More than
a third of IT directors flout basic health and safety rules by
failing to support home workers properly.
A worrying 35% of
100 IT directors questioned by customer services applications
supplier Touchpaper admitted they didn’t perform safety audits for
their teleworkers.
A further 21%
simply didn’t know whether or not their company had a policy in
place, yet home workers legally require the same safety checks as
office-based workers. These include annual monitoring of their
electrics, cabling, heating and ventilation, as well as the
position of their seating and workstation.
“People who work
from home need to be treated the same as those who work from the
office, with the same access to support and information,” said
Graham Ridgway, chief executive of Touchpaper. “Company policies
and practices must keep up with these developments in the interests
of employee safety and productivity.”
According to research firm Point Topic, there are 3.8 million home
workers in the UK and a total of 5.5 million people who spend part
of the working week out of the office.