Ireland · Remote & hybrid
Home Working VDU Assessments: Employer Obligations in Ireland
Remote and hybrid work didn’t relax the VDU duty — it multiplied the workstations. Here’s what Irish employers owe their home-based staff, and how to deliver it without visiting every kitchen table.
The duty follows the work. An employer’s obligations under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and the VDU provisions of the General Application Regulations 2007 apply to the home workstation of employees who habitually work from home. The HSA’s home-working guidance expects employers to check that the home workstation is suitable — and with remote working requests now on a statutory footing, more workstations than ever are outside the office.
Why home workstations are inside the duty
A workable hybrid policy
- Assess the home workstation when remote or hybrid working is approved.
- Treat a change of home setup like a change of office desk — reassess.
- Give employees a direct booking route so reassessment doesn’t depend on HR chasing.
- Keep one register across office and home workstations.
The remote working request changes the volume, not the rule
Under the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023, employees have a statutory right to request remote working, considered under the Workplace Relations Commission’s code of practice. Every approved arrangement creates a workstation the employer hasn’t seen. Approving requests without an assessment process means accumulating unassessed workstations — and unassessed risk.
What a home VDU assessment covers
The same ground as an office assessment — display, input devices, seating, desk, lighting, work organisation — plus home-specific factors: improvised furniture, laptop-only setups, shared spaces, and lighting that was never designed for screen work. The most common findings are laptop screens far below eye level and dining chairs with no adjustability; both are cheap to fix and expensive to ignore.
How remote assessments work
Assessments carried out by Ergo Global’s ergonomists. The Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors is the professional body for ergonomists — accreditation means your VDU assessments are performed to a recognised professional standard, not from a generic checklist.
