Health and Safety Best Practices for Remote Working – How to protect your well-being from home

After Covid the way we work has changed dramatically. The home office which we all adapted during that time is no longer a temporary setup but instead it has become a normal setup for million around the globe. Remote working do bring in many benefits like flexibility in working, reduced daily commutes, less exposure to hazards at road etc but it also brings new challenges to our health and safety. For example poor posture, social isolation are just some of them. The risks are real but manageable by adopting small strategies and by making small adjustments thereby changing the home workspace into a save and productive haven.

So let’s discuss on the various ways through which we can ensure well-being, boost productivity and comply with health standards of remote workers even though they are outside the traditional office.

1. Ergonomic Home Office Setup

Ergonomics is one of the most overlooked yet critical aspects of remote working. So what is this term Ergonomics? As per the Health and Safety Executive UK Ergonomics is a science concerned with the fit between people and their work. (Ref: Ergonomics and Human Factors at Work – A brief Guide published by HSE UK). You can download this free resource by clicking here – GWG Library

In a scientific term ergonomics can be a study of people at work, aiming at designing tasks, systems, tools as well as environments to ensure that all are fit to the user’s physical and cognitive abilities. Overall, the main goal is to improve the safety, efficiency, comfort and mainly well-being of the user.

An inappropriate workstation can lead to musculoskeletal disorder, eye strain and several other chronic disorders. So let’s start with the basics for a home office setup:

Chair – Always invest in a chair in which you can adjust the height, which has lumbar support, as well as armrests. Avoid sitting on a couch and bed for longer periods which can severely impact your spine and neck.

Desk – The height of the desk should be allowing you to work with your elbows at a 90-degree angle. You should also be able to keep your feet on the floor or on a footrest.

Monitor – The position of the monitor should be at eye-level, the distance to be at an arm’s length away which will prevent neck and eye strain.

For a laptop you can consider using a riser and an external keyboard and mouse to improve your posture.

Lighting – Ample lighting preferably natural should be ensured on the workplace. Try to avoid harsh lighting or working in dark rooms which can lead to eye fatigue.

Document holder – If you are kind of a person who frequently has to refer to printed documents then you could consider the use of a document holder which could be placed between your keyboard and monitor to reduce neck movement.

Phone and Headset usage – Always avoid cradling the phone between your ear and shoulder. Try to use a headset or speakerphone to keep your hands free and posture to be always upright during calls.

Visual comfort – The rule of 20-20-20 is a good idea to reduce the eye strain. For every 20 minutes, look at something which is 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Alternately you can also use an antiglare screen filters as required. Use the right amount of brightness and contrast on your screen to suit ambient light in your workplace.

Air Quality and Temperature – The work room must be well-ventilated, and the temperature must be kept for optimum comfort. Poor air quality or extreme temperature can affect concentration and well-being.

2. Mental Health and Well-Being

Working in isolation can always take a toll on your mental health. After the introduction of work from home concept, lack of human interaction has made remote employees feel disconnected, overwhelmed or even depressed. Some of the strategies to overcome this are:

Ensure that social connections are always maintained through video calls, team chats and possibility through virtual coffee breaks.

Try to ensure that you set up a work life boundary. Designate a specific workspace and stick to your working hours as far as reasonably practicable. You need to find time to spend quality time with your family and friends and at that time try to avoid all kind of electronic gadgets that can take you back to your work atmosphere.

Practicing mindfulness techniques like deep breathing, meditation or even taking short outdoor walks are all good for manage stress.

In order to ensure mental health and well-being employers also has to regularly check-in with their employees / teams and should encourage open conversations about mental well-being. Making arrangements for counselling sections on mental health are also a positive step that could be taken from the employer side.

3. Fire Safety and Electrical Hazards

We always have to remember that a typical home is not designed to function as a workplace, which will make the importance of fire and electrical safety a prime concern. Let look into some tips on how to make the home workplace safer:

• Avoid overloading of sockets by daisy-chaining multiple extension cords.
• Always remember to unplug appliances and charges when not in use.
• Keep your workplace free from paper cluster and any kind of flammable materials particularly if you are a smoking person.
• Use of any kind of heating system has to be carefully arranged.
• Ensure that smoke detectors are functional and are positioned correctly.
• Provision of a small fire extinguisher nearby is a good idea.

Even though you might see these unnecessary, these steps can significantly reduce fire risks and prevent damage or injury.

4. Cyber Security and Data Protection

One of the dangers associated with remote working is the possibility of vulnerability to cyber threats, especially when using personal devices on unsecured networks. How can we tackle this?

Use only approved and secured VPN (Virtual Private Networks) to protect your data when working online.

Ensure to keep all software as well as active programs up to date.

Use of strong, unique passwords for each account and enable multi-factor authentication.

Avoid clicking on any kind of suspicious emails or links which could be a thread to phishing attacks.

Store all sensitive data on a secured cloud storage system as well encrypt the device is possible.

It is also the responsibility of the employers to provide proper guidelines on how to secure data as well as required IT support for the remote staff as and when necessary.

5. Establish a safe routine

When working from home there should be a structured daily routine that should support both safety and productivity. Working from should not feel chaotic at any time.

Try to set out consistent working hours that will mirror your in-office routine. This will actually help you with the time management and also will allow your body to maintain a healthy circadian rhythm.

Starting the day with an exercise is good idea which will help you to boost your productivity. Maintaining a to-do list for the next day will help you to organize your priorities and other works.

Conclusion

Remote working is not just a temporary trend but it has become a fundamental change in how we work in the current scenario. As homes started to become long term workplace, it has come to a stage where both individuals and organisations must rethink their approach to health and safety. By embedding best practices into daily routine remote working can be a sustainable, healthy and highly productive model. The topics that we have discussed above like taking care of ergonomics, mental health and cyber security are just as important at home as they are in office.

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