Working-from-Home Injuries: Are You Liable?

Working from home has become common for many businesses. However, remote work also brings unique risks.

One big question employers face is: if your employee gets injured while working at home, are you liable? The short answer is yes - under Australian laws, employers can still be responsible for work-related injuries that happen in a home office.

In fact, makeshift home-office setups and isolation have led to a surge in physical injuries and negative mental health impacts among remote workers. This means business owners must pay close attention to safety, even beyond the traditional workplace.

Your Legal Responsibilities for Remote Workers

In Australia, Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws apply to employees working from home just as they do in the office. As an employer, you have a duty of care to provide a safe work environment 'so far as is reasonably practicable' – no matter where your employees are working. You must manage health and safety risks for staff working remotely, and have systems to keep in touch and monitor their well-being. That means checking the home workspace for hazards and doing whatever is reasonably practicable to address them.

If an accident happens during work hours at home and is related to the person’s work, it can be considered work-related for legal purposes. Crucially, workers’ compensation will generally cover injuries that occur while an employee is doing their job at home. In other words, you and your business can still be held responsible for an injury that happens in the home during work activities. You need to have workers’ comp insurance that covers remote workers just as you do for on-site staff.

When Home Accidents Become Work Accidents 

To understand how an at-home mishap can quite easily become your problem, take a look at these real and hypothetical scenarios that would likely be deemed an 'injury at work':

• The Staircase Slip: An employee working from home steps away from her desk to take cold medicine, and again later to check that the front door is locked. Both times, she falls down her staircase and injures herself. In a landmark case, the court found these injuries occurred in the course of employment – the short breaks were a necessary part of working, and even the act of securing the home (as per her employer’s instruction) was deemed work-related. Her employer (Telstra) was liable for the injuries.

• The Puppy Gate Incident: A council worker caring for a colleague’s puppy fitted a pet gate in her home office. During a mid-morning coffee break (encouraged by her employer), she tripped over the gate and sustained a broken arm and knee injury. The South Australian tribunal ruled the injury arose out of her employment – her home was her workplace that day, and a coffee break was an ordinary part of work. The fact that the hazard (the gate) was her own doing didn’t matter. The job was a significant contributing cause, so it was covered by workers’ comp. This case highlights that even self-imposed home hazards can become your liability in a no-fault compensation system. 

  
  

• Ergonomic Injuries Over Time: Not all work-from-home injuries are as dramatic (and unbelievable). Consider an employee who for months uses a cramped dining chair and non-adjustable laptop screen. He develops chronic back and neck pain. This kind of wear and tear injury could absolutely be covered by workers’ comp if his work setup contributed to it. In fact, employers are obligated to ensure a safe workstation – it falls under your duty of care to check that your staff’s home office is ergonomically sound. Ignoring ergonomics might not cause a sudden accident, but it can lead to injuries down the track (and potential negligence claims if you never bothered to help set up a safe workspace).

• Kitchen Mishaps and Other Home Hazards: If your employee slips on a spilled drink in their kitchen or burns themselves making lunch during a scheduled break, it might be treated the same as if it happened in your break room. One legal firm notes that just as you could trip walking to the office bathroom or get a burn in the staff kitchen, the same can happen at home – and if it’s during work hours or an ordinary break, it’s likely covered by workers’ comp. In other words, the everyday accidents that can happen in any workplace can also happen in a home office. The location is different, but the liability can follow the worker wherever they go during their workday.

• Psychological Injuries: Remember that injuries aren’t just physical. An isolated, over-stressed remote employee could suffer anxiety or depression related to work. Australian law recognises work-related mental injuries (psychosocial hazards), and employers must consider psychological risks for home-based staff. For example, an employee who feels unsupported and develops clinical depression could file a workers’ comp psychological injury claim. If work conditions (even remote ones) significantly caused it, you may be deemed liable. 

  
  

Reduce the Risk of Work-from-Home Injuries

Fortunately, there are practical steps you can take to manage these risks and protect both your workers and your business. Consider the following actions to improve safety for your remote employees:

1. Establish a Remote Work Policy and Checklist: Outline expectations (like work hours, breaks, ergonomic standards, and injury reporting) in a clear work-from-home policy, and ensure all employees understand it. Also, have workers use a home-office safety checklist to identify and address hazards in their home workspace – just as you would audit your office for risks, they should audit and fix issues in their home setup.

   
   

2. Provide Ergonomic Support: Consider supplying or subsidising ergonomic home-office equipment (chairs, monitors, etc.), or at least provide guidance on setting up a proper workstation. A small investment in ergonomics now can prevent painful injuries and costly claims down the track.

   
   

3. Maintain Regular Communication: Have regular check-ins (by phone or video) to monitor your employees’ well-being, reduce isolation, and allow them to raise any safety concerns. In fact, having effective ways to communicate with remote staff is a requirement under WHS regulations, underscoring how important staying in touch is.

   
   

4. Address Mental Health and Wellbeing: Encourage employees to take regular breaks and keep reasonable work hours. Make it clear that it’s okay to 'switch off' after hours to prevent burnout, and provide mental health support (like an Employee Assistance Program) so they can get help if they feel overwhelmed. Setting healthy boundaries and maintaining social connections can greatly reduce the mental health risks of remote work.

   
   

I work with business owners to build simple, effective HR foundations, including practical policies and procedures, so you have peace of mind - and strong documentation to fall back on if the worst should happen.

Book a free discovery call today. Let’s make managing staff the least of your worries. 

Get in Touch

Need help? Contact us today - sandra@hrconsultingtas.com.au or 0408 408 225  

DISCLAIMER:

The content provided on this website serves as a general information resource on the subjects discussed, and should not be considered tailored to specific individual circumstances or a replacement for legal counsel. While we exert significant effort to ensure the accuracy of our information, HR Consulting TAS cannot ensure that all content on this website is consistently accurate, exhaustive, or current. Recommendations by HR Consulting TAS and any information acquired from this website should not be regarded as legal advice.