Staff working from home

By: Simply

<h2>What every employer should know</h2>

COVID-19 is no joke. It has fundamentally changed the way that many businesses are able to do business, resulted in the closure and potential closure of others, and for those who want to re-open under Lockdown Level 4, imposed a long list of duties and responsibilities on employers.

Once such duty is to ensure that where there is return to work, that this is done in a phased approach, to provide sufficient time for employers to implement the risk management and controls required to reduce the virus spreading. This means that many staff may need to start working from home, or if this is already happening, continue to do so for some time yet.

If you are such an employer, with staff who are working from home, it is important to understand some of your duties and responsibilities.

Labour legislation has various requirements which must be complied with by employers. The Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act read with the Hazardous Biological Agents Regulations furthermore requires employers to provide and ensure a safe working environment, as far as practicably possible. This applies to anyone working from home, as well as the usual office environment.

It is important that legal responsibilities and requirements are properly understood and followed to avoid claims by employees or their household members and fines and other penalties imposed on employers.

SOME PRACTICAL ADVICE:

Where you decide to allow staff to work from home, this should be done in a controlled environment, where all concerned are aware of their duties and responsibilities, and there are measures in place to check this.

Some of these controls include the following:

<ul>

<li><b>Ensure that you have a proper “work from home” policy. </b></li>

</ul>

Your business policies should make it clear what your company position is in terms of “work from home”, who will be eligible, any terms and conditions etc.

<ul>

<li><b>Ensure that any staff who work from home are properly aware of their duties and responsibilities such as timekeeping, required output, availability for meetings etc. </b></li>

</ul>

A documented agreement is useful for this and should contain details of the expectations of the employer and duties of the staff member.

<ul>

<li><b>Implement a communication and reporting plan to keep in contact with staff</b></li>

</ul>

Technology today provides numerous platforms for keeping in contact. There are a number of free applications where video-conferencing can happen, files and tasks can be shared, messaging can happen and reporting can be done.

Employers are required to keep record of when staff are working, and when they are not. With staff working from home, this may be difficult, so it would be wise to implement a recording system, such as a register, to keep track of this, and which can be provided to the employer on a regular basis. From a health and safety perspective, should an accident happen at home, it is important to be able to determine whether this happened during working hours or not.

It is important to keep track of employees’ health. Where an employee has been in contact with any person who has tested positive for COVID-19, or displays any symptoms relating to COVID-19, there are procedures which must be followed. Introduce a system whereby staff who work from home regularly report on these matters and understand what to do in the event of these risks materialising.

<ul>

<li><b>Designate a set area for the workspace and limit liability to this area</b></li>

</ul>

Where possible, ensure that home working staff have a designated workspace area which can be properly controlled, and audited.

<ul>

<li><b>Conduct a workplace health and safety audit. </b></li>

</ul>

Your responsibility as an employer to provide a safe working environment extends to any workspace, so be sure to identify the home workspace risks and then implement proper measure to address these risks.

Home environment risks are very different to the office. Laptop cables may be lying around, multiple devices may be plugged into unsafe electrical connections, staff may trip and fall downstairs while focussing on their cell-phone instead of where their feet are, and children may tug on cables and pull down a monitor onto themselves.

Should a staff member working from home be injured during working hours, in their workspace, then this will fall under the Health and Safety Act. Injuries will have to be reported, and compensation may be payable. If the employer has been negligent, however, and not identified and addressed risks, then you may be held liable.

Where a member of the staff’s household is injured in the workspace, there may be liability on the employer, so keep things under control. You could, for example, require that staff do not permit small children in the designated workspace area, as a manner of controlling this risk. Check with your public liability to see what will be covered, and what the requirements for this cover are.

<ul>

<li><b>Ensure staff regularly assess their workspace and report any incidents or hazards</b></li>

</ul>

Implement a reporting procedure where staff have to check their workspace environment and confirm that the safety measures are in place. Where additional or changed risks are identified, update the risk register and ensure measures are implemented to controls these risks.

Should anyone require an example of a work from home policy, staff contract, workplace health and safety risk assessment, employee health and safety workspace report or home workspace audit document these are available to download for free from our website <a href="https://simplycomply.co.za">www.simplycomply.co.za</a>

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