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Health & Safety

Risk Assessment for Working From Home: Free Template

If you work from home, whether it’s from an office room, a desk in the corner or a spot at the dining room table, then it’s likely that you’re a lone worker. This means that you carry out your work activities in isolation from other people and without direct supervision.

According to the most recent statistics, half of British workers ( 50% ) are still working from home at least some of the time, up from 37% before the pandemic.

This article is designed to help you assess the risks of working from home, so you can identify the support and equipment you might need.

Want to Learn More?

Our Health & Safety Training for Home Workers is CPD accredited and takes approximately 2-3 hours to complete. It details the most crucial aspects of health and safety present in the home and the controls needed to manage them effectively. You can also take a look at DSE Training for Home Workers and Risk Assessment Training .

Working from Home Health & Safety

On the surface, working from home doesn’t seem to present many risks to health and safety. You’re familiar with the environment, you know how the equipment works and you know your way around the premises. But that doesn’t mean you’re free from risk. In fact, more accidents happen in the home than anywhere else.

But why is that the case? Perhaps it’s because home is where we forgo traditional health and safety measures as we’re convinced that we’re ‘safe in our own houses’ and so get complacent with daily hazards. That plug that sparks each time you plug it in? You’ll fix it later. That smoke detector battery that’s run out of juice? You’ll replace it at the weekend. That desk chair which gives you backache? You’ll buy a new one on payday.

However, just because you’re working in a familiar environment it doesn’t mean that the health and safety risks shouldn’t be addressed.

Free Working from Home Risk Assessment Template

To help you out, we’ve created a simple risk assessment template for you to download and help you assess your home workspace.

Download Free Working From Home Risk Assessment

The actual risk assessment starts on the second page of the PDF. You can either fill the fields on your device or print it out and write in the boxes.

We would also recommend the following resources:

An infographic showing how to set your workstation up ergonomically.
How to improve health, safety and wellbeing whilst sat at your computer.
Guidance for employers on the health and safety of their homeworkers.
Establishing an Effective Lone Working Buddy System if required for your role.
Risk Assessment Training to understand each of the key steps of a risk assessment.
Online Display Screen Equipment Training Course providing the learner with an awareness of the health risks associated with DSE.

Without an ergonomic setup, you could be at risk of developing issues from minor strains to more serious repetitive strain injuries and musculoskeletal disorders. It is worth spending some time to make sure you are safe and comfortable.

Post Author

Her favourite article is How to Start a Food Business From Your Home

Risk assessments - Wellbeing when working from home

Health, safety and wellbeing

Risk assessments

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Bullying and harassment
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By law, employers must conduct a 'suitable and sufficient' risk assessment of their employees' working environment.

If an employer is not able to carry out a full risk assessment, they should provide their employees with information on working safely at home. This could include asking them to carry out a self-assessment of their workspace and equipment.

If changes are needed to make sure an employee can work at home in a safe and healthy way, employers are responsible for making sure they happen.

Employers should review risk assessments regularly to make sure their employees' working environments remain safe and healthy.

For more information, you can:

find advice on risk assessments from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
download a homeworking questionnaire from the CIPD

Checking insurance cover

Make sure your insurance covers employees working from home.

You should also remind your employees to check that there are no issues with them working from home. Employees should check with their home insurer and their mortgage provider or landlord.

If you like, you can tell us more about what was useful on this page. We cannot reply – so do not include any personal details, for example your email address or phone number. If you have any questions about your individual circumstances, you can contact the Acas helpline .

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Posted by Saoirse Moloney

How to Conduct a Risk Assessment for Remote Workers

Given the increase of remote and hybrid workers in the workforce, it is important to make sure you know how to conduct a risk assessment for remote workers. The usual health and safety duties extend to those working remotely and include identifying risks, ensuring workstation assessments are carried out and providing appropriate training.

Most people working from home are office workers which means it is a lower risk from a health and safety perspective, however, issues such as stress, fatigue, and poor posture can pose real dangers to homeworkers.

Risk assessments for remote workers

It is your duty as an employer to conduct risk assessments for remote and hybrid workers. The process of carrying out your risk assessment will be different. For example, you may not be able to visit the employees’ homes to carry it out, however, you may ask them to do a risk assessment themselves or send you a picture of their workspace.

Once your employees’ home workplace is passed as safe, it is their responsibility to ensure that it has been kept that way. However, the risk assessment must be reviewed periodically or whenever you have reason to believe that the risks may have changed.

Hazards to look for when conducting a risk assessment for staff who work from home

There are some risks that you should consider for most staff working remotely. Common risks include:

Mental health risks such as stress and anxiety
Risks associated with workstations e.g., the use of display screen equipment
Electrical equipment
Environmental issues such as noise levels, temperature, and ventilation

These are just some common risks homeworkers may experience, additionally you must keep an open mind to any risks specific to the work your employees are doing remotely.

Protecting the mental health of homeworkers

The following steps can help you reduce stress and mental health issues for staff who work remotely:

Ensure that remote workers come into the workplace regularly so they can stay up to date with the business and stay connected with their colleagues
Remember to include them in work socials to tackle feelings of isolation
Have proper communication systems set up to stay connected with off-premises staff during the day. E.g., phone, email, instant messaging, videoconferencing, etc
Provide helplines for IT support or equipment breakdown.

Health and Safety training for homeworkers

You must give enough health and safety training to all your staff to enable them to be safe at work, including those who work from home.

Regardless of where employees are working, all employers still have a responsibility for their health, safety, and wellbeing. Managers should be encouraged to regularly discuss this with team members, as employees should still take the first step in reporting any issues to their employer.

Remote Working: What are the risks? How to Manage them.

Posted in Employee Contracts , Employee Handbook , Health & Safety , Hybrid Working

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Risk assessment for homeworking during COVID-19

A homeworking risk assessment must be completed if you continue to work from home for at least 3 days a week for an indefinite period of time.

Line manager's responsibility

Homeworking is simply doing your job from home as your main place of work, rather than on UCL campus. This applies to staff working full-time or part-time at home, those dividing their time between home and the campus, and mobile workers who use their home as an administrative base. It is a type of flexible working that can also be carried out in conjunction with other arrangements such as flexible hours, working part-time and term-time working.

