Last year, a Telstra employee made a successful workers' compensation claim against Telstra because she fell twice while working from home and claimed her injuries occurred in the course of her employment. Telstra were found liable to pay her workers compensation.
As a result of this and other similar cases, many employers have had concerns about allowing their employees work from home. Working from home arrangements don’t have to be to be feared but the risks do need to be managed carefully.
Under NSW OH&S laws, the employer is expected to maintain a working environment, equipment and systems of work that are ‘safe and without risks to health’. That includes your employees working at home. The employees working from home should have the equipment they need just as if they were in the office – a chair, desk, computer, adequate lighting, clear access to exits, a first aid kit and knowledge of safe working procedures.
What do your responsibilities include?
• provide or maintain a working environment that is a safe and without risks to health
• provide or maintain equipment and systems of work that are safe and without risks to health
• provide the information, instruction, training and supervision necessary to ensure the health and safety at work of workers
• make arrangements for ensuring the safe use, handling, storage and transport of equipment and substances.
It is important to put in writing agreed procedures regarding working arrangements particularly regarding hours of work and access (eg. to check that the workplace is safe and that safe systems of work are in place, or to review systems and procedures following an accident).
A workplace assessment / risk assessment of the home environment is another step in identifying health and safety hazards, and deal with them. The person doing the assessment should focus on the part of the home which is used as a workplace - or you can give employees a checklist for self-audit rather than send someone in to tick the boxes.
This checklist – which confirms there is an appropriate desk, chair and lamp, for example, and that electrical cords have been tagged and tested – must be completed and handed back. The idea is that employees who want to work from home would need to complete a self-assessment form and sign up a document that frees you, the employer, from liability in the event of an OH&S issue.
Under NSW OH&S laws the following are some steps to follow when an employee requests working from home:-
- Establish whether the duties are suitable for work from home – if special equipment needs to be used or work procedures followed that are not appropriate for home then the job may not be suitable for being done at home;
- Establish what equipment will be necessary for the employee to safely work from home – ensure employee’s desk, chair and computer are suitable. Check if any other equipment is needed by the employee. NSW Regulations require that all places of work have a first aid kit. A basic (type C) kit is sufficient for most home-based work situations;
- Establish that the home working environment is healthy and safe – ensure there is sufficient lighting, exits are clear, there is a smoke detector, sufficient power points (ensure power points are not overloaded) and if an earth leakage protect device is required;
- Establish that the employee who will be working from home has the information and training necessary to do the work safely – ensure they have been trained on safe working procedures to prevent the occurrence of injuries;
- Establish agreed hours of work and communication procedures -Establish the days and hours on which work from home can be done and agree on procedures for recording work hours, including actual starting and finishing times (this is important for workers compensation purposes). It is also useful to establish the way in which performance will be monitored and assessed and to establish communication procedures to ensure that appropriate information is passed between the person working from home and his or her co-workers and management;
- Revise your workplace rehabilitation program – you may want to include a commitment to provision of suitable duties at the main workplace when this is necessary as a rehabilitation strategy, and to clarify arrangements for monitoring work from home rehabilitation programs.
It is important to monitor your employees working from home arrangements – things change, standards may drop so ensure there is open communication with these employees and a clear procedure where the employee reports any health and safety concerns or any incidents to you.
The Fair Work and Anti-Discrimination legislation allows employees to request flexible working arrangements in certain situations, so as an employer you need to have reasonable business grounds to refuse a request. If you do refuse a request inform your employee of the reasons and document these, keeping all records around this.
At Inspire Success, all our people work from home and we use a home based work agreement to outline who is responsible for what and get the expectations clear from the start.
Is this something that could be an issue at your place? Inspire Success is all about implementing practical solutions that help create high performing workplaces which are customer focussed and free of conflict - no matter what size your business is. Contact Rae Phillips at Inspire Success for further information raephillips@inspire-success.com
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