-
- Annual leave (holiday)
- Attendance during severe weather
- Compassionate leave and Emergency leave
- Flexible working
- Flu pandemic
- Homeworking
- Circumstances in which homeworking may be approved
- Suitability for homeworking
- Employee requirements and effective homeworking
- Working arrangements
- Guidance for managing staff working from home
- Equipment
- Accessing IT facilities and support from home
- Long term/extended homeworking
- Business continuity
- Security and confidentiality
- Health and safety
- Compensation for expenses
- Mortgage, landlord, council tax and insurance issues
- Changing job
- Jury service
- Parents and Carers
- Right to request training
- Sickness absence
- Study leave
- Travel policy
- Forms and templates
Health and safety
Workplace health and safety law applies to homeworkers and the University has the same legal duty to protect their health, safety and welfare, as if they were at work on campus. Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, the University is required to assess the risk of work activities carried out by staff who work at home. In most cases the risk assessment can be carried out by the homeworker him/herself, although guidance may be sought from the Health and Safety Office and the Occupational Health Service.
Risk assessment
See the Home Working Risk Assessment Form pro forma and further guidance on issues to be taken into account.
Before home working commences, the risk assessment should be completed and passed to the line manager: the line manager should be satisfied that there is low risk and that any additional control measures are in place. Both the employee and the manager should retain a copy of the risk assessment, which should be reviewed at regular intervals. If the employee is unable to provide a safe working environment at home they should work normally at the University: the University is not obliged to provide additional equipment as there is a safe working environment available in the office.
Homeworkers are advised to:
- complete the Office Safety and Computer Workstations training course provided by the Health and Safety Office.
- to take adequate rest breaks ie where work continues for a period of more than six hours, they should take a break during the working day of at least 20 minutes and stop working during that break. This is as required by the Working Time Regulations 1998.
- report an ‘accident at work’ while they are homeworking to the University, using the University’s standard procedure for reporting accidents.
