Working from home

Employers

Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (OHS Act), employers have a duty to provide a working environment for their employees that is safe and without risks to health (s21). They must do this so far as is reasonably practicable.

This includes identifying hazards and controlling risks to health or safety when an employee works from a location other than their usual workplace. For example, their home.

Employers must consult with employees, so far as is reasonably practicable, and any HSRs on health or safety matters that directly affect, or are likely to directly affect, employees (OHS Act s35). This includes consulting on decisions about working from a location other than the usual workplace.

Employers' duties extend to:

• any independent contractor engaged by an employer
• the employees of independent contractors.

Employees

Employees have a duty to take reasonable care for their own health and safety, and that of others who may be affected by their acts or omissions in the workplace (OHS Act s25). Employees must also cooperate with their employer's actions to make the workplace safe. For example, by following any information, instruction or training provided.

To control risks, employers may find it useful to develop a risk control plan. This sets out how to identify and control workplace hazards and risks. It also enables employers and HSRs to identify which risk controls are already in place.

A risk control plan involves a series of steps. Follow these steps when preparing a risk control plan for working from home:

1. Establish effective consultation and communication with employees and any HSRs
   • Consult with employees, including HSRs, about working from home.
2. Allocate responsibilities
   • Identify those responsible for managing and coordinating the risk control plan.
   • Involve any HSRs.
   • Provide sufficient resources and support.
3. Decide on a work plan
   • Plan how the work in the risk control plan will be done and how long each step will take.
   • Document the details in a work plan.
4. Identify hazards
   • A hazard is something with the potential to cause injury, illness or disease. Involve employees and HSRs when identifying hazards from working at home.
   • Document hazards in the risk control plan.
5. Assess risks
   • A risk is the chance or likelihood that a hazard will cause harm. In consultation with HSRs, assess risks from working at home and the possible consequences.
6. Control risks
   • Decide on risk controls and record them in the risk control plan.
   • Use the hierarchy of control for guidance.
   • Provide a date for when the controls should be in place.
7. Review the risk control plan
   • Ensure each risk control is in place according to the timelines in the plan.
   • Address delays.
   • Set up an ongoing process to review, revise if necessary and maintain the risk control plan.

A guide to risk control plans

Hierarchy of control

It is important that employers:

• first identify the hazards and risks of the work itself
• then identify the hazards and risks of employees performing the work at home.

Employers should consider whether:

• working from home will change the hazards and risks
• existing control measures will work in a home workplace
• changes to control measures are necessary
• extra controls are necessary.

Working at home may introduce new hazards, such as:

• risks associated with hazardous manual handling
• inadequate or inappropriate workstations
• the suitability of work activities
• psychological wellbeing
• insufficient breaks
• work levels
• isolation and lack of social interaction
• lack of training and mentoring
• employees feeling disconnected from their managers, colleagues and support networks
• increased risk of family violence due to:
  • increased exposure to perpetrators
  • reduced opportunities to access support.

Employers must identify and put in place appropriate control measures to control risks to employees working at home. They must do this in consultation with employees, so far as is reasonably practicable, and any HSRs.

When identifying hazards and controlling risks to employees working at home, employers must consider and address hazards that might be unique to the employee' home.

To set up the home workplace in a way that controls risks to employees' health and safety, consider the following:

• Is there is an appropriate space for a workstation?
• Can the employee easily adjust the workstation to ensure correct posture?
• Are walkways clear and free from trip hazards such as electrical cords?
• Is there enough lighting to avoid eyestrain and fatigue?
• Does the ventilation, heating and cooling provide a comfortable working environment?
• Are there noises that might affect the employee?
• Is electrical equipment and furniture well maintained?
• Are smoke detectors installed and maintained?
• Has the employee expressed concerns about their health and safety at home?

A checklist may help to identify hazards and risks in employees' homes. Employers can ask employees to complete a home workplace health and safety checklist.

