Your legal obligation
What the law requires from self employed virtual assistants
As a self employed virtual assistant working from home, the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 applies to your business in the same way it applies to any other sole trader. The fact that you work remotely, that your clients never visit your home office, and that your work is entirely digital does not reduce your legal obligations. || You are required to assess the risks in your working environment. For a virtual assistant, these risks are primarily display screen equipment - screen positioning, lighting, seating, and the physical setup of your workstation. The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 apply to any worker who uses a screen as a significant part of their work, which as a virtual assistant is almost certainly every hour of your working day. || An accident log must be maintained. A fire safety risk assessment applies to your home working environment. Your electrical equipment - computer, screens, keyboard, printer, peripherals - should be formally recorded and checked. These are not optional extras. They are requirements that apply to your business.
The real problem
Working from home does not mean working without compliance obligations
Most self employed virtual assistants have never given health and safety compliance a second thought. It does not feel relevant when your work is administrative and your office is the spare bedroom. But the obligations are real, and the consequences of not having documentation in place are also real. || Professional bodies for virtual assistants increasingly expect members to demonstrate compliance. Larger clients - agencies, corporate clients, and public sector organisations - are beginning to include health and safety requirements in supplier onboarding. When that question arrives, having nothing in place is not a good look for a business that presents itself as professional and organised. || CompliantDocs generates five compliance documents from your answers about your working environment. Your home office setup, your equipment, your working arrangements - all reflected in documents that are completed and ready to use from the moment they arrive in your inbox.
2 to 3 hours
The honest time cost of completing your own compliance documentation correctly. Most self employed virtual assistants significantly underestimate what proper documentation involves - and then discover the forms take far longer than expected when they finally sit down to complete them. For £29.99, we do all of it for you in minutes.