Health and Safety at Home

Most of the regulations made under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 apply to home. It is One Degree North’s responsibility to undertake a risk assessment around the type of work you are doing and ensure a health and safety inspection of your work area is completed. You need to be able to complete your work in a safe manner, and your work set up should not create a health hazard for either you or anyone else around you, for example, your family.  

You will need to complete a Display Screen Equipment Assessment form for your home and work desk set up. Make sure your workstation is set up to avoid any aches and pains in the longer term. Some tips are:

• Make sure you have the right space around you to be able to move freely,
• Have a comfortable chair that give you support
• Make sure you have space for your cables and can keep them tidy so they are not a trip hazard for you, family members or even pets
• Having adequate lighting is important to prevent eye strain
• Having a riser for your monitor or laptop and a separate keyboard and mouse can help prevent poor posture and related strains
• Build time into your day to get up and move around; stretching is just as important when working remotely as to when you are working in the office

Additionally, electrical equipment supplied by us will be regularly tested. This could mean you need to bring your equipment into the office to be tested when needed.

You also need to take regular breaks, at least 20 minutes every 6 hours of working, and take time to stretch and look away from your computer screen regularly. 

When working from home, another consideration is making sure you have the adequate space, lighting, ventilation, storage, and screening from noise to be able to work safely. Also, if you are working alone make sure you have regular check ins with other members of the team. Please review our Lone Working Policy for further details.

External work contacts must never visit you when you are working at home and such visits should take place on company property only. It is also recommended that colleagues who are working remotely should never release any personal data or information to external contacts such as your home address of personal telephone number.

You are responsible for day-to-day health and safety issues and for reporting any concerns to the director(s) More information on risk assessments for Home Working can be found on the HSE website http://www.hse.gov.uk/toolbox/workers/home.htm