Home working is a part of how we operate at Safe Families & Home for Good. While some of us primarily work from an office and others from home, it’s vital that everyone has a safe, comfortable, and productive workspace wherever they are working. To support this, we’ve outlined some key areas to think through to help you maintain a safe and efficient working environment.
Ideally your workspace should be an environment that is comfortable, motivates you, enhances your productivity, and supports your work tasks. It's important to consider the nature of your workload. Do you primarily handle administrative tasks? Are you frequently in online meetings? Do you need to manage a lot of physical documents, or is most of your work paperless? Reflecting on these aspects is a great starting point for designing the ideal workspace for you.
Setting up your workspace
- Make sure your workspace is tidy
-
A tidy workspace can enable productivity. It is also important that your workspace is free from potential hazards like trailing wires which may lead to trips or falls.
- Make sure your workspace is comfortable for you and equipment is positioned correctly
-
It is important that you are seated in a chair that is comfortable, along with a desk that is at the correct height. More information about setting up your equipment correctly can be found here
- Make sure your home working space is light and provides enough ventilation
-
Try to make sure the room you are working in provides enough light and ventilation, especially in the darker months of the year, and the hotter seasons too!
- Make sure your equipment is safe to use
-
All work equipment is PAT tested however it is your responsibility to ensure that it is continuing to work ok. For more guidance on what to look out for please read this guidance.
-
- Fire and electrical safety guidelines
-
Powering down equipment - make sure you turn off all electrical devices and equipment when not in use. This minimises the risk of overheating and electrical malfunctions.
-
Fire alarm and exits – it is important that you know if your fire alarm is working sufficiently, it can be useful to check this on a semi regularly basis in case of a fire. It is also important to know, if a fire was to occur how you would exit the building safely.
- Manual handling
-
You may need to move large items when working from home, maybe you have a box of heavy paperwork that needs transporting somewhere. To make sure you are doing this in the safest way we have some guidance you can find here
Establishing healthy boundaries
In addition to having a physical environment that supports effective and safe work, it’s equally important for us all to prioritise our well-being.
-
Taking Regular Breaks
-
It is easy to spend long periods of time looking at a screen when working from home. It is vital we take breaks. As a minimum we recommend taking 10 mins away from all screens every 120 mins.
-
Remain physically active
-
This can be the same for working in an office. We recommend you factor in movement in your working day. This can look like stretching and walking around during screen breaks or taking a walk before or after work, or even on your lunch break.
-
Stay connected
-
Working from home can mean that we do not get to connect with our teams in the same way as in an office environment. We think connections is important and so encourage us all to connect with colleagues each day. Make sure you have utilise Slack to enable this and make sure to partake in any online team meetings and check ins to keep in touch!
To prompt you in your reflections around your own home working environment here are some questions to help you.
Do I have access to the necessary software, equipment and reliable internet to complete tasks effectively?
Am I staying connected with my team through regular check-ins and online tools for communication?
-
- Does my calendar accurately reflect my working day?
-
- If I am leaving my home to go to an event/visit/meeting, do I need to notify/arrange a buddy? (to help answer this refer to any risk assessments or our lone working policy)
Am I taking regular breaks from screen and have I established clear boundaries between work hours and personal time to maintain a healthy work life balance?
Do I have a comfortable setup enabling me to be productive in work hours?
Is my work from home set up free from trip hazards and is the equipment I am using being used safely (not overheating/being switched off at the end of a working day)