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Posted By Allan St.John Holt
I would be interested to know if anyone is providing facilities (particularly small CO2 fire extinguishers) for staff working mainly from home, in addition to PC or laptop?
Thanks,
Allan
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Posted By Mark Jarman
Allan,
Our company certainly does - we also visit each persons home to check their suitability before they start homeworking, and their managers keep in regular contact with them.
Regards
Mark
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Posted By Geoff Burt
Hi Allan - not seen your name for a while!
Interesting question but let me pose some more:
If you visit the homeworker house/flat and you find - as a simple example - they do not have RCD protection in the mains supply, what is the next step?
Do you arrange and pay for it to be fitted or do you ask the homeworker to supply it. If the homeworker is a tenant - will this complicate the issue?
Who will pay the business rates if one room is dedicated as an office to carry out work on behalf of the employer?
Would a responsible employer be duty bound to notify the local Council of the change of use?
Geoff
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Posted By Allan St.John Holt
Yes Geoff, it's a can of worms! Sorry for the delay in responding but things are busy at the new job, and I've just rescued the home machinery from a nasty virus. Anyone who thinks you don't need a full backup handy or that viruses happen to other people take note - you can actually find your computer doing a meltdown before your very eyes!
However, of course, if I knew the answers to these questions I wouldn't be asking here! My new employer has a policy of supplying the extinguishers, but I'm not sure that the right questions have been asked before doing so. As several thousand are potentially involved, there's a need for a policy review and I was looking for a little modest benchmarking. I think that only BT provide them, in fact.
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Posted By Colin Williams
Allan,
we do not provide fire extinguishers, however we have provided smoke detectors where none have been installed by the homeowner.
Colin Williams
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Posted By Robert K Lewis
And who services all these wonderful items???!!!! And how???!!!
Allan
Please can we have a few birds to eat up the worms as I think you have struck the unfathomable deep
Bob
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Posted By John Murphy
I have checked with our business rates section here and they inform me that an individual using a single room in their home as an office and not employing another person or persons is not charged business rates.
Hope this helps
John.
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Posted By Geoff Burt
Not right I'm afraid.
If the room is used as an office solely for business purposes (not as a study and not used by other members of the family) then business rates are payable.
Also CGT will be payable on the portion of the premises used when the owner comes to sell the house.
Although this appears not to be rigidly enforced it is something all employers and employees should be aware of - it is a can of worms as was said earlier. The more an employer provides in terms of equipment the more likely it would be seen as an office used solely for work reasons.
Geoff
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Posted By Zyggy Turek
Allan,
As already mentioned by others, homeworking raises a number of issues, but as you specifically asked about providing extinguishers, I will concentrate on that.
I must admit that I would have concerns about issuing extinguishers (especially small ones with limited capacity).
Recent conversations with senior Fire Officers has confirmed these reservations as it is contrary to their advice, i.e. "Get out ,stay out & call us out", especially in a domestic setting where there may well be other family members to consider.
Any delay in attempting to put out a fire could have fatal consequences & I am sure that you have already considered the issue of training/re-training, maintenance, etc.(plus I'm sure that my better half would just love me to have a bright red extinguisher hanging on the wall!)
The general concept of homeworking does have certain advantages, but it's still a place of work & all the usual standards apply plus a few more issues such as Insurance;EL;Landlord/Mortgage & yes, Business Rate if the room used is dedicated exclusively to work.
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