Business owners should all be aware of the government rules and regulations surrounding workplace health & safety. Effectively, you are responsible for maintaining adequate health & safety at work. It is up to you to create a work environment that’s as safe as possible, reducing the chances of people getting injured or sick. You will protect your employees, but you will also be responsible for protecting customers and other members of the public that enter your premises.
This is all pretty basic stuff, and there are loads of different things you need to keep in mind. Primarily, you require a workplace health & safety policy that outlines all the steps you’re taking to keep everyone safe. You’ll need clear exit routes in the building, a fire extinguisher in rooms with potential fire safety hazards, warning signs to prevent accidents and so much more.
However, things start getting confusing when your employees work from home. Like a lot of companies, you’ve decided not to go back to the office following the pandemic. It actually transpired that working from home was better for you, so you’ve stuck at it. But, this throws up all sorts of concerns and questions surrounding business health & safety. What happens when everyone is working from home? Do you still have the same obligations and responsibilities?
Employers are still responsible
It’s easy to think that your responsibilities and obligations cease to exist when people work from home. After all, they are not working in your office; they work from their own homes. So, surely this doesn’t mean you have to ensure they’re in a safe work environment – isn’t it up to them?
Well, the answer is no, it is not up to them. Employers are still responsible and you will have all of the same obligations as you would for a team of employees working in an office. It is still your duty to ensure they are safe and free from risks at work.
Obviously, this is much harder than if you are all in an office together. When your employees work in the same location as you, you can take steps to keep everything nice and safe. You are basically in complete control of the office layout and all its safety issues. If people work from home, your control is limited – but there are still things you should do.
Carry out a risk assessment
All business owners must conduct a risk assessment in the workplace. This extends to employees that are working from home. It is your job to assess the potential risks facing your remote workers. For example, are there things that might prevent them from doing their jobs safely?
In most cases, your risk assessment will include things such as:
- Mental health issues
- Stress
- Computer usage
- Preventing accidents at home
You have to figure out the potential risks facing your home workers relating to these topics/issues. For instance, what can you do to reduce the risk of someone developing mental health problems or high-stress levels when at home?
Usually, you won’t need to visit employees when conducting risk assessments. But, you should keep in contact with them and get as much information from them as possible. This lets you learn about the work environment of all your employees, so you can see if any actions are necessary to improve the way they work.
Help your employees improve workplace safety
Remember, there are certain things that are way out of your control when someone is working from home. As an example, you can’t control the layout of someone’s house. It is completely out of your hands if someone has a home with really steep stairs that they have to walk up and down every day. It’s also out of your control how messy someone’s home is – you cannot stop an employee’s child from getting water on the floor and causing a slip hazard.
However, there are things you can control to mitigate risks and make their work environments more comfortable and safer. At the same time, you can take action to acknowledge the things outside of your control, demonstrating that you have attempted to help your employees in one way or another.
What can you do to improve safety when working from home?
- Provide your employees with computers and electrical equipment. This prevents instances when some employees have old laptops or computers that might break or run into reliability issues that could cause hazards. If everyone has the same device, and you know the device is safe, you can prevent a lot of possible electrical hazards at home.
- Give your employees better setups with more ergonomic equipment. Essentially, you want to provide chairs and desks that allow your employees to work comfortably without affecting their posture. This can prevent a whole host of common health concerns, such as chronic back pain and stress.
- Offer mental health support and provide flexible working patterns. This can aid your employee’s mental health and prevent them from succumbing to high levels of stress. They have enough support to manage any issues and can avoid feeling overworked with flexible working patterns.
- Outline a list of potential hazards and provide advice/guidance on how they can be mitigated. For instance, tell your employees they should work in an area that’s free from water and other possible dangers. Inform them not to plug too many electrical items in one plug socket as it can blow a fuse and cause an electrical fire. Taking steps like these can prove that you are helping your employees. If they do get injured because they slipped on water on their way to their desk, you can indicate that you flagged this up as a possible safety concern and provided advice on how to mitigate it. So, it won’t technically be your fault.
Overall, working from home is similar to working in the office when it comes to health & safety. You are still responsible for your employees, so ensure you provide a complete risk assessment that takes their home work environments into account. Take actions to reduce risks and you will be able to demonstrate to the authorities that you’re taking things seriously.