Working from home safety and wellbeing checklist

Once the checklist is complete:

• discuss the results with employees and any HSRs
• put in place the necessary controls.

Employers may also inspect employees' home working environments to ensure they meet health and safety requirements. This does not have to be a physical visit to each employee’s home. Inspections can be done by:

• virtual viewing online
• video
• photographs.

If employees face complex risks in their home workplace, OHS professionals may need to assess risks. In some cases, if employers cannot control risks, it may not be possible for employees to work at home.

Employers should also, for example:

• Give employees instruction and training on what makes a safe home-working environment.
• Ensure employees understand and follow appropriate workstation set-up and ergonomic practices.
• Provide the necessary equipment for employees to work safely at home. For example:
  • allow employees to borrow equipment from the workplace
  • negotiate an agreed budget to reimburse employees who buy equipment.
• Maintain regular communication with employees.
• Set boundaries and expectations about working arrangements. This includes suitable breaks and reasonable hours.
• Provide information on good habits for working from home.
• Give employees access to psychological health and wellbeing services information and support.
• Appoint a contact person in the business to whom employees can talk about working from home. Ensure employees know how to contact the person.
• Ensure employees have access to first aid suitable to their duties and home working environment.
• Ensure employees working at home can access emergency services.

Employees have a duty to:

• take reasonable care for their own health and safety
• follow the employer's actions to make the workplace safe (OHS Act s25).

Employees should, for example:

• Follow work procedures.
• Use equipment provided by the workplace and follow instructions for its use.
• Maintain a safe work environment. For example:
  • ensuring adequate lighting and ventilation
  • repairing uneven surfaces
  • removing trip hazards.
• Manage their own in-house safety. For example:
  • maintaining electrical equipment
  • installing and maintaining smoke alarms.
• Notify the employer about risks or potential risks and hazards.
• Report any changes that may affect their health and safety when working from home.

Most employees' home workstations should include the core components of an office workstation:

• a table or desk
• a supportive chair
• footrest if needed
• computer
• external monitor, keyboard and mouse.

Employees need to have enough clear space to:

• work with a full range of movement
• move without strain or injury.

Office layout and design

It is important for employers to keep in regular contact with employees who work from home. Employers should ensure clear and regular communication to:

• set realistic and clear instructions on:
  • workload
  • roles and tasks allocation
  • timelines.
• confirm that employees have the systems and technology they need to do their job
• track work levels
• check that work can be successfully completed from home or adjust work tasks as needed
• tell employees about:
  • organisational and work team activities
  • updates
  • training
  • opportunities.

Also consider how existing policies and procedures apply when employees work from home. This includes how:

• employees tell employers about:
  • incidents
  • injuries
  • hazards
  • changes in circumstances
• the employer will continue to consult with employees and any HSRs about occupational health and safety matters
• employees report:
  • attendance
  • timesheets
  • leave
  • other entitlements and arrangements.

Working from home can be a challenge, particularly when it is a temporary or new arrangement. Each employee has a different home life. Employers should, where possible, give employees flexibility in how they do their work. For example, agreeing on work hours that allow employees to meet both their:

• responsibilities at home
• work requirements.

A lack of social contact, particularly over an extended period, may lead to:

• anxiety
• lack of motivation
• loss of involvement in decision-making within the organisation.

The OHS Act definition of health includes psychological health. Employers must eliminate or reduce risks to employees' psychological health. This includes when employees work from home.

Employers should consider ways to keep employees connected and psychologically healthy. For example:

• Check in often to make sure employees feel supported and are coping with working from home. For example, set up regular phone or video conference meetings.
• Create opportunities for team communications. For example, use online tools or apps to establish team-wide chat groups.
• Be available and willing to listen when employees need to contact you from home.
• Give employees appropriate control and flexibility over how they do their work.
• Provide practical tools to support positive psychological health. For example, access to an employee assistance program.
• Provide a point of contact for employees to discuss any change in their circumstances or concerns. This includes how to access HSRs.
• Encourage employees to stay physically active, eat well and regularly go outside.
• Make sure employees disengage from their work and log off at the end of the day.
• Provide easily accessible information about psychological health and other support services.
• Respond appropriately to signs an employee might be struggling with working from home. For example, changed behaviour.
• Tell employees about accessing their entitlements. For example, if they become unwell, they should use sick leave and not work because they are at home.

