!), it is a good idea to be aware of the risks they pose.

Assess your workplace for hazards
Workplaces should be assessed regularly. Your manager or health and safety supervisor will usually make the assessment in the workplace; however, it is you that must do it in the home. When you might usually plus three or four plugs into sockets, of course you know you increase the risks when doing so. If an accident occurs and you have too many plugs in one socket, your damages are likely to increase on the grounds that you were reckless as to the risk.

Of course this is only one example of how to organise your workspace so that it is safe. Other obvious examples include making sure you have easy access to the door in case of a fire, and also easy access to the window, in case the door exit is blocked. Endeavour to keep the floor space tidy – thereby enabling you a quick access route in an emergency.

New fire legislation requires that anyone "in control" of premises where people work (even charity organisations) carry out a 'fire assessment'. This is not the same as having a 'fire certificate'. These certificates will be invalid from this date forward. Please read the Net Lawman fire assessment article for more information.

Install appropriate safety devices and learn how to use them You might install:

A fire extinguisher (or more than one type);
A storable safety ladder for emergency exits from the window;
A smoke alarm in the room you work;
A comprehensive first aid kit in the room you work in;
A water fountain (a little luxuriant for just yourself, however, if you employee other people it is a hygienic way to provide hydration).

If by chance you find some error of law or fact in any Net Lawman information page, do please tell us. We should also welcome your suggestions for new subjects for information pages. These notes: