This checklist outlines the principles you should consider for computer-based work, when setting up the space you have at home. As with all work health and safety matters, employers must consult with their employees and any elected Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) on working from home arrangements. Employers should also review any existing workplace policies and procedures that may need to be reviewed in light of the COVID pandemic and increased working from home arrangements. This could include setting up a safe office space for the employee in the office and flexible work hours to minimise contact between employees. You must ensure that your workplace is maintained free of hazards that cause these incidents. Walkways are clear of clutter and trip hazards such as trailing electrical cords. Any existing workplace policies on working from home would apply to arrangements implemented as part of the COVID-19 response. For more information about setting up your workstation at home see Guidelines for safe work … This duty extends to identifying and managing the risks of exposure to the COVID-19 virus and putting appropriate controls in place in every workplace where the employer engages employees to carry out work or directs or influences employees in carrying out work. • Walkways are clear of clutter and trip hazards, such as trailing electrical cords • The work area is segregated from other hazards in the home, for example, hot. In these circumstances, alternative arrangements may need to be made. notification of incidents, injuries hazards and changes in circumstances, consultation and review of work health and safety processes. 2. The WHS duties apply to both physical health and mental health. Worksite safety 4.1 Before your working from home agreement can commence you must complete the Working safely from home module in myDevelopment. attendance, timesheets, leave and other entitlements and arrangements. If your employee test positive for COVID-19, they must follow the health advice provided by the local public health authority and notify you (the employer) as soon as practicable (even if they have been working from home). Employers and employees must discuss what equipment may be required for the employee to safely carry out their work as early as possible during the workstation set up and continue to monitor their ongoing equipment needs throughout the time they are working from home. This checklist is built according to the State Government of Victoria, Australia, and includes evaluation items for the designated work area, work surface, physical demands of tasks, work practices, emergency … Should you sustain an injury while working from home, the relevant test is whether the injury arose out of, or in the course of, the employee’s employment. For example, where it is no longer safe for an employee to continue working from home due to a change in the employee's home situation or the ability of the employee to continue working from home effectively. Employers are encouraged to stagger staff starting and finishing times to reduce the impact on public transport. Work- at- Home Self-Certification Safety Checklist The following checklist is designed to assess the overall safety of your home or other non-office environment. provide your employees with information on setting up an ergonomic workstation. You must ensure return to work arrangements adhere to relevant Commonwealth, state or territory government advice (for example, physical distancing requirements). This checklist is intended for computer-based tasks. Some psychosocial hazards that may impact an employee's mental health while working from home include: To manage risks to your employees’ mental health, where reasonably practicable, you must: There are also a number of other practical steps you may wish to take. Reporting. As employees return to the office, workplaces are encouraged to have COVID-19 Safety Plans in place. Where circumstances change, you may be able to direct employees to return to the workplace. have regular and clear communication with your employees to: set realistic and clear instructions on workloads, roles and tasks, check that work can be successfully completed from home without creating any additional safety risks, adjust any work tasks and ways of working, as appropriate, encouraging employees to stay in contact with each other, staying informed with information from official sources and sharing relevant information with your employees as it becomes available, offering your employees flexibility, such as with their work hours, where possible, making sure employees are effectively disengaging from their work and logging off at the end of the day, responding appropriately to signs an employee may be struggling (for example, changed behaviour), informing employees about their entitlements if they become unfit for work or have caring responsibilities. Before directing employees to return to the workplace, you will need to undertake a risk assessment and consult with employees. The checklist covers topics including: safety management; environment; equipment, machinery and tools; job safety; hazardous manual handling; electricity, chemicals, welding and cutting; confined spaces and working at height; emergency procedures and first aid; incident reporting and returning to work … must inform their employer of any notifiable incidents that occur while working at home. following procedures about how work is performed, keeping work equipment in good working order, using equipment provided by the workplace as per the instructions given, maintaining a safe work environment (such as, designated work area, moving furniture to ensure comfortable access, providing adequate lighting and ventilation, repairing any uneven surfaces or removing trip hazards), managing their own in-house safety, such as maintaining electrical equipment and installing and maintaining smoke alarms, notifying the employer about risks or potential risks and hazards. risks associated with slips, trips and falls, psychosocial risks, such as personal security and isolation, require employees to familiarise themselves and comply with good ergonomic practices, for example requiring employees to complete a self-assessment checklist and provide their responses to you, consider organising a workstation assessment, provide employees with information on setting up an ergonomic workstation. An employee has the right to stop or refuse unsafe work when there is a reasonable concern of exposure to a serious risk to health and safety from an immediate or imminent hazard. Workers compensation and recovery at work. seek advice specific to their circumstances including official advice issued by the NSW Health. To understand these risks, you must consult with workers. WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY (WHS) CHECKLIST When you find yourself working from home unexpectedly, you may not have access to the same type of office furniture and equipment you would do in an office. ... Checklist for setting up working from home. Please forward a copy of this completed checklist to the University WHS Unit (WHS@flinders.edu.au). allow staff to borrow equipment (such as chairs, monitors, keyboards and mouses) from the office or reimburse them reasonable costs for purchasing equipment. flexible working to make your commute more efficient and comfortable. ensuring employees have the contact details for the relevant Employee Assistance Program. We advise that your employer should conduct a risk-assessment of your intended home workspace, to ensure that it is a safe environment that does not contain any risks to health and safety. Your commitment. Yes / No / NA. are encouraged to report health and safety concerns to their employer and Health and Safety Representatives. • Ventilation and room temperature can be controlled, regardless of season • There is no excessive noise affecting the work area. Whether or not you can reasonably direct employees back to the workplace will depend on a number of factors, including public health requirements and the individual circumstances of the employee working from home. Easy to see and comfortable on. Set up your business with policies, checklists and templates. Use this checklist (PDF, 120.86 KB) or consider: risks associated with slips, trips and falls More information is available about workplace rights and responsibilities in relation to the COVID-19 virus on the Fair Work Ombudsman website. 2. of . �"B�+*��kj����Y�JK�����Bss�ӂ33��RS����bc��*:v�`o c� �� FN~�;L-� If work can be completed at home, and the risks that arise from working remotely can be effectively managed, encouraging or directing employees to work from home may be the best way to minimise the risk of exposure to COVID-19. comcare.gov.au | connect with us. While you have less control over a employee's home, you must still consult with workers and take steps to make sure they are using safe workstations. You should discuss leave arrangements with your employee and will need to determine if the employee has had contact with any other employees while they were infectious. A good first step to take in ensuring that a home office is safe and free of risks to health is to require every employee who works from home to complete an OHS checklist. pre-existing injuries the employee may have, communication frequency and type between the employer and employee, management of the work program, workload and activities, workstation set up (such as, desk, chair, monitors, keyboard, mouse and computer). The module must be completed every three years. support healthy and safe work. eliminate or minimise the risk to psychological health and safety arising from work as far as is reasonably practicable, including when your employees are working from home, consult with employees on psychosocial hazards they may face and how to manage them (note that employees often know what the issues are and have ideas about how to manage them), review how you’re managing the risks to check your policies and processes are effective, providing information about mental health and other support services available to your employees, including employee assistance programs. We pay respect to the Traditional Custodians and First Peoples of NSW, and acknowledge their continued connection to their country and culture. This Work Health and Safety (WHS) Checklist is designed to help Managers & Workers assess health and safety risks in the home. If an employee decides to stop work as it is unsafe, they must notify their employer as soon as possible and be available to carry out alternative work arrangements. So in that situation employers do not need to ask them to carry out home workstation assessments. 4 This includes working from home arrangements. h�bbd```b``��� ��D2��Lk�l�DrE���"�s���`��dBwG"����`v�B�3�ř(O�#��L�ԓ*�f�"�/�d/�zvp,�E�c�H2�>���/ ����G�H�� ��f�6�D�u�m����li�����r10��D�b�$]���� ^$�
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Covid-19 Returning To Work Inductions, Transitioning, Safety Start Up And Re Entry Plans – HERE >>>>>>> Telecommuting Safety Checklist: Covid-19 Working from Home Safety and Workers Comp Checklist: Working from Home checklist from Comcare Please see below a checklist of considerations for short-term working from home arrangements. Employees may wish to share tips on balancing work and caring responsibilities with others. Example checklist for employers and employees to use when setting up to work from home. This means employers have an obligation to make sure the health and safety of their workers is maintained when they work at home. A psychosocial hazard is anything in the design or management of work that causes stress. having your employees assess their home-based work area using a Health and safety checklist for working from home (PDF, 0.21 MB). ̕��B��0�0|a|�� t��A�!�����������K7�����!�,�x�l�0�͜c���q You must eliminate or minimise risks to the health and safety of your employees, so far as is reasonably practicable. It is recommended that, where practicable, a personal home inspection is conducted prior to approving the working from home arrangements. �62���ĴH܆EℂZ�_�NC�/L:L7x���1�0=`�Q r0(�����vY� lc��x�H3�8L-�T�XAj݀�s� �Mu�
�U�5�e��E�%�y��Y�9�i��I�)�q� �Q�1��.�n��N�6�v��V�&�f��F�:�z��Z�*�j� To assist employers with their WHS obligations with employees working from home, we have put together a Work From Home Pack for Employers. provide guidance on what is a safe home office environment, including what a good work station set up looks like, why employees should not be sedentary all day and how to avoid this, require employees to familiarise themselves and comply with good ergonomic practices, for example requiring workers to complete a self-assessment checklist and provide their responses to you, maintain daily communication with employees, provide continued access to an employee assistance program (EAP), and. If you are not satisfied that a safe workstation can be created, it may not be reasonably practicable for the employee in question to be allowed to work from home. The keyboard must be at the right height so that arms and wrists are in a neutral position. This means that employers must, so far as is reasonably practicable, ensure the mental health of their employees and protect their employees from psychological risks. Email address. %PDF-1.6
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Working from home cuts out the commute altogether. You should involve your employees in filling out this checklist. Worker capability. Possible new risks include: physical risks from poor work environment, such as workstation set up, heat, cold, lighting, electrical safety, home hygieneand home renovations, and. Checklist: Working from Home Please see below a Checklist of considerations for short-term working from home arrangements. approving working from home on a temporary/permanent and case by case basis as it may not be suitable for all job roles and situations. What you can do to minimise risks at an employee's home may be different to what you can do at the usual workplace. V:\Work Health and Safety\Forms and checklists\Working from Home WHS Checklist.docx, revised 19 August 2014 Page . The Working At Home Assessment Checklist can be used to assess and record the general safety of a home office working environment, for workers who are engaged to conduct work from home. Checklist, working from home, working remotely, WHS . A work from home policy that sets out requirements to be observed by employees while they are working from home. 134 0 obj
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Safe working environment. provide a health and safety checklist for working from home for workers to use, for example checking for trip hazards in the work space consider organising a workstation assessment by a competent person where practicable, allow workers to borrow equipment, such as chairs, monitors, keyboards and mouses, from the office or reimburse them reasonable costs for purchasing any … poor organisational change management (for example, employees may feel they haven’t been consulted about the changes to their work). It is also important to review and monitor whatever arrangements are put in place to ensure that these arrangements do not create any additional risks. If your workers find themselves working from home unexpectedly, they may not have access to the same type of office furniture and equipment you would do in an office. appoint a contact person in the business that employees can talk to about any concerns. You are also required under the WHS laws to consult with your employees and any elected Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) about any direction to return employees to the workplace. Your rating will help us improve the website. Travelling to work outside the peak contributes to this. Notify SafeWork Compliance & prosecutions Licences & registrations Open/Close Search. It is possible that a employee with COVID-19 could potentially work from home, if for example, they have no or minor symptoms. SAFETY CHECKLIST Slips, trips and falls account for nearly a quarter of workplace injuries. workplace health and safety checklist (PDF, 120.86 KB), Fair Work Ombudsman — Coronavirus and Australian workplace laws, Safe Work Australia — Work-related psychological health and safety: A systematic approach to meeting your duties, Safe Work Australia — Infographic: Four steps to preventing psychological injury at work, SafeWork NSW — Remote or isolated work (includes those who work from home), SafeWork NSW — Design and layout of the work environment, Australian Government's Comcare — Coronavirus (COVID-19), Australian Government's Comcare — Checklist for working from home during COVID-19, SafeWork NSW — COVID-19 and mental health at work, Beyond Blue — How to look after your mental health when working from home, Black Dog Institute — Managing your mental health at home, Australian Government — Locating a Family Mental Health Support Services (FMHSS) service, Australian Psychological Society – Tips for coping with coronavirus anxiety, Smiling Mind – Supporting yourself and others through Coronavirus, Managing occupational violence and customer aggression, changed family demands (for example, looking after school-aged children who are learning from home, relationship strain or family and domestic violence), being isolated from managers, colleagues and support networks, less support (for example, employees may feel they don’t have the normal support they receive from their supervisor or manager), changes to work demand (for example, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and a move to working at home may create higher workloads for some employees and reduced workloads for others), poor environmental conditions, for example an ergonomically unsound work station or high noise levels. A copy of the completed checklist should be retained on the employee’s personnel file as evidence of the condition of the work area at the time the arrangements to work from home; or a privately-funded office were approved. Unfortunately we cannot respond to individual requests for information. Yes / No / NA. Information on employee's entitlements, including breaks, standard hours and flexible work arrangements, is available on the Fair Work Ombudsman website. This may include completing workstation checklists and following any other safety policies and directions given to them by their employer. There is no increased risk from DSE work for those working at home temporarily. Undertaking a risk assessment will assist you to determine what is reasonably required to keep employees safe. This checklist provides guidance for workers and Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBUs to be referred to as ‘employers’). As part of your risk assessment you must consider vulnerable employees and ensure that they are not put at risk by a direction to return to the workplace. Is there proper ventilation and lighting? h�b```e`0Y�������A��b,+Ł�9'� For more detailed information on a formal office setting, see the ergonomic guide to computer-based work Lighting must also be sufficient, with minimal reflection or glare. You may determine that is appropriate to allow employees to borrow equipment from the office or reimburse reasonable costs. The two key questions you should ask when conducting a … Natural and artificial light sources do not create glare via reflection on the computer screen or working surface. Work Health and Safely Act 2011 (NSW) NSW Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (NSW) Key words . The Work Health and Safety Act 2011 still applies if workers work somewhere other than their usual workplace, for example, from home. Tool box discussions and team meetings can be a great place to share this information in a friendly environment. Employees working from home is ‘the new normal’ for many businesses. Reasonable steps should be taken to ensure the employee's home workstation meets workplace health and safety requirements. Managing risks. Employees also have health and safety obligations to minimise risks when working from home including: You must identify and manage any risks to employees working from home. PRICE = $ 30.00 plus GST the surrounding environment such as ventilation, lighting and noise, the home environment, such as partners, children, vulnerable persons and pets, the communication requirements such as frequency and type, the mental health and emotional wellbeing of the employee. Finally, you should keep up to date with the latest health and government advice on COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic is a stressful and uncertain time for all Australians. Search Search. In the context of the Work Health and Safety (WHS) legislation, the duty of care an employer owes to its employees extends beyond the traditional physical office and premises of the business. Last updated: 02 September 2020 supporting flexible work arrangements, where available. You may consider options for staging a return to the workplace, to ensure that physical distancing requirements are met in accordance with government advice. Working from home can have psychological risks that are different to the risks in an office or your regular workplace. As an employer, you must ensure the health and safety of your workers when they are working from home. If your employee has not been confirmed as having contracted COVID-19 (for example, because they are in quarantine for 14 days due to contact with a confirmed case or returning from overseas travel), they should not need to provide evidence that they have tested negative for COVID-19 in order to return to work. mental health and wellbeing of the employee. allow staff to borrow equipment (such as chairs, monitors, keyboards and mouses) from the office where appropriate OR reimburse them reasonable costs for purchasing any required equipment. This workplace health and safety checklist (PDF, 120.86 KB) outlines what to consider when setting up a computer-based workstation at home. Please complete this form and return to your line manager. Employees must follow any reasonable policies or directions you put in place in response to COVID-19. Requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Act The New South Wales Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 aims to protect the health, safety and welfare of people at work. Any concerns about health or safety should first be raised with an employer or HSR. safe working procedures and training requirements. Further information on leave entitlements is available on the Fair Work Ombudsman website. You could: In undertaking safety checks employers should ensure employees have access to first aid and that a plan is in place for emergencies. 