If you are working from home or in the workplace, the same health and safety guidelines are the same.

This guidance applies to those who are:

• Permanently Working from home
• Hybrid working between workplace and home

Things you should consider as part of a risk assessment for home working include:

• Stress and poor mental health
• Working with display screen equipment
• Their working environment

Risk Assessment

It is critical for home workers to maintain a balanced and proportionate approach. In most cases, you do not need to visit them to ensure their health and safety, but you should make sure they work in a healthy and safe environment

Practical ways to do this include:

•  Providing advice and guidance on their home working set-up
•  Using questionnaires or self-assessment tools
•  Talking to them, for example using phone or video calls

Where your risk assessment indicates you need to take some action, employers are responsible for any costs if you are being asked to work from home

Stress and mental health

As an employee, you must protect yourself from workplace stress by conducting a risk assessment and acting on the results.

Homeworkers will face many of the same issues as any other worker, but it can be more difficult to provide adequate support and maintain social links.

People who are deprived of social contact through work can feel isolated or disconnected, bringing on pressure and stress or aggravating pre-existing mental health problems

Working with display screen equipment at home

You must protect yourself from the health and safety risks associated with working on a computer or laptop (display screen equipment or DSE) at home.

DSE assessment

Workers can complete a self-assessment provided they have been given suitable training. Where they use DSE in the home and office, your assessments should cover both situations.

You should ensure:

•  home workers can achieve a comfortable, sustainable posture while working with DSE
•  any equipment provided is safe and suitable for use

They may not necessarily need office-type furniture or equipment at home to achieve a good posture. Equally, a worker’s own furniture or equipment may not be suitable or sufficient. Use your DSE assessments to help you decide what is needed for your own workers’ situations and circumstances.

You should reduce the risks identified by your DSE assessment so far as reasonably practicable. This means balancing the level of risk against the measures needed to control the real risk in terms of money, time or trouble.