Many of today’s employees find themselves working remotely rather than heading into their offices every day. The pandemic’s impact over the last few years has seen numbers in the workplace greatly reduced as many opt to stay at home either permanently or on a hybrid basis.
But, is this really a good option from a health and safety perspective? Let’s look at what your business’ health and safety responsibilities to remote workers are.
Health and safety law applies at home
As you probably already know, businesses have a duty of care regarding their employees. That comes in several guises but the most important guidelines are covered by health and safety legislation, otherwise known as Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the US. These laws are enacted by three Department of Labor (DOL) agencies to safeguard the health and safety of all workers. In the UK, the laws are known as The Workplace Regulations (1992).
Those health and safety laws apply to the office but they also extend to the home for remote workers. This is because it is their place of work and as such, it is an employer’s responsibility to ensure it is adequate for the tasks at hand. Typically this space involves a computer, desk and chair. However, there are more considerations regarding remote worker health and safety than simply finding them a good chair to sit on.
Risk assessing home working stations
Employees are the lifeblood of any company so it’s important to look after them. There is a danger that remote working is something of an afterthought for many organizations but this shouldn’t be the case. With so many changes to the work/life patterns of employees, HR departments have a greater health and safety responsibility to move with the times, adjust, and to monitor their employees more closely.
While the threat of the pandemic hasn’t disappeared we have had plenty of time to consider how to properly implement remote working stations. It is a legal requirement for companies to do a risk assessment of an employee’s working environment, so it’s the best place to start. This could be done by requesting them to send pictures of their stations and creating a risk assessment form for them to complete.
Following the risk assessment, you may find your employees require significant equipment upgrades. For instance, their chairs must be a suitable height for their workstation and any accompanying equipment must be easily used.
Suitable remote working measures include:
- Comfortable and suitable chair
- The work desk is the appropriate height
- Segregated work station
- Suitable lighting, heating and cooling
- Safe electrical system and fire alarm
- Basic first aid kit
Accidents in the remote workplace
When your employees are working on your premises they are somewhat under your control. Not in a hypnotising spell kind of way, but you can reduce the risks of injury through good practices and robust risk assessments.
While remote risk assessments mitigate the dangers, to an extent, they aren’t perfect. For instance, things like electrical safety or emergency protocols are much harder to get a grasp of.
In an ideal world, you will provide your employees with work equipment but many remote workers find themselves using personal devices. You could arrange for PAT testing on this equipment but can you justify sending someone’s personal device away when they also use it outside of work?
Injuries in the workplace, whether small or significant, need to be managed and their risks reduced. Serious injury risks that employers are liable for in the home include electric shocks and fires relating to any work equipment. Minor injuries like repetitive strain, back pain and eye discomfort also fall into the remit of work’s responsibility.
A failure to meet correct occupational health standards could lead to personal injury claims from an employee. However, there would need to be a clear failure on behalf of the employer for this to succeed. But, even if not found directly culpable, employers need to understand the risks involved with using a remote workforce.
Looking after remote workers’ mental health
There is no denying that working from home can be an isolating experience. People are social beings so removing them from any kind of group dynamic can sometimes negatively affect their wellbeing. An employer must ensure their staff are not suffering any mental health or wellbeing problems from working remotely.
One of the things to look out for is ensuring that staff are focusing on their work-life balance. It can be all too easy to work longer hours when people no longer have to factor in a commute to their day. Additionally, people must be able to switch off from work so some form of separation of work and home space is ideal.
There is a danger that when working from home, employees are less likely to take holiday or work when they are sick. It’s important to take time off for the mental health benefits, so encouraging your staff to take their annual leave should be done. Moreover, it means that you don’t have to lose huge chunks of your workforce at the end of the year when they realize they still need to take the annual leave!
Given the chances of feeling isolated, teams must stay in contact as much as possible. Besides the benefits of social interaction, regular online meetings allow managers to look for any signs of poor wellbeing or mental health.
Training remote workers
It’s important for your remote workers to feel like they are a part of the team, even if they don’t regularly work in your office. Regular team-building and training exercises help them to stay connected while also improving their skills. Remote employees should receive training to help them stay on top of their digital wellbeing.
Examples of good digital wellbeing practices:
- Take a short two-minute break every 20 minutes
- Take a larger five-minute break every hour
- Drink plenty of water
- Avoid sugary or fatty foods that can cause energy slumps
- Engage in some simple desk exercises
- Stay connected and engaged through Teams or Slack
- Maintain a positive work-life balance
These measures not only help your employees to feel better but it encourages them to be more productive too. It must be noted that, while some responsibility lies at the feet of employers, employees also have a responsibility for their safety.
They must complete risk assessment forms accurately, and honestly so their place of work can fully assess the dangers. Then, the correct equipment, and systems can be put in place for the safety of those working remotely.
About the Author
Mike James is an independent writer based in the UK, Mike writes content for the B2B market. He covers a broad range of topics including technology, cybersecurity, HR, marketing, design, co-working, and business start-ups.