How do you manage the health and safety risks facing a hybrid workforce?

Back in 2019, only 6.8% of Brits worked from home all or part of the time.

However, as the pandemic took hold, many more of us rapidly transitioned to remote working. ONS figures now show that 38% of UK employees now work from home at least some of the time. And, 84% of those who began to work from home during the pandemic intend to continue at least part of the time.

However, almost three years on from the boom in hybrid working, best practice continues to evolve, and new challenges emerge regularly.

Working from home is clearly no longer a temporary solution for most organisations, yet for many, health and safety procedures are largely built for pre-pandemic working life.

So, what has the shift to hybrid working meant for health and safety in the office and home, and how can organisations manage the risk?

What is lost and gained through hybrid working?

Around 78% of organisations now allow hybrid working, and although the majority of employees, according to research by The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, say that it improves work life balance, it doesn’t work for everyone. For example, while younger workers feel less productive when working from home, people with disabilities feel more productive.

Managers are also fairly split on the future of hybrid working: 42% foresee an eventual return to traditional working patterns but 41% see hybrid working as here to stay. As time goes on, effective managers are likely to find strategies to help workers access the benefits of homeworking while mitigating the downsides.

There is no one-size-fits all approach to getting homeworking right. Some employees might thrive in a home environment, others might feel unsupported and isolated without contact with others. Employers who want to be able to retain and engage their employees need to find ways to make it safe and effective

Managing health and safety risks within the home

An employee working from home does not remove all liability from the employer for their health and safety. Provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act (HSWA) 1974 extend to home workers.

Many of the same health and safety issues that arise in the office will also arise at home (including everything from loose cables and others trip hazards, to incorrect workstation set-up).

A risk assessment will help to reduce risk and identify interventions that could improve safety and wellbeing. A risk assessment might consider issues such as:

• Musculoskeletal health: does the employee have suitable equipment to ensure they can maintain good posture while working?
• Psychosocial stressors: does the employee have a reasonable workload, with reasonable expectations and a supportive manager?
• Opportunities for progression: do remote and workplace employees have the same chance of training, progression and promotion?
• Lone working: are there policies to address risk from lone working, such as personal security?

Home working and the cost of living crisis

You wouldn’t allocate desks within an office according to people’s socio-economic background, but this is effectively what happens when people work from home. Whereas one person might have a warm, peaceful home with a quiet place to work, a colleague might live somewhere overcrowded, noisy and cramped. It’s not hard to see how this could impact performance and career development.

With the current cost of living crisis, the challenge of finding somewhere comfortable to work within the home has become harder. Around 4.3 million low-income households are having to choose between buying essentials like food and clothes, or paying rent and energy bills. People in rental properties may also have to contend with issues such as poor maintenance, mould and damp that make it harder to work from home. The result is staff working from cold and potentially unsafe homes.

Personal circumstances beyond the financial can also influence whether someone is able to find a quiet, safe space to work from at home. The proportion of the population working as informal, unpaid carers for elderly relatives is rising. For those living with elderly parents, for example, the ability to effectively work from home can be diminished.

There is no easy answer, but offering staff a safe, warm office to work from can provide part of the solution.

The impact of hybrid working on the workplace

You may also wish to consider the impact of a reduced workforce coming into the workplace. Having fewer people in the workplace could impact the health and safety risks for people who work there. For example, many workplaces have reps for fire safety, first aid, or other issues – what happens when they are not present?

If you previously had a system of first aid or fire representatives, how has this changed with the transition to a hybrid working pattern? Existing risk assessments for the workplace should be reviewed to ensure they remain current.

If employees are hotdesking when they come into the office, workstation set-up is also an important consideration. Have employees had the training they need to set up a workstation correctly?

An empty office can also be a lonely place to work. Many people are effectively working as a lone worker from their homes but similar conditions apply to the workplace – a single employee could be present in a workplace, raising lone worker and personal safety issues.

Some organisations have started transforming their offices to better reflect the realities of hybrid working, and to encourage staff into the office. Over the next five years, we could see many more organisations downsizing office space and investing in making space more attractive places to work. Trailblazers have already demonstrated how this can also reduce office running costs and emissions.

Finding guidance and support

Standards offer an invaluable framework for assessing health and safety risk within the workplace or home. Standards you might use include:

• ISO 45001 occupational health and safety management is an essential international standard that sets the benchmark for occupational health, helping to manage risk, achieve regulatory compliance, demonstrate brand values, increase resilience
• As well as physical health, mental and emotional health are important to consider – ISO 45003 psychological health and safety at work helps to identify hazards to workers and develop a system that reduces risk and helps to ensure people feel supported and cared for
• PAS 3000 a code of best practice for smart working. The PAS was developed in response to changing working patterns; legislation encouraging flexible working; and new trends in workplace design. The PAS serves as a single document that brings together good practice across the disciplines involved: HR, property, and technology.

Whatever approach your organisation is likely to take to hybrid working in the coming years, ensuring you take care of your people is of paramount importance. Standards can help to ensure you take a comprehensive approach to managing risk and protecting wellbeing.

If you have any questions about how standards can help to improve health and safety for hybrid workers, BSI Members can get in touch with the Knowledge Centre’s information experts.