Working From Home Covid-19 Health and Safety Policy

This H&S Policy For Working From Home During The Covid-19 Emergency has been written in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the necessity for many employers and employees, to have employees working from home. It is primarily intended for office staff who use desk-based IT equipment. This policy has been updated to include additional employee's H&S duties 

The Government mandate to work from home where possible will have meant many employers would have had no chance to get anything set up in advance. However, all employers are responsible for the health, safety and welfare of their employees even when they are not working at the normal workplace.

This Covid-19 Homeworking Policy has been written to help employers make sure they are looking after their employees who are temporarily working from their own home. The policy covers such things as; the provision of suitable IT equipment including any specialist hardware and ensuring the employee has a suitable area/workstation where they can work. It also covers the provision of support to isolated employees.

When signed and dated by the most senior person in the business this document will affirm your business’ determination to be compliant with health and safety requirements during this time.

This Working From Home Covid-19 H&S Policy takes account of the fact that during the Covid-19 emergency many more employees are working from home for the first time and it may not be possible for the employer to complete all of the normal risk assessment tasks to set up a suitable home working environment for their employees. It is for use during the period of Government required constraints during the Covid-19 pandemic. Once the necessary Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted, if it is subsequently decided that an employee will continue to work from home, then a full Working from Home Risk Assessment should be carried out in the normal way and the full policy document should be used.