As UCL reopens, some staff will be asked to spend more time on campus while others will continue to be asked to work at home. To determine who can return to work and who must continue to work from home, UCL has published a framework for staff to identify with particular risk groups through an individual health assessment .

As staff are still asked to work from home if it is possible for them to do so, homeworking is no longer a temporary measure.

For those that have discussed their situation with their line managers and for whom it has been determined that they should continue to work from home for at least 3 days a week for an indefinite period of time, a homeworking risk assessment must be completed.

Head of Department

Defining the operational priorities for the department
Selecting who is prioritised to return at what stage within the individual health assessment system
Communication of the priorities and new arrangements must be shared with all staff who return to work

Line Managers and Supervisors

For those who are asked to work from home for at least 3 days a week for an indefinite period of time according to government, UCL or Departmental priorities, ensure that risk assessments are in place
Supporting staff in their DSE homeworking risk assessment
Evaluate and review homeworking arrangements on a regular basis to respond to changes in the pandemic, government and UCL policy and employee personal circumstances
Prevent staff being isolated, disconnected or abandoned and ensure they are connected to management and peers through contact and work projects
Any personal information disclosed by staff must be kept confidential

Members of staff

Those asked to make home their main place of work must read the home working risk assessment and complete the homeworking checklist providing details of their personal homeworking circumstances
Co-operate with the departmental policies and arrangements for safe homeworking and, where appropriate, familiarise themselves with the new departmental arrangements, risk assessments and induction procedures for visiting campus, including the Return to UCL Induction , the Fire Safety online training and fire safety induction form TN086 , even if this is not their main place of work

A generic risk assessment (subject to further update) covering key risks associated with homeworking is available through riskNET - search for RA036168 – Title: General UCL Risk Assessment for Homeworking as the Main Place of Work. By its nature it is very general and not specific and is made specific by attaching the Homeworker's Checklist completed by managers and individuals to the risk assessment.

> riskNET (UCL login required)

Tutorial: Accessing and creating homeworking risk assessment

The homeworking risk assessment must be read and the homeworker’s checklist completed by the homeworker. After reading the homeworker’s checklist completed by an employee, the line manager must review it alongside the employee and make appropriate arrangements with homeworking staff. They must ensure that the employee is aware of expectations and the required standard of work within any flexibility agreed. Once the homeworker’s checklist is agreed and signed, the homeworker’s risk assessment with attached checklist must be submitted and then approved by the line manager.

> Download the Homeworker's Checklist

Homeworker's responsibility

It is the homeworker’s responsibility to assess their personal circumstances of homeworking with respect to home insurance, mortgage provision, landlord agreements, tax or other legal restrictions, such as a restrictive covenant. Staff should ensure there are no implications for their particular situation.

No contribution will be made by UCL towards normal household expenses attached to homeworking, such as heating, lighting or internet connectivity. When an employee is working at home, journeys made to the normal office base will not be reimbursed.

Homeworkers must abide by the requirements of the risk assessment. It is particularly important for homeworkers to facilitate communication with UCL as appropriate, to deliver the expected work outcomes and understand their own responsibilities regarding health and safety, data security and confidentiality.

Homeworkers must:

Read the homeworking risk assessment and be familiar with the content
Complete the homeworker’s checklist that describes the personal circumstances for an individual to work from home. Do not enter any personal information on the checklist or risk assessment, such as a home address, personal contact phone numbers or health condition. There is no requirement to disclose personal health status to line management
Discuss the suitability for working from home with your line manager
Ensure the completed checklist, signed by the line manager, is attached to the revised risk assessment and get your line manager to approve it
Homeworkers must abide by the requirements of the risk assessment. It is particularly important for homeworkers to facilitate communication with UCL as appropriate, to deliver the expected work outcomes and understand their own responsibilities regarding health and safety, data security and confidentiality

UCL and departmental measures to adapt working practices to ensure a COVID-19 secure workplace may result in the re-organisation of workspace within the buildings and changes in availability and capacity of office space. Initial measures have meant office space might be redeployed for activities that are business-critical and cannot be achieved at home.

When assessing risks to the homeworker, managers must pay attention to the following:

Homeworkers who are new and expectant mothers, as risks include those to the child (see HSE guidance on new and expectant mothers who work)
Homeworkers who may have childcare or caring responsibilities and for whom flexibility in working arrangements are required for them to achieve their potential for UCL
Homeworkers who are early career staff may not have facilities at home to work effectively and may need to be prioritised to return to work
Homeworkers under difficult situations at home, such as stress and risks to their wellbeing, those with work life balance issues or at risk of domestic abuse or violence, can be prioritised to return
The time of travel to work and reliance on public transport where the risks of societal transmission of COVID-19 are highest
The extent to which teaching staff can work remotely and provide the necessary student support

Who can return?

Staff may self-identify with the options published by UCL . There is no requirement for anyone to disclose any underlying or other health conditions and if staff choose to do so for the benefit of assisting in the phased return to work, that information is confidential. Disagreements and misunderstandings can be resolved through support from Workplace Health or Student Support and Wellbeing .

Staff who are asked to work from home as their main place of work must complete a DSE risk assessment . Results will be returned to line managers. Line managers must attempt to resolve DSE issues but if further support is needed, departmental DSE assessors can offer assistance and medical issues must be referred to Workplace Health.

> Information on the line manager's role in the DSE process > Guidance for home workers and line managers during COVID-19 remote working > Keeping safe on campus

Last updated: Friday, September 17, 2021

Further guidance

> Fire Safety > Workplace Health > Display Screen Equipment (DSE) > Parents and Carers Together > Making Hybrid Work

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We encourage all staff and students to report accidents, hazards and near misses when they happen.

How To Carry Out a Home Working Risk Assessment

Advances in technology have enabled opportunities for home working to rise exponentially in recent years and the number of people who work regularly from home has risen to around 4.2 million.

The benefits are well-documented for employees in terms of saving time and travel costs, lowering of stress levels, and for employers, collaboration and a widespread diverse talent pool and increased productivity. Alongside new opportunities, a home working workforce presents us with challenges, particularly when managing health and safety.

Read on to find out more about the potential challenges and how a home working risk assessment can help you manage them, therefore, protecting you, your staff and your business.

Who Is Responsible For Carrying Out a Home Working Risk Assessment?

