Many employers have a work force of employees who work from home, either full or part-time. An employer is required to carry workers’ compensation insurance, to cover medical expenses in the event of a work-related injury. This is true, even in the event of an employee who is working from home. Therefore, an employer should have a safety and wellness plan in place to protect not only on-site employees, but also those who telecommute.
Telecommuters are able to, and should, report any type of work related injuries to management and are entitled to workers’ compensation. These could be claims such as tripping over a cord and suffering an ankle sprain, or a claim of carpal tunnel syndrome due to an office not being set up ergonomically. Employers often tend to overlook the off-site workspace of employees, which could be a major impact on overall workers’ compensation claims.
HomeSense Telecommuter Auditing highly recommends that employers obtain professional, non-biased audits for their work-from-home employees on the regular basis. It is certain that an audit can find safety and wellness issues to correct, before an injury could occur. In the end, and employer could save thousands of dollars paid to deductibles and claims if audits are regularly executed.
Top Five Safety/Wellness Violations that HomeSense Telecommuter Auditing find during home office inspections:
- Non-ergonomically correct workstation, including chair, monitor, and desk. (repetitive injury claim possibility)
- Too many plugs in one extension cord adapter. (fire claim possibility)
- Messy office floors. (tripping possibility)
- Sharp edges on desks. (cut possibility)
- Poor lighting of task area (repetitive injury claim possibility, eye-strain)
HomeSense Telecommuter Auditing 