Rank: Forum user 
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Hi,
Can anybody offer any advice on the following:
Jane has been off work as she has recently had an operation on her foot. She has been signed off work until Monday. Jane has today advised us that she remains on crutches and is unable to drive. However, she is able to work and will therefore be working from home from next week.
I'm not too sure that this is ok crutches, risk assessments etc. Has anybody been faced with a similar situation and what would you advise?
Many thanks
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Rank: Super forum user
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I expect there will be contrary views to this, but on the face of it I cannot really see it as a major issue. That being said, we do not have a lot to go on - if we assume (dangerous I know) that 'Jane' will be doing DSE work at home only, then a self assessment may be in order, with Jane confirming that there are no significant risks in her home. It looks to me as though she is asking to work from home; it would be different if the employer is telling her that she MUST work from home as I don't think that would be appropriate.
As far as the injured foot is concerned, she is just as likely to suffer further injury to it at home moving about the house and not working as she is whilst working.
Doing work at home whilst sick can be theraputic and prevent boredom. In this case it may also be beneficial in the long term in that the employee will not be coming back to work with a backlog and then a potential stress issue.
I speak with recent experience having broken my shoulder 7 weeks ago and did some work from home - albeit one fingered left handed typing.
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Rank: Forum user
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I agree with decimomal - very low risk - but it would be important to ensure that a homeworking assessment is completed and that she can set up her workstation appropriately in her home (not sitting on the couch using a laptop for example!!!)
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Rank: Super forum user
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We had exactly this situation(except she was called Suzanne) and we did what hphillips and decimonal suggested. Basic home worker risk assessment and a reminder to the line manager that she cannot be expected to deliver in the same way as she might if she was fully recovered and working in the office. In our case Suzanne specifically asked if she could work from home as she was finding watching daytime TV soul destroying.
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Rank: Forum user
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I've had this situation as well and ran at cross purposes to our HR person. But for H&S I believe a reasonable risk assessment of home working conditions is all you need to do, as said earlier 'not perched on sofa,,' My advice though is don't get embroiled in any other part of home working issues, such as; performance levels or what work they cannot do because they are not in work etc. That's Line Management and HR not H&S
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Rank: Super forum user
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There are no issues with working from home, just do a quick assessment job done
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