The problem with being your own boss is that it comes with responsibilities. There are all of the self employment issues and if you handle peoples data like I do you also need to register with data protection but that is not all you have to think about.
When you work from home your house becomes your workplace and with it comes the health and safety issues that occur in all workplaces. From first aid kits to fire safety products there is a wide range of health and safety products from PureSafety.
In the UK the Health and Safety at Work Act gives a duty on self-employed people to conduct their work in a way that ensures that, so far as is reasonably practicable, they and other persons affected by their activities are not exposed to significant risks. This is backed by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, which require the self-employed to carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of any significant risks to themselves as well as to others affected by their work.
Did you understand that? Basically if your laptop wire is stretched across the floor and you have not done a risk assessment and someone visiting your house hurts themselves on it you can be in real trouble. You should also have sufficient breaks from the computer.
This year in the Queens Speech she mentions relaxing the rules for self employed people and I for one will be glad when she does. As if we don’t have enough to think about with Self Assessments, ICO and trying to pay the bills by writing about subjects like this.
For now I still have my fire blanket, fire extinguisher and first aid equipment from when I registered as a childminder but there are so many people out there who do not even think about the rules and regulations involved in working for yourself.