WorkSafe's WorkWell toolkit supports leaders to create safe and psychologically healthy workplaces through:

• practical resources
• tailored tools
• information.

WorkWell toolkit

The right to disconnect

Changes to the Fair Work Act 2009 give eligible employees formal rights to disconnect from work outside of their usual work hours, unless doing so is unreasonable. This means they can refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact from an employer or third-party.

These changes are now in force for non-small business employers. For small business employers, they begin on 26 August 2025.

Find out more

When working at home, employees can forget to take breaks or log off at the correct time. Clear boundaries between work and home life are also important. Employers should encourage employees to, for example:

• take regular breaks from work
• stand, move and do gentle stretches throughout the day
• only work their standard number of hours
• log off and shut down computers at the end of the working day
• create workspaces that they can close and leave at the end of the day
• avoid checking and responding to emails and calls outside work hours.

WorkSafe guidance on fatigue

Manual handling refers to any activity requiring a person to exert force to lift, push, pull, carry or otherwise move, hold or restrain something. Manual handling becomes hazardous manual handling when it involves:

• repeated or sustained force
• sustained awkward posture
• repetitive movements
• exposure to sustained vibration
• handling people or animals
• loads that are unstable, unbalanced or hard to hold.

Examples of manual handling hazards for working at home include:

• moving office furniture and equipment such as computers, monitors and printers
• prolonged data entry
• holding and using a mouse
• opening and closing drawers
• using telephones instead of headsets for prolonged telephone work
• poor posture.

Employers must:

• Consult with employees, so far as is reasonably practicable, and any HSRs on matters related to health or safety that directly affect or are likely to directly affect them (OHS Act s35). This duty includes measures to control risks from hazardous manual handling.
• Identify hazardous manual handling, so far as is reasonably practicable (OHS Regulations 2017 r26).
• Control risks of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) associated with hazardous manual handling, so far as is reasonably practicable (OHS Regulations r27).
• Review and, if necessary, revise risk control measures when necessary (OHS Regulations r28).

To identify hazardous manual handling for work at employees' homes, employers should:

• Review available information. For example:
  • records of injuries, incidents and investigations
  • occupational health and safety and hazard inspection reports.
• Look for trends or common problems from working at home.
• Consider how employees are working at home.

Compliance code: Hazardous manual handling

Family violence is never acceptable, no matter the circumstances.

The workplace may be a place of safety and support for people experiencing family violence. Working from home may increase the risk of family violence due to:

• increased exposure to perpetrators
• reduced opportunities to access support.

If an employee is at risk of family violence, working at home may not be safe.

Employers must provide and maintain a working environment that is safe and without risks to health and safety for employees (OHS Act s21). They must do this so far as is reasonably practicable. This includes risks to employees' health and safety that may be introduced when an employee works from home.

The prevalence of family violence in the community means that it is also a significant OHS issue. There is a reasonably foreseeable risk that family violence will impact the working environment. Employers must proactively manage the physical and psychological risk to employees.

Control measures for family violence may include:

• Developing a workplace policy that supports employees experiencing family violence. This includes support for those working from home. This must be done in consultation with employees and any HSRs.
• Providing ongoing education and awareness about family violence.
• Encouraging employees to discuss any health and safety concerns.
• Enabling employees to confidentially disclose if they do not feel safe working from home. For example, by arranging a safe and private time to talk with an appointed family violence contact person.
• Offering those at risk of family violence an alternative to working at home. For example, the workplace or elsewhere.
• Providing work phones and laptops to enhance autonomy and digital security.
• Providing information on where employees can get help for family violence.

Addressing family violence in the workplace