Working From Home Safely: An Employer's Checklist
Home working is now a permanent feature of UK working life — but your responsibility for staff does not stop at the office door. Here is a practical checklist for keeping remote colleagues safe, comfortable and supported, wherever they happen to be sitting.
When an employee works from a spare bedroom, a kitchen table or a corner of the living room, the workplace effectively becomes wherever they are. That can feel daunting for employers used to managing a single, controlled office. In practice, the principles are familiar — you simply apply them to a setting you cannot see every day. The goal is not to police people's homes, but to make sure they have what they need to work safely and well.
Your duty of care extends to home
Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, an employer's duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of employees applies to home workers just as it does to office-based staff. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is clear that you cannot opt out of this duty simply because the work happens off-site.
In real terms, that means making reasonable enquiries about a person's home setup, providing information and training, and acting on any risks you become aware of. You are not expected to inspect every home in person, but you should give staff the tools to assess their own environment and a clear route to flag problems.
- Ask home workers to complete a self-assessment of their working area.
- Provide guidance on safe set-up and good working habits.
- Make it easy to report faulty equipment, trip hazards or anything else of concern.
- Keep the conversation open — circumstances at home change over time.
The most effective home-working policies are built on trust and good information, not surveillance. Equip people to look after themselves, and most of the work is done.
DSE at home
The same display screen equipment rules that apply in the office apply at home. The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 require employers to make sure home workers who are DSE users can set up their workstation safely and take regular breaks. The challenge is that a kitchen chair and a laptop on a table are rarely ideal for a full day's work.
Encourage staff to raise their screen to eye level, use a separate keyboard and mouse where possible, and sit in a chair that supports their back. A self-assessment helps people spot the gaps in their own setup. For the detailed steps, point your team to our DSE workstation assessment how-to, which walks through screen, chair and desk positioning in plain language.
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Lone working considerations
Most home workers are, by definition, lone workers — they work without the immediate support or supervision of colleagues. That brings its own considerations. If something goes wrong, there may be nobody nearby to notice or help, so it is worth thinking through how you stay in touch.
- Agree regular check-ins, so no one goes a full day without contact.
- Make sure people know who to call in an emergency or if they feel unwell.
- Consider the risks of any particular tasks done alone at home and whether they are still appropriate.
- Keep emergency contact details up to date for each home worker.
None of this needs to be heavy-handed. A short daily message or a recurring team call often does the job, while quietly reassuring people that they are not forgotten.
Protecting mental health
Isolation is one of the biggest hidden risks of home working. Without the casual conversations of an office, people can feel disconnected and find it harder to switch off at the end of the day. Employers should actively design in connection and clear boundaries between work and home life.
Encourage regular breaks, respect finishing times, and create space for non-work chat as well as tasks. Spotting when someone is struggling is harder at a distance, which makes a strong wellbeing culture even more important. Our piece on mental health first aid at work explains how to recognise the signs and signpost support, even when the team is remote. Pairing that awareness with practical DSE and home working training gives staff a solid grounding in looking after both body and mind.
✅ Key takeaways
- Your duty of care under the 1974 Act follows employees to their homes.
- DSE rules still apply — support safe screen, chair and desk set-up at home.
- Treat home workers as lone workers and agree regular check-ins.
- Design in connection and clear boundaries to protect mental health.
- Self-assessments and training let staff manage their own environment safely.
A safe home-working arrangement is not about adding red tape. It is about giving people the information, equipment and contact they need — and then trusting them to get on with the job in comfort.