How to Manage the Health & Safety of Remote Workers

Close to half of all employed adults in the UK (44%) now work from home at least some of the time. A decade ago, this figure was a little under 14%.

The majority of health and safety regulations you must comply with as an employer were written before this explosion in remote work. But remote work isn’t an entirely new concept. Officials recognised that legislation needed to protect everyone working, regardless of where that was.

So, you must protect your hybrid or home workers as you would your office-based employees. We’ve summarised what you need to do below.

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA) legally requires employers to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees.

There are no concessions or loopholes. If someone is working for you, you’re accountable for their wellbeing. You must take reasonable steps to prevent the work you assign from causing harm wherever they’re based.

Employees also have responsibilities under the HSWA. They must cooperate with you on health and safety matters and follow all agreed policies and procedures. They must also take reasonable steps to protect themselves while working.

Remote workers arguably have more personal responsibility for safety than their office-based counterparts. They operate without supervision and have more control over their work environment. But this autonomy doesn’t void your duty of care. You’re still expected to make work as safe as possible, and you could face enforcement action from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) if an employee is harmed while working remotely.

The HSWA is the law. It establishes the legal need to protect workers, but it doesn’t set out how to manage health and safety. In other words, it’s the destination, not the map.

To fulfil your duty of care under the HSWA, you need to comply with the health and safety regulations passed in support of it – the most important being the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (aka the Management Regulations) set out your most important duty: carry out risk assessments.

A risk assessment is the process of identifying what might cause harm and taking steps to eliminate or control it. You need to apply this process to your premises and the places where remote workers operate. We’ll cover this in more detail later.

You must also comply with the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981. Under these regulations, you must assess your workplace first aid needs and have enough provisions and trained first aiders on hand to cover any medical emergencies.

Remote workers must also be supplied with appropriate first aid provisions and training.

Employees who work desk-based jobs from home won’t need much, as they don’t risk many injuries that require emergency care. But workers who travel a lot might need a personal first aid kit, as well as instructions on how to use it.

You must carry out a first aid needs assessment to be sure of the safe level of provisions.

Because of the nature of remote work, the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 (the DSE Regulations) are guaranteed to apply.

Any device that can display text, numbers or images counts as display screen equipment (DSE). DSE use carries a number of risks, including eye strain, headaches and neck pain, so you’re required to assess and manage these risks under the DSE Regulations.

The DSE Regulations also cover workstations, not just display screen equipment, so they’re particularly relevant for remote workers, who might not have dedicated workspaces.

Improvised desk setups can force employees to adopt uncomfortable or unsafe positions while working, which can cause pain or even serious injury over a long enough timeframe. So, you must provide remote employees with the equipment and training necessary to maintain a suitable and safe home workstation.

A risk assessment is a process, not a document. And the process always involves five steps:

1. Identify hazards that might cause harm.
2. Assess the likelihood of that harm happening and how severe it will be (the risk).
3. Eliminate or control the assessed risks.
4. Record your findings.
5. Review your control measures regularly and update them as required.

This process is more straightforward for low-risk work environments, such as offices. It’s typically even simpler for home workers, who have probably already taken steps to make where they live safe.

But you’ll still need to go through the risk assessment process to be sure the work activities you expect them to complete remotely haven’t created uncontrolled risks.

As an employer, you’re responsible for ensuring risk assessments happen, but you don’t need to carry them out yourself. You can appoint other people, including workers, to conduct the risk assessment as long as they’re competent.

Competence means having the necessary skills, knowledge, experience and training to do something safely. Because homes are generally hazard-free and desk work is relatively safe, risk assessments for remote workers should be simple.

In fact, it’s rarely necessary to actually visit the remote workspace in question. You can usually trust workers themselves to handle the risk assessment process, provided they’ve been given the necessary training and support.

Risks are specific to the place of work and the work itself, so we can’t cover every point that might come up on a working-from-home risk assessment. But there are some common risks most remote workers face, such as:

• Discomfort or injury caused by poorly designed desk spaces or improvised office furniture.
• Mental health issues caused or made worse by long periods of isolation.
• Electrical fires and shocks caused by overloaded sockets.
• Eye strain or headaches caused by long periods of using DSE.

Most risks your remote workers face are relatively straightforward to control. With the right training, workers can often be taught how to manage health and safety for themselves.

But you must account for every identified risk, so other controls are sometimes necessary. For example, if your worker’s DSE assessment shows they need a better monitor, you must provide it free of charge. (You cannot charge for any equipment necessary for a worker’s wellbeing.)

• Employers are legally responsible for ensuring the health and safety of remote workers, regardless of their location.
• Conducting risk assessments for remote work is essential to identify and control potential hazards.
• Common risks faced by remote workers include poor ergonomics, mental health challenges and electrical hazards.
• Providing necessary equipment and training free of charge is necessary to help remote workers create safe and healthy work environments.

Protecting your remote workers is as important as protecting those in your office. But how do you ensure they know what to do?

Our online HR Compliance Courses are designed to support remote workers. They include training on DSE risk assessment and maintaining a productive and healthy home-working environment. These courses provide practical guidance to help your team avoid common risks and stay compliant with workplace regulations, even from home.