As of emerging the situation with the COVID-19 crisis, many employers in numerous countries (including Serbia) have organized work from home a long ago. The Guide’s to-do-list may be useful for the employers wishing to check the level of their OHS compliance in the context of remote work. It also offers predictability in terms of what labour inspectors may be looking for when investigating compliance.

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Serbian Ministry of Labour has published on 18 January 2021 the Guide for Safe and Healthy Work from Home (Vodič za bezbedan i zdrav rad od kuće). The Guide defines work from home as work which involves the use of information and communication technologies (PC, laptop, smartphone, and tablet) enabling remote work.

Documenting work from home

The Ministry of Labour suggests in the Guide that the work from home on an exceptional basis (and not as a special form of employment) requires that the employer and the employee enter into formal annex to the regular employment agreement, which entails an offer to the employee of amended terms of work. This is debatable, given that the Labour Act provides the basis for an ordinary agreement on occasional work from home.

Whereas the Occupational Safety and Health Act is not sufficiently elaborated in this respect, the Guide recommends to the employers to address occupational health and safety (OHS) in the context of remote work in the work rules/collective agreement or in the employment agreements, by specifying jobs that could be performed from home, equipment and tools, the manner of supervision and communication, and the manner of implementation of OHS measures.

OHS measures

Physical work-space

The Guide advises employers to ensure, in cooperation with an employee, adequate work conditions at employee’s home. An employee working from home should, if possible, have a separate room for work and suitable equipment. In any event, an employee should designate a space at her/his home, which will be considered place of work. Such space is expected to be clean and accessible, with electrical installations designated and situated in a manner that does not represent a fire risk. Desk is to be adjustable, or a monitor should be on a stand. A monitor should be safe from a screen reflection. A chair should be stable, comfortable and adjustable. A work-space should have adequate lighting, a low level of noise as well as an adequate room temperature.

Work schedule

Work should be organised in a way to respect work–life balance. An employer should ensure that an employee has work schedule and uses breaks she/he is entitled to. Employers are advised to contact employees working from home during work hours only.

Risk assessment and supervision

An employer does not have to include jobs performed from home in the Risk Assessment Act, a mandatory internal document containing description of work process and an assessment of safety and health risks at work with the measures for removal or decrease of such risks. Yet, an employer should organize occupational safety and health training for the work from home. The Guide includes a check list to help in determining OHS risks.

The Guide recommends having frequent online meetings, as well as regular physical meetings at office or at home, regular examination of a work equipment and tools, organizing online help, providing regular instructions, providing necessary trainings. Some of the recommendations do not seem practical, such as the one advising rotation of the tasks between employees who work in front of a monitor and those who do not work in that very way.