Under UK health and safety legislation, the employer is has a legal responsibility to protect the health and safety of all workers and that includes home workers. By carrying out a home worker’s risk assessment, employers will be able to identify and then deal with, any health and safety risks as far as is “reasonably practicable”.

What Is a Home Working Risk Assessment

A home working risk assessment should check whether the proposed home worker’s place of work is suitable. Much work carried out at home is going to be low-risk, office-type work so any risk assessment will consider:

The Homeworking Environment

A home worker risk assessment must assess the suitability of space. There should be enough space for work to be carried out comfortably. Often spaces used for homework such as attic rooms or basements, are not suitable because of poor lighting or inadequate ventilation so an assessment should also include ventilation, lighting and temperature. Assessing the workspace should also include removing trip hazards such as trailing leads.

For any regular DSE user, the workstation must be assessed. A legally compliant workstation including suitable chair is a must. Additional equipment such as a monitor stand or footrest may be necessary and the need for these identified by the assessment.

Training staff to carry out their own assessment is the easiest way to ensure you meet legal guidelines to provide a safe work area. Self-assessment is also a great solution for mobile workers working in different locations. Interactive DSE self-assessment online can help you with this. If concerns are raised on completion, then a DSE assessment with a competent assessor is in order.

Supplying and Maintaining DSE and Other Electrical Equipment

Of the work equipment used at home, employers are only responsible for equipment supplied. If company equipment is used, for example, a computer with internet access, the employer will have to consider what systems need to be put in place to monitor its use including privacy and security measures. Though it isn’t possible to be wholly responsible for electrical equipment in an employee’s home, equipment supplied does need to be inspected and maintained. The HSE has published guidance on electrical safety in offices .

Mobile Equipment

Where staff are mobile and expected to carry equipment to different locations, there is a risk of manual handling injury. Frequent laptop users should also minimise the time they spend using the laptop and ensure they take regular breaks. Other practical ways to reduce any manual handling risk could include providing:

Smaller and lightweight equipment
Backpack style laptop cases or wheeled cases
Detachable small keyboard
Manual handling training

Fire Safety

A home worker risk assessment will check that flammable materials (e.g. paper) and ignition sources such as cigarettes are carefully controlled. Anyone working from home also needs to have a working and regularly checked fire alarm/smoke detector and a fire escape plan in place.

If work is low-risk, such as desk-based work home workers do not require any first aid equipment beyond normal domestic needs. Read more from the HSE .

Stress and Mental Wellbeing

With the explosion in mental health problems, we must ensure mental health is a priority right now. Forging close bonds with co-workers is beneficial to our mental health and employees need to be made aware that home can lead to limited social contact resulting in a feeling of isolation and even depression. It is important for employers to combat this by taking steps to ensure remote workers feel part of a team. Practical ways employers can achieve this could include:

Having regular meetings with management
Requesting home workers spend at least one day in the office
Building a network of lone workers and with other remote workers.
Access to helplines and advice.
Online meetings/skype.
Sending newsletters,
Being included in social occasions.

Furthermore, achieving a sensible work/life balance is essential for good mental health. Being endlessly connected to work by our phones blurs the boundaries between our work life and our personal life. This makes it difficult to switch off and relax in turn leading to people working longer hours than they ordinarily would in a traditional office setting. Employers should give staff some guidance in maintaining a personal/home life separate from work. Some simple solutions could be using a dedicated phone just for business use which can then be turned off at the end of a working day. Task management and time management training can also be useful in equipping people with the skills needed to effectively manage their time.

Working Alone

Working alone (as home workers/remote workers often do) presents further challenges concerning personal safety and mental health. There should be measures in place should anyone working alone have an accident, become unwell or be assaulted. Precautions such as a buddy system ensure any risk is minimised and emergencies rapidly identified.

Putting in place clear, consistent management systems will reduce the risks home workers face, but it’s only through regular monitoring that you can be sure risks are being controlled adequately.

What are the legal obligations of the employer regarding DSE?

The Importance of Fire Safety Training for Remote Workers

Creating a Supportive Work Environment for Mental Health

Fill out our contact form or call us on 0370 118 8000 to find out how we can help you

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PAT Testing for Homeworkers

Last updated on 3rd May 2023

In this article

In 2020, homeworking changed from being an elusive benefit for a handful of usually senior workers, to becoming the new normal standard practice for many more jobs. According to the Office for National Statistics ( ONS ) in February 2022, 84% of workers who had to work from home because of the coronavirus pandemic said they planned to carry out a mix of working at home and in their place of work in the future. Whilst offering many advantages, there are challenges of working from home, and these need to be tackled by both employers and employees for greater effectiveness and safety.

Initially, the super-fast change from workplace working to homeworking at the start of the pandemic resulted in quick improvisation on the part of both employers and employees. However, as the temporary solution to the uncertain situation has become a more permanent change to ways of working, improvisation now needs to change to standardised practices to overcome any challenges.

Understanding the challenges remote employees face is necessary for employers to work towards resolving potential issues. Careful consideration needs to go into individual solutions. As there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, much will depend on distinguishing the type of work being undertaken, the individual needs of the workforce and the variety of work equipment being used by homeworkers.

Included in these challenges is that of safe working. So should employers now be thinking about including home electrical appliances used by employees in the course of their work in their annual PAT testing regimes? As around 1,000 workplace accidents involving burns or electric shock are reported to the Health and Safety Executive ( HSE ) each year, there is a very real need for employers to ensure that the electrical equipment being used by employees working from home is safe and maintained effectively.

What is PAT testing?

PAT stands for portable appliance testing and is the term used to describe the routine examination and inspection of electrical appliances and equipment, to ensure that they are safe to use. The purpose of PAT testing is to prevent electrical accidents in the workplace and in other environments where employees and/or members of the public may be at risk of being harmed.

By basic definition, any portable electrical appliance or equipment needs to be tested. Essentially if the equipment uses a flexible wire or cable to connect to a power supply it qualifies as a portable appliance and needs to be checked. This includes anything from extension leads to a printer. Wireless appliances such as mobile phones do not require a portable appliance test; however, their battery chargers that plug into the wall in order to charge the equipment do.

What are the legal requirements for PAT testing?

The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require that any electrical equipment that has the potential to cause injury is maintained in a safe condition. However, the regulations do not specify what needs to be done, by whom or how frequently; they don’t make inspection or testing of electrical appliances a legal requirement, nor do they make it a legal requirement to undertake this annually.

