UNISON Power E.ON Members Update

Many of us are now working from home, and this brings a number of health, safety and wellbeing issues with it. We have been contacted by members who are experiencing musculoskeletal issues, mainly relating to their backs, due to inadequate seating.

We have asked the company to make office chairs available to those who need them, but the situation is viewed  as being temporary, and the company are not allowing chairs to be removed from the office at this time.

Although these home working arrangements might be considered to be temporary, colleagues are working for prolonged periods of time, and could be doing themselves long term damage if they aren’t set-up properly. We are aware of colleagues who are working from sofa’s, bean bags and kitchen stalls. These seating arrangements are really not suitable, so it is important you have a chair which supports your back.

Without the correct equipment, various pains, strains and aches could soon develop, so it’s vitally important to have a work station set-up which minimise these risks.  If you require a mouse, keyboard, laptop riser or monitor, then you should contact your line manager, who will arrange this for you. To ensure your set-up is appropriate and to reduce the risk of developing any issues, it is advisable to go through this Display Screen Equipment (DSE) workstation checklist provided by Health and Safety Executive (HSE)

https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/ck1.pdf.

Colleagues who have existing underlying conditions, and who would normally have a specialist ergonomic chair, need to discuss this with their line managers and arrange to speak to Occupational Health if necessary.

The following can be found on EON Connect, COVID-19 FAQ’s:

Q8 Can I take the equipment I use in the office, such as monitors and chairs home?

Whilst we appreciate that working from home is not ideal, these are exceptional  and temporary circumstances and we have decided that only essential easily portable equipment (such as monitors/laptop risers, keyboards and mice), excluding larger items such as office furniture (e.g. chairs and desks) can be taken from the office to use at home. We are asking that you record the serial numbers of any such equipment and that you remain responsible for it and for its undamaged return at the end of this period. As we cannot hope to replicate the careful DSE set-up we make in the office for you and are concerned that chairs could get damaged in transit or could cause issues for you/your family in your home, we have decided that no chairs are to be removed from our offices. This is aligned with our on-going duty of care and whilst we’re not allowing chairs to go home, it’s really important that you set yourself up comfortably to work from home and we’d encourage you to think of other ways to make yourself comfortable, such as supporting cushions and regular posture breaks.  You can find some great hints and tips for working from home on our Connect pages.

As well as your physical health, it’s equally important to take care of your mental health. Some useful guidance around mental health and working from home can be found here

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/coronavirus/coronavirus-and-your-wellbeing/

Health and Safety is the responsibility of both the employer and employee, so it is important you raise any issue or concerns with your line manager. ACAS have produced guidance around working from home which can be found here:

https://www.acas.org.uk/working-from-home

If you require any assistance from UNISON, then please email one of the following representatives: