How to assure a healthy and safe work environment while working from home
Jenny Nyström, Health & Safety Consultant at AFRY, shares her view on how to maintain healthy routines at work during the pandemic.
Today, the 28th of April, is World Day for Safety and Health at Work. The term “at work” has become rather loose during last year, when social distancing and working from home has become the norm. Jenny Nyström, Health & Safety Consultant at AFRY, shares her view on work environment during the pandemic.
The concept of work environment includes biological, medical, physiological, psychological, social and technical factors that in a work place or work-related situation affects the individual. Due to the integration between work and personal life in the wake of the pandemic, our routines have changed; we no longer have daily conversations during lunch in the cafeteria or social coffee breaks in between meetings. This can create feelings of loneliness or lack of motivation among many people. One important cornerstone in order to avoid feeling isolated in the home office environment is to keep contact with your colleagues in the same manner as before, not only through work-related meetings.
Jenny Nyström, Health & Safety Consultant at AFRY answers some questions about her experience, working from home.
Hi Jenny! What do you do at AFRY?
I work with assignments related to work environment and business development, primarily within the industry sector and infrastructure. It can range from being a Health & Safety expert support or business developer, to having assignments as an administrator. Being able to work with a variety of clients who are distributed in different industries makes my job very exciting and fun!
What is health and safety at work, according to you?
I think that in order to have a healthy and safe workplace, everyone must take responsibility. Everyone has to ask themselves what their own attitude towards work environment is. When you are clear about that, it is easier to have a dialogue when, for example, you see someone working in a risky way or behaving in a manner that does not feel good. When it comes to working remotely, it is important to work towards maintaining community and trying to keep having routines.
How do you maintain your own work environment, now that you work remotely?
During these times, I think it is very important to try to find ways to be able to feel like you are part of a context. I try to regularly call my colleagues on Teams to keep that sense of community.
I also take a lunch walk or jog pretty much every day. I live outside Umeå, in northern Sweden, and we have such beautiful nature here so it is really relaxing to go out in the woods and fields.