Section 2 (5) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 ( PUWER ) refers to every employer being required to, “ensure that all work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order, and in good repair”. One of the most effective ways for businesses to prove that they have safely maintained electrical equipment is by certifying that their electrical appliances are PAT tested. This has become a standard way for businesses to meet this legal obligation and prove that they have done so. When employees are working from home, employers still have a duty of care towards their employees. This means that if an employer PAT tests electrical equipment on their work premises, they should then extend this to their homeworkers too.

Health and safety duties and responsibilities are also set out for businesses in:

The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974.
The Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

How often is PAT testing recommended for homeworkers?

The frequency of electrical appliance checking depends greatly upon use regularity and environment, and it is up to the employer to choose a responsible testing schedule. However, with the increase in electrical equipment in employees’ homes, employees will likely need to use more extension leads and use sockets which may be overloaded with other family members’ devices, causing electrical hazards . This then increases the risk of overheating and can lead to electrical shocks or potential fire. It is the employer’s responsibility to keep employees safe during work, whether they are working from home or in the workplace.

Best practice guidance would be to keep a schedule of all appliances issued to all employees, including those working from home, and ensure that at least bi-annual visual inspections are undertaken, along with a mechanism for defects to be reported back. Employers might create a visual inspection checklist for employees to complete on a regular basis, so that they have a record that these visual inspections have been completed.

Employees working from home will need to be trained and/or provided with sufficient information to be able to carry out the visual inspections . To carry out a visual inspection, employees don’t need to be an electrician, but they do need to know what to look for and they must also have sufficient knowledge to avoid danger to themselves and others.

Potentially dangerous equipment which is used daily in high-risk environments, such as power tools, will need to be checked more frequently than low-use and low-risk devices, for example a printer. The guidance on the frequency of tests and inspection for larger items such as printers and screens suggests a formal visual inspection every two to four years. Where items have an earth, a periodic test is recommended every five years. The reality is that the majority of these items will have been replaced within the timescale recommended for PAT inspection or testing.

What are the dangers and risks of working from home?

Employers should provide all remote working employees with guidance and training on how to carry out a risk assessment in their own working space at home. By ensuring that homeworkers carry out a homeworker’s risk assessment, employers will be able to identify and then deal with any health and safety risks as far as is “reasonably practicable”.

A homeworking risk assessment should check whether the proposed homeworker’s place of work is suitable. Assessing risk is just one part of the overall process used to control risks in the workplace.

The minimum that a homeworker must do is to:

Identify what could cause injury or illness in their home (hazards).
Decide how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how seriously (the risk).
Take action to eliminate the hazard, or if this isn’t possible, control the risk.

Generally, work carried out at home is going to be low-risk, office-type work so any risk assessment will consider:

The homeworking environment

A homeworker risk assessment must assess the suitability of the workspace. There should be enough space for work to be carried out comfortably. Often spaces used for homework such as spare bedrooms or space in the living area, are not suitable because of poor lighting or inadequate ventilation, so an assessment should also include ventilation, lighting and temperature. Assessing the workspace should also include removing trip hazards such as trailing leads.

Display Screen Equipment (DSE)

For any regular DSE user, the workstation must be assessed . A legally compliant workstation including a suitable chair is a must. Additional equipment such as a monitor stand or footrest may be necessary and the need for these identified by the risk assessment. Training staff to carry out their own DSE assessment is the easiest way to ensure an employer meets legal guidelines to provide a safe work area. Self-assessment is also a great solution for mobile workers working in different locations. If concerns are raised on completion, then an additional DSE assessment with a trained competent assessor may be in order.

Supplying and maintaining DSE and other electrical equipment

Of the work equipment used at home, employers are only responsible for equipment that they supply; however, they should make employees aware of safety issues if they are using their own equipment for work purposes. If the employer’s equipment is used, for example a computer with internet access, the employer will have to consider what systems need to be put in place to monitor its use, including privacy and security measures. Though it isn’t possible to be wholly responsible for electrical equipment in an employee’s home, any equipment supplied by the employer does need to be inspected and maintained. The HSE has published guidance on electrical safety in offices.

Mobile equipment

Where employees are mobile and expected to carry equipment to different locations, for example between the workplace and home, there is a risk of manual handling injury. Frequent laptop users should also minimise the time they spend using the laptop and ensure that they take regular breaks.

Other practical ways to reduce any manual handling risk could include providing:

Smaller and lightweight equipment.
Backpack style laptop cases or wheeled cases.
Detachable small keyboard.
Manual handling training.

Fire safety

A homeworker risk assessment should check that flammable materials such as paper, and ignition sources such as cigarettes, are carefully controlled. Anyone working from home also needs to have a working and regularly checked fire alarm/smoke detector and a fire escape plan in place.

If working from home is low risk, such as desk-based work, homeworkers do not require any first aid equipment beyond normal domestic needs.

Stress and mental wellbeing

Employers must ensure mental health is a priority for all workers, but there is an added concern for employees working from home. Forging close bonds with co-workers is beneficial to mental health and employees need to be made aware that homeworking can lead to limited social contact resulting in a feeling of isolation and even depression. It is important for employers to combat this by taking steps to ensure remote workers feel part of a team.

Practical ways employers can achieve this could include:

Having regular meetings with management whether face to face or via online platforms.
Requesting that homeworkers spend at least one day in the office a week or month.
Building a network of lone workers and with other remote workers.
Providing access to helplines and advice.
Holding online meetings with other employees.
Sending newsletters/work updates.
Ensuring that homeworkers are being included in social occasions.

Achieving a sensible work/life balance

This is also essential for positive mental health and wellbeing. Being endlessly connected to work blurs the boundaries between work life and personal life, and this can make it difficult to switch off and relax. This in turn can lead to people working longer hours than they ordinarily would in a traditional workplace setting. Employers should give employees working from home some guidance on maintaining a personal/home life separate from work. Some simple solutions could be using a dedicated phone just for business use which can then be turned off at the end of a working day. Task management and time management training can also be useful in equipping people with the skills needed to effectively manage their time.

Working alone

When homeworkers have completed a thorough risk assessment and submitted it to their employer, the employer has a duty of care to ensure that regular monitoring is in place to be sure the identified potential risks are being controlled adequately.

