In our experience it’s just a ‘no go’ area. Employers continue to put their head in the sand on employees who are working from home. Remote office workers are not being appropriately managed by their employers. We have been highlighting this issue to employers with increased vigour since the dawn of CoVid -19, which induced a mass exodus from the office. Employers are required to afford the same duty of care to remote and lone workers as they would to an employee who is office based. A recent UK report* has identified a 46% increase in lone worker abuse in the last 2 to 3 years. This abuse is not physical in nature it is workplace based and pertains to the perception gap between employees and executives. Employers, the writing is on the wall in terms of future litigation on this matter. Here in Ireland the WRC have amazing powers of investigation and prosecution and its only a matter of time before it become a Priority 1 issue. Our advice is to get ahead of it – develop, implement and monitor through EHS procedures. Obviously, we at Expert Safety can assist on this and other EHS matters.
*EcoOnline Lone Worker Landscape Report 2024