Institution of Occupational Safety and Health | IOSH



Home WorkingOne of enduring images of the Pandemic will surely be Friday 20th March and workers travelling home with screen monitors under their arms and a hastily cobbled together home working policy in their bag as they headed home for potentially a lengthy period for the duration of the Corona virus crisis. A great deal of those were from the events sector (not an industry that necessarily lends itself to home working) which has been particularly impacted for obvious reasons and is now coming to terms with this new reality. Before looking at the law and guidance which covers home working it is worth placing the issue into context. Aside from the temptation to embark on a range of inadvisable DIY projects, working from home on a laptop is not itself a hazardous activity and by sending employees home we are shielding them individually and collectively from a far greater potential risk. Secondly, none of these employees asked to be sent home so saddling them with an over bureaucratic and cumbersome policy to prove that they are safe in their own home is creating an additional pressure in an already stressful situation. For those that are temporary home workers this is an exceptional necessity and they do not necessarily need to be subject to the same contractual strictures applied to those for whom home working is already part of their working life.Notwithstanding, the law is clear that employees owe the same duty of care to workers at home as they do when they are in the office. Specifically, most of the Regulations made under HASAWA apply to homeworkers as well as to employees working at an employer's workplace. These include, for example, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and the Display Screen Equipment Regulations 1992, both of which require risk assessments. In addition, if homeworkers use electrical equipment provided by the employer as part of their work, the employer is responsible for its maintenance. Employers are only responsible for the equipment they supply. Electrical sockets and other parts of the homeworkers' domestic electrical supply are their own responsibility.Health and safety law, for the most part, only requires arrangements which are ‘reasonably practicable’ where the costs are proportionate. The current crisis clearly allows for some latitude. It is reasonably practicable for an employer to require an employee who permanently or regularly works from home to have a proper work station and a reasonable degree of isolation from distractions. Sitting at a kitchen table balancing a four year old on your knee would not be suitable in this context. In the current situation, however, temporary home workers should be given advice regarding the ideal arrangements but it would not be reasonably practicable to insist on it. The HSE provides this advice in the form of HSG 226 – Homeworking – an employer’s guide on health and safety available from the HSE website (.uk). The Safety and Health Practitioner has also provided guidance which can be accessed via shponline.co.uk .In the events business when we are not actually running events the work is office based and administrative and therefore if we are not in meetings we are sat at a computer. HSE guidance contains a useful check sheet for display screen equipment, Display screen equipment (DSE) workstation checklist which is available from the HSE website. For most purposes, in the current situation, the completion of this sheet should suffice to advise and inform as well as meet the legal requirement. Perhaps the biggest risk is the word that is constantly used now, ‘isolation’. More senior staff i.e. those that make policy, tend to be more established with larger homes and families and perhaps more established in a local community. This will limit the impact of physical isolation. Consideration needs to be given to those living on their own in a small flat without a garden who may not be integrated to the local community. This situation will affect everyone in different ways and this is only one example but perhaps the greatest risk from home working during the current crisis centres around wellbeing issues. Here, communication is the key. The events industry is about the collective enjoyment of a live event which is true even in the B2B sector. Employees of event companies, particularly those that work on site, are likely to be naturally inclined towards social contact which has now been taken away. Once we have dispensed with the formalities of the homeworking arrangements this should be the company’s focus. ................
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