Working from home - Work, health and safety information

Working from home to support social distancing during COVID-19

The use of working from home may be used for those staff who are deemed to be in vulnerable categories. The Department of Health advises that people in the following groups are more vulnerable to COVID-19:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders over 50 years old with one or more chronic conditions.
People 65 years and old and one or more chronic conditions.
People 70 years and older.
People with compromised immune systems.

Visit the Department of Health website for more information on people with chronic health conditions

Working arrangements should be reviewed on a regular basis – and at least monthly- in line with latest advice from the Department of Health and to check that they are appropriate for ongoing operations.

Other staff requests to work from home will be considered by their supervisor / manager and Dean (People and Resources) / Director to identify if they can be accommodated while ensuring essential roles and functions are maintained.

The University may review, cancel or vary working from home arrangements at any time. A previously agreed working from home arrangement does not guarantee the approval of subsequent requests.

Staff who are requested to work from home (or who have requested to do so) will need to complete a Working from Home approval form and WHS checklist.

To manage this process please complete the following with your supervisor or manager and Dean (People and Resources) or Director signatures, and submit both documents to pc@flinders.edu.au

Working from Home – Work Health and Safety Agreement and Checklist (PDF)

Work health and safety considerations

General

Under Work Health and Safety (WHS) legislation, the University has a duty of care to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of its staff while they are at the workplace, including if they are working from home. The WHS legislation defines a workplace as a place where work is carried out and includes any place where a staff member goes, or is likely to be, while working.

All work health and safety policies and procedures which apply to staff at the University also apply, as far as practicable, to staff working from home and to the home-based site.

Staff responsibilities

Staff are responsible for taking care to protect their own health and safety, including when working from home. In particular, staff must:

comply with all applicable University WHS policies and procedures
notify their supervisor as soon as possible of any work related incident/accident/injury that occurs whilst carrying out University duties at home and report the accident/incident on the University's on-line FlinSafe system within 24 hours.

Staff who are intending to work at home need to ensure that their home office is set up to optimise safety and comfort and that they adopt work practices to avoid eye strain and muscle fatigue. To assist in this staff should:

complete the Working from home - WHS checklist above
pay for and make any reasonable adjustments to the home office if the WHS checklist identifies that these need to be made.

For more information about setting up your workstation at home see Guidelines for safe work in the office environment.