Safe Work Australia has recently published new resources on effectively managing WHS risks for computer-based work from home.
The laws regarding workplace health and safety (WHS) apply to employees working from home, just as they do in traditional office settings. However, working from home may bring about new WHS risks or change existing ones. Safe Work Australia has recently released informative materials that offer practical advice on how to fulfil WHS duties when employees work from home.
The materials include workstation setup infographics, information papers for PCBUs (a person conducting a business or undertaking) and employees, and a checklist to assist identify typical dangers that may be present when working from home.
Work from Home
Working from home entails doing so at one’s own residence, either alone or with additional family members present.
A worker’s hours may be covered in full or in part through arrangements, which may be continuing, temporary, or ad hoc. These arrangements may be implemented to meet the needs of the PCBU (such as shrinking offices), the employee (such as reducing commute times or increasing worker flexibility), or due to outside causes (such as public health directives or severe weather occurrences).
Everyone who works from home may profit from it, but as with any sort of job, the WHS risks need to be controlled.
Work Health and Safety Duties
A person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), such as an employer, has a duty of care to their employees under work health and safety (WHS) rules. Insofar as it is reasonably practical, they must protect your bodily and mental well-being while you are at work.
Even if you requested to work from home, the arrangement is temporary or part-time, or it was implemented due to outside causes (such as public health directives), the PCBU’s WHS obligations do not alter when you do so.
Duty of PCBUs under WHS Laws
The same WHS regulations that apply to traditional workplaces like offices also apply to home offices.
As far as it is practically possible, organisations should safeguard the health and safety of employees while they are at work. Managing WHS hazards while working from home is a part of this.
Even if employees request to work from home or are forced to do so by outside circumstances, they are still subject to your WHS obligations.
Workers WHS Duty
Ensure their o health and safety while taking reasonable precautions to avoid endangering others’ health and safety.
- cooperate with appropriate WHS policies or procedures that have been supplied to them.
- follow reasonable WHS instructions as far as they can.
How To Fulfill WHS Duty?
Before working from home, a number of factors need to be taken into account, and you might need to adjust how work is done (for example, how you manage and plan the job, or what activities are involved). Working from home may alter or introduce new WHS concerns. It could also affect how you carry out your WHS obligations such as how you interact with employees, recognise hazards, or put control measures in place.
The dangers differ depending on the kind of housing and living situation. The steps you must take to mitigate hazards may also differ.
Working from Home may not be Practical Always
Working from home may not always be practicable or suitable for all jobs or for employees. Organisations cannot ask for or accept home-based employment from employees if they are unable to fulfil their WHS obligations.
In some cases, working from home may not be possible due to safety concerns or the specialised equipment needed. Employers should provide employees with a safe workspace, whether in the office or an alternative location. Safety at work is a top priority.
Consulting Workers
Regarding WHS concerns that can affect your employees, businesses should consult with them as much as is practical. When determining risks to control, including how you will monitor working conditions, you must communicate with employees. Before beginning work-from-home arrangements or making other adjustments, you must contact the employees.
Effective advice is crucial since employees are sometimes the only ones who are aware of the dangers posed by working from home. They could also be useful in helping you identify and evaluate the risks and choose and put control measures into place.
When making plans for consultation on health and safety issues, you must involve employees who are represented by a health and safety representative (HSR).
Ensuring employees are comfortable reporting problems or concerns when working from home is crucial. You cannot treat employees unfairly, such as by firing them for voicing a WHS concern or issue.
Managing WHS Risks when Working from Home
As far as is practicable, the PCBU must minimise or reduce WHS hazards to your bodily and mental health. Regarding anything that could have an impact on your health and safety, they must also communicate with you and any health and safety representatives (HSRs).
Consultation is crucial since you can be the only person who is aware of the hazards related to your personal situation or working environment at home. You might be able to assist the PCBU in identifying risks and making useful recommendations. You could be asked to complete a checklist or submit details about your home working environment in order to assist in identifying any potential dangers.
In some circumstances, the PCBU may employ a WHS expert to evaluate the hazards (for example, to do a workstation or ergonomic evaluation before you begin working from home).
As far as it is practical, PCBUs minimise or reduce health and safety concerns, especially those that arise when employees operate remotely. Utilising the four-stage risk management method can help you achieve this. Consultation must be used to support each of these actions.
1. Identify Hazards
It is crucial for PCBUs to Identify hazards to learn what could be harmful. When working from home, consider any existing dangers as well as any potential new ones that may exist. Utilise a variety of techniques to spot dangers like:
- Utilising surveys, tools, and checklists (such as requiring employees to complete a WHS checklist or another approval process before beginning, or changing, a working-from-home arrangement).
- Encouraging employees to report any concerns or issues promptly and providing them with instructions on how to do so.
- Considering the work, tasks involved, resources required, and employees’ skills and training.
- Observing any changes to employees’ behaviour (such as at team meetings) or productivity Monitoring.
2. Assess Risks
Analyse the risks to determine what may occur and how likely it is if the danger is encountered. You may put controls in place without doing a risk assessment if you already know the risks and how to handle them successfully. Then, you can only verify that they are working.
3. Control Risks
If it is reasonably possible, you must reduce or eliminate the hazards related to working from home. You must limit risks to the extent that it is reasonably possible if hazards cannot be eliminated. Utilising the most effective control mechanisms, or combination of controls, that are reasonably practical, can achieve this.
