Use your home as a workplace

Make sure that your work equipment is safe and that other members of your household, especially small children, can't be harmed by it.

Electrical safety is extremely important and the equipment you use must be fit for the job and checked regularly. Make sure you don't overload socket points.

Setting up the work area in your home

There are many things to consider when setting up your work area if you are working from home, such as:

• equipment must meet basic standards and be properly set up
• chairs should be adjustable to suit any user
• computer equipment should be safe and not affect the user's health
• computer screens should be free from glare and reflections
• workstations must be adjusted to a comfortable position, with the keyboard in the correct position

Security when home working

When working from home, you have to be careful about the security of work equipment and data, particularly if it is sensitive. You should consider the following carefully:

• Is your home generally secured against theft? It may be a good idea to ask a crime prevention officer to look around your home and give advice on how you can make it more secure. See protect your business against crime.
• Have you considered how you will protect your work from other occupants of your home? If you have to share a computer make sure you back up your work regularly and that your work is password protected. See prevent business data theft.
• Do you have adequate insurance? Remember that your general household insurance is unlikely to cover expensive business equipment. See business insurance: the basics.
• Do you have a lockable filing cabinet or safe? It may be wise to purchase a fireproof safe for irreplaceable items.
• Can you dispose of sensitive information in a secure way? For example, sensitive papers should be carefully shredded (preferably using a cross-cut shredder), and not simply disposed of with household rubbish.
• Do you ever transport your equipment or work in public places such as on a train? Equipment should never be left unattended or unsecured in a public place. Also, you should be careful about what is displayed on your screen when it can be seen by unauthorised people.
• How secure are you from cyber crime? You should manage cyber security risks to minimise the threat of attack.