4.2 Generally, you are responsible for covering any costs to ensure your home work location is safe and meets the requirements Back to home. This might include tips on how employees have managed to balance their caring arrangements with their partner, where available. EMPLOYEE NAME: ADDRESS: _ PHONE NUMBER: Working from home may change, increase or create work health or safety risks. You must ensure that the employee does not return to the workplace until they provide evidence that they are no longer contagious and are fit for work. Health and safety checklist for working from home Health and safety checklist for working from home Use this checklist to assess work health and safety risks prior to commencing work from home arrangements (also called telecommuting, e-work or telework). This includes workers that enter the 14-day isolation period for COVID-19. In other words, you will need to carry out a full health and safety check and risk assessment of any home office before you allow employees to work there. In some circumstances, this could include exposure to the COVID-19 virus. This risk assessment will need to include consideration of the government’s advice on physical distancing and whether your workplace can support all your employees returning at the same time while meeting those requirements. Suits a small / medium sized business who engages “remote” workers. It may not be reasonably practicable to conduct a physical inspection of your employees’ home, but there are other ways you can assess the risks by requiring staff to complete a self-audit that you may discuss with them. Introduction . What were you looking for? This guide discusses a health and safety policy for working from home and outlines some useful tips and resources to help ensure the health and safety of your workers. Under the model WHS laws, employers have a duty of care for the health and safety of their employees and others at the workplace. An assessment of the work area should be carried out, where possible, before the employee starts working from home. These include: Call the National Coronavirus Helpline for information and advice about COVID-19 on 1800 020 080. Workstation: Just like in the office, a home-based workstation must include an appropriate, quality desk and chair that is adjustable to suit the worker. providing employees with a point of contact to discuss their concerns and to find workplace information in a central place. To download your Working From Home WHS Checklist, simply enter a few details: Your Duty of Care To Employees Working From Home . Remote Work - WHS Checklist Page 2 of 4 V1.3 - 2017. As an employer, you still have duties to ensure the health and safety of your workers, even if they are working from home. In deciding whether working from home is appropriate for their employees, the employer should consider: Under the model WHS laws, each employer has a duty of care for the health and safety of their employees and others at the workplace. You and your supervisor must sign this form and it becomes a part of your telework application. Pending your risk assessment, it may be that vulnerable employees should remain in a working from home arrangement for a longer duration that those employees who are not vulnerable. This includes workers that enter the … An assessment of the work area should be carried out, where possible, before the employee starts working from home. Some key considerations that may affect the WHS risks of employees working from home or remotely include: You must consult with employees before you implement control measures to address these risks. You should ensure their employees are aware of any working from home and carer policies that apply to your workplace. complete the Working from home - WHS checklist above; pay for and make any reasonable adjustments to the home office if the WHS checklist identifies that these need to be made. Reasonable steps should be taken to ensure the employee's home workstation meets workplace health and safety requirements. However, you should: You must also think about how your existing policies and procedures apply when working from home, including: If necessary, employers may conduct a site inspection. reporting any changes that may affect their health and safety when working from home. Transport for NSW’s Travel Choices program is here to support flexible working for individuals, businesses and organisations to help you make the best use of consult with employees and other relevant persons about whether working from home is an appropriate arrangement, including at an individual worker level, keep up to date with information about COVID-19 risks and appropriate control measures. Please fill out this form in its entirety. Employees also have a duty to take care for their own health and safety, which includes while working from home, and must follow any reasonable policies or directions their employer gives them. 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