Managing Remote Worker Safety and Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic

The arrival of Covid-19 has dramatically altered the working lives of many people, forcing them to set up workplaces in their homes. The author addresses this subject matter on the premise that the majority of the affected workers in Poland are at a loss how to establish work environments in their homes, a sphere hitherto reserved exclusively for personal life. To explore this topic, a survey was conducted in mid-November 2020, the time the second wave of the pandemic struck globally further postponing workers’ return to their workplaces. Over the span of one week, close to a hundred respondents took part in an online survey comprised of 10 short questions. Although statistically insignificant, the results showed that while nearly 75% of the respondents have been given the option of teleworking, a staggering 49% do not have a permanent workspace in their home and perform their duties in places around their residence as they become available at the moment. Ironically, while pandemic-related personal safety concerns are what drove people to work from their homes in the first place, the home-work arrangement does not come without a host of safety and health challenges of its own.