Working from home can feel quite different from working in a regular office. You’ll probably begin to feel a little more casual and at ease about the experience. Even so, you also want to feel comfortable and safe at all times, whatever it is you do, and wherever it is you happen to be working from. FSB have put together these tips on how you can stay healthy, safe, and injury-free when you work from home.

Treating the home as a workplace

When you work from home, it can be easy to treat the workday a bit too much like a regular day at home. Why would you need to take any special care when you’ve spent years getting to know everything about the home that you feel completely comfortable in? Surprisingly, however, ROSPA found that more accidents happen at home than anywhere else, so it definitely pays to take a good amount of care while working from home.

For any sort of industry where you’re working from home, there will always be some level of risk associated that you will be able to reduce or completely remove in order to stay healthy and safe through the working day.

For example, if you’re a professional photographer, the amount of studio equipment you need could take up a lot of space and create an awkward tripping risk. You could be running a home-based arts & crafts business where you need to make use of sharp tools, or some chemicals and paints you use in the process may give of fumes that make you feel a little light headed and ill.

A good way you can stay safe is to have a certain area of the house be your specific workplace. For example, if your job mainly requires the use of a computer, set up an office in a certain part of the house just for work.

Having this kind of separation within the home could help you treat the office as a separate space entirely. You can then take out a risk assessment of just your new workspace to make sure that the space is safe and fit for what you need it for.

Investing in high-quality equipment

There are a number of things that you could invest in for your home office that can help make work more comfortable for you and reduce any health risks, which will keep you safe and healthy in the long term.

If you’ll be spending a lot of time sat down, an ergonomic chair that supports your back well will be one of the best things you can buy for your office. It should last you for a long time, and it’ll make sure you can work in comfort all day. Similarly, an ergonomic keyboard will help you avoid any repetitive strain injury from typing all day.

There are other simple things you can purchase that will make working from home safer too. Think about buying a few cable tidying tubes, which can make the office look neater while reducing the risk of you tripping and injuring yourself.

Taking regular breaks to stay healthy

Working from home is a great way to stay productive and motivated, and no longer having to spend any of your time commuting can help to reduce any work-related stress, but you should always look after your health as a priority too.

You should make sure to take breaks from looking at a screen too long. Every half an hour to an hour or so, take a minute or two to refresh yourself, relax your eyes, and stretch your legs a little. It might not seem like a lot, but taking a little time to yourself during the day can help keep you more focused overall.

Compared to a regular office, you no longer have the chance to have a quick chat with your co-workers throughout the work day, so regular breaks can also help make sure that you don’t get burned out from overworking yourself.

Final word 

Following this advice will be a great way to help make sure your home office is much safer, and that you’re able to work as effectively and as comfortably as you can at all times.

 

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