Thank you to all the members who told us about their experiences of homeworking risk assessments. Most people who contributed are entirely working from home and most were either not provided with risk assessments at all or were only sent a DSE form. Those who received DSE forms reported the following issues:

• Raising concerns / Flagging issues, including needs for disability adjustments, that were left ignored;
• DSE assessment is not designed for home-working;
• Difficulty collecting items necessary for a safe working environment;
• Lack of appropriate place/space for items necessary for a safe working environment;

• Lack of a dedicated working space at home which implies moving the “workstation” on a regular basis, with the limitations that come from that;
•  For those working both at home and in the office, no extra equipment was offered to have a second working station at home.

Some of you have identified good practice in this area. Members in the schools of Healthcare and Modern Languages were able to report that risk assessments for homeworking had been handled well. We will raise this issue with UEB and request that the practices in these Schools are applied throughout the University. If you would like to contribute to this discussion, please feel free to email the office or leave your comments here by the 15th December.