Employer responsibilities
By law, employers are responsible for the health and safety of all employees, including those working from home.
Risk assessments
Employers must conduct a risk assessment of their employees’ work activities, including any work from home.
Under the law, a risk assessment must be ‘suitable and sufficient’.
If the employer is not able to carry out a full risk assessment due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, they should provide their employees with information on working safely at home. This could include asking employees to carry out a self-assessment of their workspace and equipment.
Employers can use the Preparing for homeworking during coronavirus questionnaire from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
If changes are needed to make sure an employee can work at home in a safe and healthy way, employers are responsible for making sure they happen.
Employers should review risk assessments regularly to make sure employees’ working environments at home remain safe and healthy.
Find out more about what employers should do from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).