Beware the Hidden Hazards of Telecommuting

July 18 -- — One of the great advantages of telecommuting is the ability to work in the comfort of one's own home. But while working at home might offer many benefits to the employee, it also poses specific challenges — like protecting against injuries that can occur there.

"Teleworking offers a lot of benefits to both the employer and employee, but only if it is done right," says Timothy J. Kane, president of the International Telework Association and Council (ITAC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the growth and success of work independent of location. "Some companies make the mistake of giving their employee a DSL line and that's it. But there are a lot of other considerations to make a program successful."

A successful program includes making sure the employee is working in a safe environment. Just as at the office, at home there is the potential that employees might sustain work-related injuries and disabilities.

In fact, employers are responsible for the safety of all their employees regardless of where they happen to work, whether it is in the office or within the confines of their own home. As the size of the telecommuting workforce grows, employers large and small will have no choice but adopt a formal safety policy that includes specific items that address teleworkers.

While several companies, including IBM, AT&T and Pfizer, take preventative measures to assure the safety of their home-based workers, relatively few others have given the idea much thought at all. The lack of attention is remarkable, especially since ITAC estimates that nearly one-third of the U.S. workforce will be telecommuting by 2006.

And the home can be a dangerous place. According to the Home Safety Council, a nonprofit supported by hardware and remodeling retailer Lowe's, unintentional home injury costs the U.S. economy about $379 billion annually. It's not known how much of that was work-related, but in 1999 it was the leading cause of death for Americans ages 25 to 44, which might be considered the prime telecommuting group.