Challenges for Workplace Risk Assessment in Home Offices—Results from a Qualitative Descriptive Study on Working Life during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Latvia

Linda Matisāne, Linda Paegle, Lāsma Akūlova and Ivars Vanadziņš
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Linda Matisāne: Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, Rīga Stradiņš University, Dzirciema 16, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia
Linda Paegle: Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, Rīga Stradiņš University, Dzirciema 16, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia
Lāsma Akūlova: Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, Rīga Stradiņš University, Dzirciema 16, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia
Ivars Vanadziņš: Institute of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health, Rīga Stradiņš University, Dzirciema 16, LV-1007 Riga, Latvia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 20, 1-19

Abstract: Epidemiological restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have raised legal and practical questions related to the provision of workplace risk assessment in home offices of teleworkers. The objective of this qualitative study was to analyze practical experience of employers and occupational safety and health experts performing workplace risk assessment in Latvia during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings suggest that employers have not sufficiently implemented their legal obligations related to workplace risk assessment which can result in an increased number of physical and mental health problems of teleworkers in the short term and in the future. Work from home has shown how different working conditions can be for the same type of work (office work); therefore, the promotion of personalized workplace risk assessment should be encouraged. Even if virtual workplace visits using photos and videos are not the traditional way the workplace risk assessment should be done, it is effective; workers who report that their employers assessed their working conditions report fewer health effects. The experience of workers in participation in workplace risk assessment for telework might change the level and role of worker participation in the management of health and safety hazards at work in general.

Keywords: telework; distance work; occupational safety; occupational health; workplace risk assessment; risk assessment methods; home assessment; home office (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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