Rank: Forum user 
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Home working is currently a hot topic for the company that I work for. In a nutshell we do not contractually employ any person to work from home due to the minefield of costs and requirments for this. Lately though ad-hoc working from home is starting to become an issue. I am looking for some advice and guidance from any members who's company does contractually employ people to work from home and those who also allow ad-hoc working from home. I am particularly interested in the risk assessment side and making their workplace e.g. an office on the first floor of their house legally safe to work from.
Many thanks...........
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Rank: Super forum user
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Scott,
Not an expert in this area... although I think you will need to define the 'ad-hoc element and attempt to agree as to what this means regarding time & frequency before looking at what you will need to have in place for home working purposes.
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Rank: Forum user
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I think (although am not definite) that there may be a distinction between 'home workers' or 'those who occasionally work at home' (e.g. take an afternoon out the office to work on a report). Certain factors will still be the same, such as ensuring any equipment supplied by the employer is safe for use, but there may be different factors in play, such as manual handling or the need to ensure the area the person uses as a workstation is DSE compliant if the expectation is that they work from home.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Hi Scott/Daniel,
My company allows for felexible home-working. Due to this being deemed as a workplace we ensure that all necessary H&S instruments are in place, so we carry out both H&S Inspections and DSE Assessments at employees homes where necessary. It's costly, time consuming and a minefield as you mentioned.
We are looking closely post 'lord young report' on the necessity of this, but at present we regard home working the same as work-working.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Hello
We currently have a number of different definitions, which can be confusing. Home based where people officially work from home for a number of days, are the only persons where we visit the home and assess the desk, room, electrical safety etc. We also have a number of staff who are home located but actually are on the road at various locations each work day so have no allocated desk in an office but hot desk and then there are people who have informal arrangements - like myself - who work at home to assist with childcare and we are not provided with a full visit but the company must provide appropriate equipment. Other staff who can work from home when waiting for the gas man etc are not really covered as this is seen as a 'perk' more or less.
All who work regularly at home should complete an assessment for home as well as the office and have appropriate equipment, although this is difficult to manage and because of cost managers are not keen to formalise any arrangement.
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Rank: Super forum user
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We have 3 categories of homeworking.
One is when it is specified in their contract of employment--for them we carry out an extensive home working risk assessment
The second is fairly regular, but small amount of homeworking, say one day a week or fortnight primarily for the benefit of the employee. We provide specific guidance on good practice, but do not carry out intrusive risk assessments
The third category is the one off home working, primarily for employee benefit, such as a domestic emergency for childminding, etc. We provide specific guidance on good practice, but do not carry out intrusive risk assessments. This also applies to severe weather conditions, but only 70% can effectively work from home during severe weather conditions.
Our homeworking is using home-computers (but with secure access such as RSA Secure ID) or company laptops.
I feel we have the balance right, and it is the OTT aspect of office type homeworking for short periods resulting in intrusive risk assessments that have caught the attention in the Lord Young Report.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Have a look at the excellent IOSH Guidance avaiable via "information and resources".
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Scott, you don't actually say what sort of work, although the assumption appears to be 'office' type work! I suggest that Jay's appraoch strikes a sensible and reasonable balance. I haven't checked the IOSH guidance suggested by Ron but the HSE guidance on homeworking is (IMHO) 'lacking' (lamentable!) to the extent that it is of little or no practical use. Apply sensible RM principles, be proportionate and put the resources where they need to make to be.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I have used the IOSH home working assmt sheets and with with a bit of lateral thiinking they could be used for non standard items. PM me if you have trouble finding the IOSH assmts and I'll send you the copies I have transcribed for our company.
Badger
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Rank: Super forum user
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To put this topic into perspective, homeworking ie working on a computer and phone, is much safer than travelling to work by car, train, bike, etc. So if you did a RA it would identify that everyone should work from home! In other words, for most homeworkers, casual or otherwise, there is no need to do a formal risk assessment in my opinion.
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Rank: Forum user
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Many thanks for all the feedback receive, some good points there to start working from.
Thanks again,
Scott.
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