Working alone, as homeworkers/remote workers often do, presents further challenges concerning personal safety and mental health. There should be measures in place should anyone working alone have an accident, become unwell or be in a position of any danger. Precautions such as a checking-in system can help to ensure any risk is minimised and emergencies rapidly identified.

PAT testing for homeworkers

As well as the visual inspections carried out by employees on their electrical equipment, specialist testing procedures may be needed periodically to ensure the appliances are in safe working order. This testing should be carried out by a professional electrician or fully trained PAT tester, and will generally involve the use of specialist equipment.

The tests depend on the equipment being checked, but can include:

Insulation resistance test.
Earth continuity test.
Earth resistance test.
Polarity check.
Applied current test.

There are two ways of carrying out PAT testing for homeworkers. An employer can arrange for a PAT tester to visit the employee at home or the employer can ask the employee to bring their equipment in for testing when they next come into work premises. Once completed, labelling the electrical appliances with their test dates is a good idea to provide a schedule reminder and proof of testing.

Who is responsible for PAT testing for homeworkers?

Even though there is no legal requirement for employers to regularly check the safety of the electrical equipment they supply, they have the same duty of care whether an employee is at home or in the office. The legislation in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 makes no mention of where the employee is based, whilst the Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999 say that “employers are responsible for the health and safety of homeworkers, as far as is reasonably practicable”. So, employers still need to make sure that their employees are working safely, regardless of where they are based.

It is an employer’s responsibility to ensure that remote working employees are adequately trained on remote working fire and electrical safety including how to carry out PAT testing visual inspections, and that they are clear on the safety arrangements that the employer has put in place and what is required of them and others.

It is the employees’ responsibility to comply with whatever safety arrangements the employer has put in place for remote working, and to take whatever actions are required to ensure that their working environment is safe, not only for themselves but also for anyone else in the household.

How can homeworkers check equipment’s electrical safety?

The HSE recommends that all employees using any electrical equipment carry out a user check with the equipment disconnected before use.

Employees should look for:

Damage to the lead including fraying, cuts or heavy scuffing.
Damage to the plug, such as to the cover or bent pins.
Tape applied to the lead to join leads together.
Coloured wires visible where the lead joins the plug – this may mean that the cable is not being gripped where it enters the plug.
Damage to the outer cover of the equipment itself, including loose parts or screws.
Signs of overheating, such as burn marks or staining on the plug, lead or piece of equipment.
Equipment that has been used or stored in unsuitable conditions, such as wet or dusty environments or where water spills are possible.
Cables trapped under furniture or in floor boxes.
Storage of paper – is any paperwork stored next to electrical equipment that could cause a fire?

As part of the visual inspection, the employee should consider whether:

The electrical equipment is being used in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.
The equipment is suitable for the job.
There has been any change of circumstances.

What are the benefits of PAT testing?

There are several benefits of regular PAT testing, the most significant of which is the reduction in the likelihood of an electrical incident or accident occurring. Regular PAT testing will help employers comply with a number of UK work safety regulations including the Electricity at Work Regulations and the Health & Safety at Work Act. Although maintaining the safety of employees should be an employer’s first priority, they will also want to make sure that the business complies with a long list of regulations that can expose them to legal action should they not comply.

With regular PAT inspections and testing, the risk of electrical appliances falling into disrepair and becoming hazardous is greatly reduced. Consequently, any need for maintenance should be identified and carried out before problems get too serious, preventing the need for costly, large-scale repairs or complete replacements further down the line.

Another advantage of having regular, scheduled PAT testing is that it is appreciated by insurance companies. Homeworkers will need to inform their own home insurers that they are working from home on a regular basis, as it may increase risk factors; however, being able to inform them that any electrical equipment used in relation to the insured person’s work is regularly PAT tested will help to minimise the risks, and this should be reflected in the insurance premiums.

Final thoughts

As homeworking becomes more and more commonplace, feelings around the practice are mixed. Some people are enjoying the flexibility that it offers, happy that the previous, sometimes long commute, has been reduced to often just minutes. However, for others, working from home means never switching off, and the distinction between work and home life has become blurred, with their work/life balance becoming increasingly unequal as they log on earlier and log off later.

For employers, implementing working from home or hybrid working practices presents its own challenges. Health and safety of employees being amongst them. The key is to extend the good practices employed in providing a healthy and safe working environment in the workplace to encompass those working from home and ensure that the same health and safety risk assessments are applied, concerns addressed, and that there are clear safety arrangements in place for employees working from home, and that includes PAT testing.

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Megan has worked with CPD Online College since August 2020, she is in charge of content production, as well as planning, managing and delegating tasks. Megan works closely with our writers, voice artists, companies and individuals to create the most appropriate and relevant content as well as also using and managing SEO. She gained her Business Administration Level 3 qualification over the duration of being at CPD Online College as well. Outside of work Megan loves to venture to different places and eateries as well as spending quality time with friends and family.

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Managing health and safety in a hybrid workplace

Cordelia Rushby

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses were required to close their workplaces and employees had to work from home where possible. Now that the Government has shared its roadmap for easing the UK out of lockdown, employers will be starting to consider the best working arrangements for staff. With an increasing number of businesses announcing hybrid working models whereby employees are expected to work from home for a few days a week, the home-office will become a permanent feature for many. In fact, a survey by the Institute of Directors (IoD) found that more than half of businesses plan on reducing their long-term use of workplaces.

Whether the workforce is working from home either part-time or full-time, employers have a duty of care for the health and safety of their staff in both environments. What steps can employers take to ensure they are complying with the law and reduce the risks of workplace injuries?

Our Insurance and Health partner Cordelia Rushby answers the key questions in this article.

Who is responsible for protecting employees from workplace injuries?

An employer has a common law duty of care to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harm occurring to its employees. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 imposes a similar statutory duty on employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare of every employee “in so far as is reasonably practicable”. This duty applies to all employees, including homeworkers.

What does the duty of care cover?

The duty requires employers to safeguard the physical and mental health of workers.

In a post-COVID climate, examples would include taking action to avoid the risk of:

Musculoskeletal injuries arising out of poorly set up workstations at home.
Lifting injuries arising out reduced staffing/untrained staff managing the supply of products.
Anxiety or depression arising out of poorly managed workloads at home, or in the office where managers and mentors may only be in attendance a few days a week.
Increased risk exposure to COVID due to poorly managed office environments. Even when COVID restrictions are lifted, the necessity to have an office premises risk assessment that takes into account and mitigates the known risks of COVID in a proportionate and reasonable manner will remain. It is, after all, unlikely that COVID will not return at some point and it is now a known risk and, as such, must be monitored and addressed.

