The Growing Need for Homeworker Risk Assessment

The working style has undergone gradual changes over the past few years and different styles of working have emerged. One such style is home working. It not only refers to the practice of completing work-related tasks from home but can take other forms too. For instance, a home worker can divide hours their working hours between the office and home. Homeworking became quite popular in the last decade with increased mobility of individuals. Also, home working allows people to spend more hours at home, taking care of their work-life balance.

However, even temporary home working has a flipside to it. Our homes don’t usually match the level of comfort or facilities that our workstation provides at the office. Thus, our employers should provide us with the needed equipment and guidance for the same workstation set up. A temporary home working guidance will help individuals evade hazards related to improper handling of work equipment. However, employers need to be mindful that home working doesn’t turn into lone working and that possibly longer working hours don’t lead to stress and fatigue.

In the pre-Covid era, home working was still a choice and not a compulsary. However, the Covid-19 has literally pushed work from ‘the real’ to ‘the virtual’. No matter what the nature of work, many working professionals are now forced to work from the boundaries of their home. Although employers have taken necessary measures to ensure a smooth transition to the virtual work setup, some glitches still remain. The pace at which COVID changed the work scenario has made it difficult for companies to adapt as quickly as they would have liked. Thus, employers are facing challenges in providing I.T. equipment, remote database access and suitable internet systems to all their employees. Furthermore, employees should also have an ergonomically fit workstation so that their health is not compromised. There are additional challenges that need to be addressed relating to how the employees should set up their workstation without it interfering with their family life also.

Looking at all these challenges, a home worker risk assessment needs to become a mandatory step for employers. It will help them in supporting their employees so that they all remain productive in this situation and environment.

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