Work from home safely

Fire safety when you work from home

Today’s guest post says don’t forget health and safety just because you work from home:

Along with meetings and interfering bosses, health and safety is part of the bureaucracy of corporate life you might be glad to leave behind when you start to work from home.

But you still need to take care of yourself if you’re working all alone in the home office. The usual rules on trailing cables, sticking out drawers and so on still apply when you work from home, and it’s as well to give a thought to fire safety too.

Make sure you always switch off office equipment when it’s not in use. As well as being kinder to the planet and saving on your energy bills, you’re avoiding a fire risk. And don’t neglect the maintenance of any of your electrical appliances, in the home office, kitchen or elsewhere just because they aren’t subject to annual PAT testing.

Many home offices were originally designed as bedrooms with only one or two sockets. Don’t overload them with multiple office appliances as many appliances drawing power from one socket can cause it to overheat and catch fire. Have extra sockets put in by a qualified electrician or at least use just one bar adaptor per socket.

If you don’t already have one, consider fitting smoke alarms from fireprotectiononline.co.uk. When you work from home, with easy access to the kitchen, it’s easy to put a pan of food on the hob and then get distracted by a brilliant idea. Off you go to the computer to get it down before you forget, leaving the pan bubbling merrily away. A smoke alarm will alert you before it starts a fire.

If the alarm starts to beep at regular intervals, it means the battery needs replacing. Make sure you already have a replacement to hand. It’s very tempting to take out the battery to stop the beeping and then forget to replace it, losing your protection.

Just a little thought and preparation will mean you have the peace of mind to concentrate on the job at hand when you work from home.