What are the legal risks for employers who do not comply?

Employers have the same liability for accident and injury to homeworkers as office workers.

If an employer fails to take reasonable steps to safeguard an employee’s health and as a result they suffer an injury, the employer could be exposed to a claim for personal injury damages, a visit from the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) with the potential for regulatory fines, and other enforcement measures. This is in addition to a loss of productivity from the injured worker, loss of senior management time arising out of the necessity to manage the injury and claim, and finally the possibility that when they are next renewing their employer’s liability policy, their premium will increase as a result of claims.

Could employers be facing legal claims after the pandemic?

There is a real risk of future claims because few employers have actively carried out homeworking risk assessments and a surprising number have not prepared COVID-19 premises risk assessments.

Over the last decade with various policy changes, the HSE made increasingly few external visits and inspections. As a result, many businesses are unfamiliar with HSE spot checks and the very wide-ranging powers of inspectors to inspect documentation, interview staff, and issue improvement and prohibition notices.

However, post-COVID, they are using external consultants to boost inspector numbers and have significantly increased the number of spot checks to all types of business premises in order to check that COVID-secure measures have been implemented. These can be unannounced visits, during which the HSE have said they will provide advice and guidance, but where they find a business is not compliant, resulting in significant risks to health and safety, they can take immediate action including shutting down premises.

What can employers do to reduce the risk?

In order to reduce workplace risk, you first have to identify it.

The MHSWR (Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations) requires an employer to carry out risk assessments relating to known risks.

HR need to work with compliance officers to undertake a full workplace audit, identifying what work is being done and where.

If office premises are to be re-opened, a COVID-19 premises risk assessment must be done and communicated to staff and if there are in excess of 50 employees, it should be published on the company website.

Homeworking is not new. Homeworkers were previously included in a “Lone working” guide published by the HSE. The more recently published HSE guide “Protect homeworkers” is a good place to start. Employers should:

assess the risk of homeworking;
consider what work activity will be done and for how long;
consider whether it can be done safely;
consider what equipment and training are required;
consider how they will keep in touch and supervise; and
consider what control measures are needed to protect staff.

If a business can show that it has actively managed a risk, communicated the risk mitigation measures to staff, monitored the effectiveness of the preventative measures, and adapted procedures to suit new challenges, it is likely they will be able to prove that they have taken “reasonable steps” to prevent the foreseeable risk of harm to employees. Employers will also be able to defend a civil claim for damages and prove to the HSE that they have complied with their regulatory obligations.

If you have any questions on the issues raised in this article, you would like assistance with post-COVID policies and risk assessments, or you are facing a potential claim which you would like to discuss in more detail, please contact Cordelia Rushby.

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This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. It should not be used as a substitute for legal advice relating to your particular circumstances. Please note that the law may have changed since the date of this article.

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Learning outcome:.

Recognise the rights of homeworkers
Create a good workspace in order to work from home
Understand the health and safety requirements which must be met when working from home
Combat the negative health effects which can come from working from home
Look after their mental health when working from home
Set up their workstation safely
Deal with noise and other distractions while working from home
Carry out a risk assessment for work from home

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Who is This Course For:

Homeworkers
Managers of homeworkers
Supervisors of homeworkers
Team Leaders of homeworkers

Certification:

Assessment: , course currilcum.

Introduction to Homeworkers 00:18:00
Module 2. Occupations Carried Out by Homeworkers
Occupations Carried Out by Homeworkers 00:13:00
Health and Safety for Homeworkers 00:26:00
Module 4. Supporting Mental Health for Homeworkers
Supporting Mental Health for Homeworkers 00:16:00
Health & Safety Hazards 00:13:00
Module 6. Risk Assessment for Work from Home
Risk Assessment for Work from Home 00:24:00
Legal Responsibilities for Homeworkers 00:20:00
Module 8. Monitoring Homeworkers
Monitoring Homeworkers 00:20:00

Working From Home: Health & Safety Management

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Online Homeworking Health & Safety Assessment

Our RoSPA approved Health & Safety for Homeworkers course includes an online Homeworking Assessment Tool that allows staff to self-assess risks associated with their remote working environments. Any issues or concerns flagged by employees are automatically reported to employers who can quickly resolve any issues!

Making Homeworking Health & Safety a breeze...

With our training and assessment tool, keeping remote workers safe and productive is simple! For a bespoke quote, get in touch with us today.

What is a homeworker?

A homeworker is someone whose fixed place of work is their home. Throughout the pandemic, millions of UK employees have been forced to work from home and many businesses may even look to make that a more permanent fixture. With that in mind, employers need to make sure that their employees can work from home safely and productively.

"As an employer, you have the same health and safety responsibilities for home workers as for any other workers." - The HSE

What is a Homeworking Assessment and why are they important?

A Homeworking Assessment (or a Homeworking Risk Assessment) helps those who work from home identify and assess risks associated with their workstation and the nature of homeworking.

Risk assessments are a basic legal requirement and should be carried out for every employee, not just homeworkers. However, the risks to homeworkers can often differ from your standard employee, so it’s important that you identify these risks.

According to the Office for National Statistics, since the start of the pandemic in April 2020, nearly half (46.6%) of people in employment did some of their work from home. And where homeworking is likely to maintain its popularity, it’s important that those who do work from home are offered full support by their employers.

How often should they be carried out?

There’s no legal time frame for when Homeworking Assessments should be reviewed. However, as a general rule of thumb, it's best to review your assessments once a year. It’s also advised that assessments should be reviewed if something changes in your business or to a job role that may increase the risk to an individual.

How does iHASCO’s tool work?

Our online Homeworking Assessment Tool is built into our Health & Safety for Homeworkers Training course. Users complete our high-quality eLearning course and are provided with the assessment upon completion of the course. Once the user has completed their assessment, training administrators can pull reports and are notified of any issues occurring from an assessment. Administrators can identify, prioritise, and quickly resolve any issues and keep end-users updated.

How much does it cost?