In certain circumstances, mitigating the risks may entail making the decision to forbid employees from working remotely (e.g., by not adopting, halting, or terminating a work-from-home arrangement). In such cases, you must offer other safe working environments for your employees (such as the office or a secure substitute like a coworking space). This could last for a while or merely while control measures are put in place.
Workplace hybridization can assist in managing some hazards. For instance, jobs that are better completed in person or at the office, such as collaborative projects, performance talks, or work needing specialised equipment, might be scheduled during regular business hours.
The fact that your home serves as your workplace may alter the practical measures taken by the PCBU to control WHS hazards.
To control the risks, the PCBU might have to collaborate closely with you. Giving you directions on how to set up a secure workstation and expecting you to abide by them, for instance. This could entail placing constraints or demands on your work-from-home setup, such as:
- only enabling you to work from a place that has been permitted.
- requiring you to travel to the office to do specific duties (such as those that need specialised equipment or are best completed in person).
- Set up your core working hours to make sure you’re accessible to your coworkers, have the right supervision, and receive the assistance you need.
Other control measures for hazards associated with working from home include:
1. Work Design
Designing and scheduling the task, along with the task methods, completion dates, and timeframes, will guarantee it is safe.
Some examples include:
- not giving out tasks that are risky to do at home.
- Including supervisors in videoconferences with challenging customers and urging staff to cease and report abusive calls.
- reassigning duties to ensure that the job demands are adequate.
2. WorkStation Set-up
Guaranteeing the setup and maintenance of workstations in a safe manner.
3. Equipment
Supplying equipment that is appropriate for the job (such as displays to avoid lengthy laptop usage, adjustable seats, and headsets for frequent calls) and ensuring it is secure (such as by using safety switches).
4. Resources
Ensuring that employees have access to enough resources to work from home securely (for example, making databases available from home and having enough workers to complete regular tasks on time).
5. Communication
Regularly interacting with employees (e.g., scheduling video catchups on a regular basis and making sure information is accessible both online and in-person) and ensuring that employees can readily connect with others (e.g., clients and coworkers). It should also include feedback, support, and guidance.
6. Work Hours and Breaks
Limiting after-hours work (for example, avoiding meetings after hours or setting up automatic responses for work phones or email accounts after hours, especially if regularly dealing with external clients) and ensuring that employees take regular breaks from sedentary work.
7. Supervision and Support
Ensuring managers have enough time and are available to support workers, as well as setting clear expectations that workers should stop working at the end of the day, are all examples of ways to supervise workers (e.g., by regularly providing feedback, support, and direction, including through regular catchups and team meetings).
8. Organisational Justice
Creating objective, transparent policies and processes and executing them fairly (e.g., guaranteeing that all employees have access to training opportunities and growth) and that workers are aware of whom to contact when there are dangers or problems while working from home). They should also uphold employee privacy (e.g., guaranteeing that managers are not overheard by other family members when conducting performance conversations).
9. First Aid and Emergency Plans
Ensuring that employees have access to first aid, a mechanism to contact assistance in an emergency (such as a phone) and knowledge of safe evacuation procedures.
10. Information and Training to Support Control Measures
Provide education and training on how to do jobs properly, how to report difficulties or concerns about health and safety, and how to put control mechanisms into place (for example, teach supervisors how to enforce workplace regulations on preventing harmful behaviours).
To implement some control measures, particularly those that are related to your employees’ actual working-from-home environment, you might require their assistance. It is crucial that this is backed by efficient worker consultation.
The WHS Regulations outline several particular standards that must be followed in order to handle certain risks such as psychological hazards and distant or isolated labour.
Common Controls for PCBU to Apply
The PCBU may employ a variety of common controls, including:
- reducing tiredness by restricting online activity after hours and avoiding arranging meetings during regular lunch or break periods.
- reducing the risk of harmful online behaviours (e.g., encouraging staff to end abusive calls and report them, including supervisors on potentially difficult calls, posting out-of-office messages on phones and emails so clients know when to expect a response, etc.).
- reducing sedentary work (such as prolonged sitting) by planning regular breaks and posture changes throughout the day.
- Managing workload demands by allowing you adequate time to accomplish assignments and tasks that are appropriate for your level of training and expertise.
- ensuring jobs are equitably allocated (e.g., across the office and remote workers).
- redistributing and reordering duties during peak periods to handle high job demands.
Risk management is a continuous process. Inform the PCBU so they may take additional action if you believe a control measure is not working as intended (for example, if you start to feel worried or hurt at your desk). You may also discover a new hazard or risk.
Review Control Measures
To ensure your control measures are efficient, operating as intended, and not introducing new uncontrolled risks, maintain and periodically review them. They should also be reviewed before a change that is expected to introduce a new or different risk, such as before changing working arrangements, for example.
Reports, informal and official complaints, grievances, accidents, or other occurrences may potentially reveal new dangers or risks that are not under control to the best of our ability.
A control measure must be evaluated, adjusted, or replaced if it is not operating as intended.
Other Legislative Frameworks
WHS laws do not operate in isolation and other laws may also apply to work from home. For example, industrial relations, criminal, anti-discrimination, privacy, and workers’ compensation laws.
Workers’ compensation is a form of insurance that supports workers if they are injured at, or because of, work. Generally, workers will be covered for workers’ compensation while working from home if this arrangement is supported by the employer.
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