Employment Matters May 2008

The Home Ranger
Working from home is no longer an opportunity to catch up on the housework with a bit of office admin thrown in. Technological developments and the right of many employees to request different working patterns allow an increasing number of people to work outside the traditional office environment. Flexible working arrangements have many benefits to both employer and employee and this month we’ll look at the wider issues concerning employees who work alone with a focus on particular issues for home workers.

What’s the issue?
In the past six months, two care workers have been stabbed to death by patients during home visits whilst the care worker was working alone. Many employees in the UK work alone or apart from others, not just in the health service, but in industries such as driving, security, cleaning, construction, retail and office services. The realistic hazards they face range from abduction, assault and accidents.

Working alone or from home is legal provided that the risks of doing so have been adequately assessed and addressed by the employer. Employers have a legal duty to all their employees to ensure the employees’ health, safety and welfare at work is reasonably practicable. Lone and home workers have exactly the same protection as office based employees, but an employer will probably need to take extra steps to ensure that employees working outside the office are safe and well.

In addition the new Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 which came into force on 6 April 2008 provides that an organisation will be guilty of corporate manslaughter if the way in which its activities are managed or organised causes a person’s death and is a gross breach of a relevant duty of care owed by the organisation to the deceased.  To view the act in more detail visit - http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/corporatemanslaughter2007.htm

What do I do as an employer?
The starting point for employers is to conduct an assessment of the risks employees (and others) face whilst working. Carrying out a “suitable and sufficient” risk assessment is a specific legal requirement. The HSE website contains excellent advice on how to conduct risk assessments: which can be accessed via http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/fivesteps.htm .

A risk assessment must be carried out by a competent person and should:

• Identify hazards (i.e. something which may cause harm).

• Identify who may be harmed by a hazard e.g. the worker, customers.

• Evaluate the risk of those hazards occurring including the harm and likelihood of occurrence.

• Identify measures to remove or reduce those risks e.g. training, instruction.

• Be recorded if an employer employs five or more employees.

• Be reviewed and updated on a regular basis.

For example, a cleaner uses certain chemicals to wash a floor. One potential hazard is slipping on a wet floor. Those potentially affected are the cleaner and others who may walk on the floor. In terms of risk evaluation, the likelihood of a risk occurring is medium / high. The potential harm ranges from bruising to a severe head injury. A risk reducing measure may be to go over the floor with a dry mop rather than letting it dry naturally.

Consultation with employees is vital as they are the best source of information about the risks associated with a particular job. 
When an employee is moving to home working after being office based always agree this arrangement on a trial basis first and conduct a review to see what issues have arisen before making it a more permanent arrangement.