With treacherous weather and driving conditions forcing many commuters to work from home last week, business advice company Croner Consulting is reminding employers to look carefully at the measures they have in place to meet their health & safety responsibilities for employees working from home.
During the recent freeze, Croner Consulting, the UK’s largest provider of in-depth advice and practical support for businesses, received a large number of calls to its Business Support Helplines from employers concerned and confused over their liability and responsibility for the safety of homeworkers.
This is a growing concern amongst businesses all year round. According to Government figures, there are now more than 700,000 people working from home in the UK, with increasing numbers in every sector making the break from office life every week.
However, it seems that companies employing homeworkers do not fully understand that they still have as much of a ’duty of care’ for them as if they were still based on site.
Trevor Davies, senior health and safety consultant at Croner Consulting, which is part of Wolters Kluwer UK, believes both employer and employee should fully assess the steps that need to be taken to ensure safe homeworking conditions.
He says: Working from home can encompass anything from a computer perched in amongst other household items in an overcrowded spare-room, to a fully equipped, dedicated office.
However, no matter what the planned layout, if the homeworker is ’employed’, rather than self-employed or contracted, their employer has full responsibility for their health and safety whilst they are at their ’place of work’ and is just as liable for any safety issues that might arise.
Employers are fully liable for any expenses that might occur in adapting a location for safe homeworking, from something as simple as a cable tidy to prevent tripping accidents, right up to ensuring appropriate access and fire safety facilities.
The cost of taking such action could impact on the feasibility of an individual working from home - but the potential cost of companies not fulfilling their obligations, in terms of prosecutions or compensation claims following home office accidents, could be far higher.
Croner Consulting is advising companies to ensure that clear health and safety guidelines are drawn up for homeworkers to guarantee all parties know where they stand.
Trevor Davies continues: Because health and safety law covers anywhere that is termed a ’place of work,’ office safety standards must be equally rigorously applied to home offices as well.
If clearly-stated and agreed health and safety policies are in place, outlining both the employer’s and homeworker’s responsibilities, there should be no room for any misunderstandings.
Health and safety risk to homeworkers
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