WFH - Employers Liability?

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Like many firms we’re moving to hybrid working models where Employees will have the choice to WFH. They are not obliged to WFH (they can come into the office if they want), we will not be paying for any furniture/equipment once the offices are open (for various reasons). All staff have a mobile device (Laptop, IPad, Surface).

From an EL insurance point of view what additional risks are we obliged to cover? Given that its the Employee’s choice, and given that they’re providing their own equipment (apart from the laptop) I cant think of anything that we need to cover (but I am not an insurance expert)

[spikeyhead]

For those of us at our place that are spending any significant time at a computer we've had to fill in a spreadsheet regarding seating position, glare, screen height, keyboard position etc. It gives a green, amber or red output depending on the inputs...

[bristolracer]

Speak to your insurers.

I can imagine WFH will be an ambulance chasers dream in a few years.

[Mr Pointy]

You say that you aren't supplying items such as desks, chairs & keyboards but I wonder if that could leave you open to a claim for failing to ensure a safe working environment under the OH regulations? I know you view it as a their choice to WFH or come into the office but can you be sure you don't still have liability for providing the necessary equipment?

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spikeyhead said:

For those of us at our place that are spending any significant time at a computer we've had to fill in a spreadsheet regarding seating position, glare, screen height, keyboard position etc. It gives a green, amber or red output depending on the inputs...

Yes, when we forced everybody to WFH people had to complete various H&S risk assessments including ergonomics.

[55palfers]

As ever, the HSE is a good starting point for pragmatic advice

https://www.hse.gov.uk/toolbox/workers/home.htm

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bristolracer said:

Speak to your insurers.

I can imagine WFH will be an ambulance chasers dream in a few years.

I did. They couldn't think of any additional risk the Employee faced when choosing to WFH that was the Employers responsibility (apart from having to complete the risk assessments). A slightly ludicrous scenario I mentioned was one where the laptop fell on the Employee' foot and they said they would be happy to defend that.

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Mr Pointy said:

You say that you aren't supplying items such as desks, chairs & keyboards but I wonder if that could leave you open to a claim for failing to ensure a safe working environment under the OH regulations? I know you view it as a their choice to WFH or come into the office but can you be sure you don't still have liability for providing the necessary equipment?

I think t's a good question - during lockdown all staff were supposed to complete the relevant risk assessments and we provided an allowance of up to £500 for them to buy desks, chairs, docking stations Bluetooth keyboards, and mice to address any issues/requirements. However, going forwards, we don't want to be in a situation where we are equipping every new starter with a Home office, especially as we have a lot of temporary staff.

[Mr Pointy]

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Mr Pointy said:

You say that you aren't supplying items such as desks, chairs & keyboards but I wonder if that could leave you open to a claim for failing to ensure a safe working environment under the OH regulations? I know you view it as a their choice to WFH or come into the office but can you be sure you don't still have liability for providing the necessary equipment?

I think t's a good question - during lockdown all staff were supposed to complete the relevant risk assessments and we provided an allowance of up to £500 for them to buy desks, chairs, docking stations Bluetooth keyboards, and mice to address any issues/requirements. However, going forwards, we don't want to be in a situation where we are equipping every new starter with a Home office, especially as we have a lot of temporary staff.

Maybe you make it the responsibility of the umbrella company you use . After all, the subbies are paid by them!

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Mr Pointy said:

Maybe you make it the responsibility of the umbrella company you use . After all, the subbies are paid by them!

My company has a Socially conscious image - the Board wouldn't go for that

[MOMACC]

Ensure all WFH complete desktop risk assessments and provide them with regular info on what best practice looks like.

PAT testing equipment owned by you is a good risk management tool.

[Red9zero]

We all had to the risk assessment stuff and also regular e-learning on how to sit on your chair etc. We are also still classed as office based, although most of us won't actually return to the office. In fact I suspect the small one I am based in won't be reopening.

[Pot Bellied Fool]

Don't forget that IT-wise, you're moving from a tightly controllable environment to one where you have no idea what else is on the network that employees are hanging their Company IT off.

This has major implications if - for example - you have accreditation to any of the cyber security standards such as Cyber Essentials. In which case, you'd need to be advising employees how to change their router passwords/SSIDs away from supplied defaults. THEN you get blamed when their Internet glitches 3 weeks later! Or are you enforcing VPNs? If so, how is it enforced? All these are things you need to think about...

Also check how you monitor/remote deploy OS upgrades, virus defs etc to staff who are out of sight.

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Pot Bellied Fool said:

Don't forget that IT-wise, you're moving from a tightly controllable environment to one where you have no idea what else is on the network that employees are hanging their Company IT off.

This has major implications if - for example - you have accreditation to any of the cyber security standards such as Cyber Essentials. In which case, you'd need to be advising employees how to change their router passwords/SSIDs away from supplied defaults. THEN you get blamed when their Internet glitches 3 weeks later! Or are you enforcing VPNs? If so, how is it enforced? All these are things you need to think about...

Also check how you monitor/remote deploy OS upgrades, virus defs etc to staff who are out of sight.

The vast majority of staff log on via work-supplied laptops. I'm not sure how it works but when they switch on the laptop and enter their password tit's as if they are sat at their desktop PC (all the same shortcuts). Internet has the same controls/restrictions as the work Pcs and so on. Upgrades are installed automatically by IT remotely.

Some of us login via Citrix but we can have other tabs open on the browser so we can surf the net without hopefully being monitored by IT