An employer’s role to manage the health and safety of their employees when working from home
Flexible work arrangements are now a lasting part of working life. While this arrangement offers significant advantages for both employers and employees, they also present distinct challenges for managers and supervisors in maintaining worker safety in unsupervised home environments.
Home situations vary and engaging with workers is crucial as they are often the only ones in a position to identify and assess risks and implement control measures. Common hazards include poor workstation set up or working environment risks such as trip hazards, fatigue, sedentary work, psychosocial hazards or family violence.
Workers also have a duty to take reasonable care of their own health and safety, and comply with reasonable WHS instructions, policies or procedures provided by their employer. However, if a worker is injured whilst working from home; they may be entitled to coverage by workers compensation insurance.
Where to find guidance and support
Safe Work Australia provides helpful guidance and a range of resources through their website including helpful checklists for both employers and workers.
EML Group customers and their workers can also access our extensive training and resources to support your workplace safety goals at no cost. Informing your workers about potential hazards and training them to apply appropriate risk controls is a legal obligation for all employers, including in working from home environments.
Keeping Workers Safe when Working from Home - Online Course
’Keeping Workers Safe when Working from Home’ is a course offered through EMlearning which supports managers and supervisors to ensure the health and safety of workers that are working from home, and covers the following topics:
- legal obligations
- hazards and risks associated with working from home
- practical strategies, resources and references to help manage working from home hazards and risks.
To register for the ‘Keeping Workers Safe when Working from Home’ course please visit our EMlearning platform via this link: Public Dashboard | EML Group Learning
EMlearning is our online training platform which offers a range of interactive and engaging courses in workplace risk topics and is available exclusively and free to EML customers and their employees through the Mutual Benefits Program.
EML customers can find out more or register today via this link: EMlearning | EML
Resources
The Mutual Benefits Program has developed a range of posters on a variety of Workplace Health and Safety topics to help improve health, safety and return to work outcomes in Australian workplaces.
Access a variety of downloadable posters that can be co-branded and shared with your employees. Topics include tips on working from home, how to set up a safe workplace, fatigue management, keeping active and psychosocial awareness.
You can access these free resources via this link: WHS Poster Library
For more information
If you require more information or have any enquires regarding our EMlearning Platform or Resources please feel free to reach out to our Mutual Benefits Team, and we’ll be more than happy to assist you.