Here are some safety tips for working from home

When you work from home, it can be easy to forget to pay careful attention to some of the details you attend to at work. The most important of these are around workplace safety.

To avoid getting to meet a firefighter or police officer, or losing your investment, take some important steps to keep your home office safe.

Clear a path

Falls are a common problem in home offices. Over time, work from home professionals can get lazy – umm, more efficient – by leaving frequently-used resources on the floor or on top of something else.

If this is done once or twice, it is no big deal. But the cumulative effect of leaving things out can be a problem. Over time they can block paths, or even present a tripping or slip hazard. This makes it more likely that you might have an injury at home.

Spend some time making sure everything is in its place. And that place is not on the floor where you will need to walk.

Secure the room

Some home offices and home workplaces are used to conduct business with prospects and clients. If this is the case, you should develop and follow clear rules for keeping your home and office safe. Does your office have an exterior door? You should make sure it is just as secure as any other entrance to your home – or maybe more secure. The presence of computers and sensitive business information might make your home office a target.

Provide ambience – safely

Candles can be a calming influence in nearly any setting. The gentle flickering light and a room-filling odor can take the edge off a stressful work day.

However, having a candle burning in your office, whether at home or not, can be a problem. It is easy to flee work at the end of the day and completely forget that you left a candle burning.

Better to replace a candle with an electronic version, perhaps even a scented one, that will time out instead of depending on your memory to keep the place safe.

Check your location

Landline phones carry important information to your nearest 911 call center. Sometimes, though, a phone linked in to your work address might send 911 operators the wrong address. If you’re using a phone tied to your company’s system, work with your tech person (even if it’s you) to make sure the correct address shows up when you need emergency help. It could save time in an emergency.

Photo by Huseyn Kamaladdin: https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-wooden-desk-with-rolling-chair-and-shelves-near-window-667838/