Our Homeworking Assessment Tool comes included as part of our Health & Safety for Homeworkers Training course. Pricing for our training is dependent on the number of users you need to undertake the training. For a bespoke, cost-effective quote, get in touch with us today via our quote request page .

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More staff are working from home than ever before...

And that makes things complicated. If you have 30 homeworkers, that means you’re responsible for making sure 30 electronic set ups and their working environment is DSE compliant. It gets even more difficult when you need to assess an employee who is in pain or discomfort while working. As an employer or manager you are responsible for conducting home working DSE assessments ensuring that your team is working safely at home .

“As an employer, you have the same health and safety responsibilities for people working at home as for any other worker.” - www.hse.gov.uk

Where to begin? The process of conducting a DSE risk assessment for homeworkers can seem confusing, complex, and time-consuming. But it doesn’t need to be. Start by contacting us and booking in a home-working DSE assessment .

With the advent of Covid, we had to suddenly adapt to most of our employees working from home. From a DSE and compliance perspective, it seemed an absolute nightmare. We weren't sure how to proceed. Workhappy solved all of our concerns. Using a mixture of their self-assessment, virtual, and in-person services, we were able to keep our team members safe and happy, and reach full compliance quickly and easily. They’re clearly experts at what they do, but they’re also extremely helpful and surprisingly affordable. Thank you!

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Sort out your home-working DSE responsibilities without the hassle

With a Workhappy Home Working Risk Assessments, you can take good care of all your staff while ensuring full compliance with HSE regulations. We know how difficult and stressful home or hybrid working risks and DSE compliance can be. So we’ve set up a process designed to be as simple, speedy, and practical as possible to carry out workstation assessments .

Our DSE risk assessments are thorough and up-to-date, based on the latest government guidance and regulations. That means you’ll be fully compliant. Our home-working DSE assessments ensure your workforce will benefit from the latest advice and research to keep them pain-free while working.

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Which of our home working assessments suits your organisation best?

Online self assessment.

Use the dashboard to easily send invites to everyone who needs one. Anybody who doesn’t complete their training and online self-assessment will receive an automatic email reminder, so you can set it and forget it.

Virtual (Video) Home Assessment

Each employee is automatically given bespoke, customised training on how to set up their workstation to minimise safety and DSE risks based on where and how they work.

In-Person Assessment

Employees then fill out a quick questionnaire that’s intelligently customized to where they work in order to make sure their assessment is specific to their needs, respectful of their time, and doesn’t include any unnecessary filler.

Alicia Gonzalez-Ramos

Why choose a workhappy home working assessment.

We go out of our way to make sure your employees don’t have to. Our workstation risk assessments happen on their schedule, wherever they work, and can be part of a fully managed DSE service .

Full UK Coverage

Wherever your staff are based, we can visit them at home and make sure they’re working safely. Pick a time and place, and we’ll be there for an in person DSE assessment .

Highly Qualified Assessors

Our Workhappy assessors are all Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors qualified. They’re knowledgeable, professional - and they’ve each helped thousands of people work more ergonomically.

Top Rated National

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More than 400 businesses across the UK trust our services. In the past year, 100,000+ home-workers have self assessed, and we carried out 10k+ one-to-one virtual assessments . We’ve also successfully completed more than 10,000 in-person home assessments .

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Homeworker risk assessment – looking after your homeworkers health and safety

The last year has seen a huge change in working arrangements for many people during the Covid-19 pandemic. When the Prime Minister announced the ‘stay at home’ order in Spring 2020, a lot of people and businesses had to adapt to working from home very quickly, many for the first time.

Now, 12 months after the ‘stay at home’ order we are still being asked to work from home if we can, with that message planning on being rescinded sometime this summer (if all goes well). Many businesses and employees will be glad to get people back in the workplace, but a large number of people will keep the working from home arrangement or adapt to some hybrid arrangements where employees are asked to go into the workplace for some days and work from home for the rest.

What arrangements do you have in place to manage the health and safety of your homeworkers?

The HSE and the law is clear – as an employer, you have the same health and safety responsibilities to your homeworkers as any other workers.

Managing the health and safety of your employees who work from home brings its own set of challenges, and there may be some reluctance to see the value of a homeworker risk assessment. Most people see their home as the safest place on earth, and will not appreciate any outside ‘interference’ or an employer telling them what they must and must not do in their own home. That is not what the homework risk assessment is for, it is there to make sure there are no significant risk of harm to the homeworker and other people in their home introduced as a result of the home working arrangements.

When do we need a homeworker risk assessment?

As an employer, you must assess and control the risks for all hazards arising from your work activities, and if you have five or more employees, you must record the significant findings of your assessment. Does this mean you need to carry out a risk assessment for every single occasion of homeworking? I would suggest that would be impractical.

While there is no formal definition, your homeworkers will likely fall into one of three categories:

Permanently home-based – their home office is their permanent place of work, with no formal requirement to come into the workplace as part of their contract of employment.
Hybrid – regularly works from home but is required to attend the workplace for a certain number of days per week or month as part of their formal working arrangements. May have a dedicated desk or office in the workplace or use a hot-desk when needed.
Occasional – permanently based in the workplace, but works from home occasionally, e.g. no more than 1 day per week.

To manage occasional homeworking situations, the general risks of homeworking can be covered alongside the routine risk assessments for the job role or activities.

For permanently home-based workers, or those with a hybrid arrangement, you need to look at the risks of homeworking in more detail – whether that is done as a stand-alone risk assessment or alongside the general risk assessment for the job role or activities will depend on what works best with your current Safety Management System.

Your homeworker risk assessments should be carried out before your employee starts working from home, and reviewed periodically or if there are changes to the working arrangements.

How do I carry out a homeworker risk assessment?

One way of carrying out a homeworker risk assessment is by sending a form to your worker for them to complete and send back to you, but I’m not a fan of this method. It turns the risk assessment process into a form-filling, tick-box exercise,

does not promote any meaningful conversation between the worker and their employer and doesn’t give opportunity to tease out any sticking-points that might not be highlighted by a self-assessment.

For me, the true benefits of carrying out risk assessments are not the signed-of pieces of paper at the end (that is just a record of what you have talked about) but the conversations the process, when done correctly, prompts you to have and the resulting actions and agreements that come from those conversations.

One of the primary hazards of home working is work-related stress arising from feeling out of touch with the employer, or isolated from the rest of the team. By taking the time to go through the risk assessment process with your homeworker, you both get the chance to talk about these issues, and reinforce the employers message that they truly care about the health and wellbeing of their people.

Carrying out a homeworker risk assessment does not need you to visit the home where you worker is based. It is more efficient, and perfectly acceptable, to carry out the risk assessment remotely by telephone or video call, or in the central workplace. The risk assessment can be carried out by the employer, or by an external consultant. Check out how DanumBS can help you carry out your homeworker assessments .

What needs to be included in a Homeworker Risk Assessment?

The vast majority of home working will be office-based tasks which are inherently low risk. Your risk assessment needs to cover all the potential significant risks resulting from the working at home arrangements.

As a minimum you need to consider:

House illustrating working environment for the blog homeworker risk assessment

Working environment – is the working environment suitable?

Laptop to illustrate DSE homeworker risk assessment

DSE assessment – have you carried out a DSE assessment and acted on its findings?

lighting bolt illustrating electrical hazards homeworker risk assessment

Electrical safety – has equipment supplied by the employer been PAT Tested?

Fire safety – does the home have a working smoke alarm and escape plan?

Emergency arrangement – is there a First Aid kit available? Does the worker know what to do and who to contact in case of accident and illness?

Manual Handling – will the worker be handling heavy or bulky objects? Have you supplied manual handling aids and given manual handling training?

Lone working – many home workers will be lone working, do you have a ‘buddy-system’ to check in on people so you know they are safe and well?

Stress at work – do you have clear lines of communication? Does your worker understand their tasks and know who to contact if they don’t? Is there a clear difference between work-time and home-time?

So, what is the key message to take away?

Employers owe the same duty of care to look after their homeworkers as they do for workplace-based workers – out of sight should definitely not mean out of mind!

For somebody who occasionally works from home, the additional risks from working from home are usually minimal. These risks can generally be covered in the routine risk assessments for the job role or activities.

For hybrid working arrangements and permanently based homeworkers, employers should review the specific risks that arise from homeworking and put controls in place to remove or minimise those risks. This is best done in conversation with the homeworker, rather than as a self-assessment, so that any issues can be discussed and resolved.

If you found this useful, then why not sign up to my weekly H&S roundup to get updates, news and tips from the world of health and safety direct to your inbox.

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The importance of working from home risk assessments

work from home risk assessment for Woman sitting at desk and working with her laptop

25% of employees working from home experience loneliness and isolation while being away from colleagues. The impact of working from home can affect mental health and as an employer, it’s worth considering the benefits of working from home risk assessments .

Working from home can bring a number of benefits, both to the employee and the business; whether this is financial benefits through the minimised cost of commuting, office space and facilities, or opening up a wider pool of applicants by dismissing geographical issues. Research shows that working from home has the potential to increase staff motivation, as it reduces stress and sickness levels, allowing productivity to be maintained throughout the business.

However, where there are benefits, there will always be risks, and it is important for employers to recognise these and work to understand what can be done to raise awareness and prevent employees from feeling isolated in their environment when working from home.

For more understanding on employee mental health, our Mental health and Me training can help employees get to grips with their mental health and how to improve it.

Working from home risk assessments

It’s common for employers to feel like they have lost oversight and control of their staff when they undertake remote working, but enhances in technology allow a higher level of communication than ever before, and new ways of control to be put in place to monitor results, performance and productivity – it’s not hard to see why homeworking is becoming increasingly popular.

Despite this, it’s important to recognise the benefits and risks and by undertaking the correct procedures you can ensure you are not liable for any personal injury claims, as well as having the knowledge to ensure risk assessments are undertaken in the correct manner. Ensuring their home is compliant with health and safety regulations, as well as recognising how stress and mental health could be impacted through a feeling of isolation and homeworking.

Working from home risk assessments cover a range of areas :

Working with display screen equipment at home
Working environment and accidents
Stress and mental health

The HSE advises employers to conduct regular risk assessments for all employees, including homeworkers. Working from home risk assessments should include the minimum of:

identifying hazards, what could cause injury or illness
identify how likely it is for the employee to be at risk
taking control or making adjustments to control risk

By law, as an employer, you must abide by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 , to protect your employees from harm. Examples of risk assessments and templates can be found on the HSE site .

Employee mental health and Isolation Issues

As we delve into stress and mental health issues, one of the major risks facing homeworkers is the feeling of isolation. While distractions in an office can often impact productivity if they are not managed correctly, it’s often these interactions that give us the motivation to carry on with our work.

It is these interactions that are noticeably missing when working from home. By ensuring that a routine is put in place throughout the working day to communicate with your team and management, and strengthen the link to the outside world beyond the four walls of your home office you can limit the feeling of isolation that comes through working from home.

We are more connected than ever, with video conferencing technology making waves to help businesses maintain communication in more ways, phone and email still also play a huge part in allowing employees who work from home to remain a part of the team in the office.

If you are worried about isolation issues affecting employee mental health through homeworking, look at our training course on Homeworker Awareness to understand the importance of reporting issues and hazards at home. Risk assessments are required by law, as an employer.

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Biden's State of the Union address, annotated and fact-checked

By Zachary B. Wolf and Sean O’Key, CNN

Published March 8, 2024

It may have been President Joe Biden’s final State of the Union address. Or possibly the last of his first term. As Biden and former President Donald Trump prepare for a 2024 general election rematch, a vigorous Biden went off script at times, directly addressing Republicans and making the case that his administration has improved the country and people’s lives.

Here’s what he said and key ad-libs, along with context and fact checks from CNN’s fact check team.

Good evening.

Mr. Speaker. Madam Vice President. Members of Congress. My Fellow Americans.

In January 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt came to this chamber to speak to the nation.

He said, “I address you at a moment unprecedented in the history of the Union."

Hitler was on the march. War was raging in Europe.

President Roosevelt’s purpose was to wake up the Congress and alert the American people that this was no ordinary moment.

Freedom and democracy were under assault in the world.

Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” speech closed with a vision of spreading American democracy to the world. That’s a very Biden sentiment .

Tonight I come to the same chamber to address the nation.

Now it is we who face an unprecedented moment in the history of the Union.

And yes, my purpose tonight is to both wake up this Congress, and alert the American people that this is no ordinary moment either.

It’s notable that Biden was essentially comparing the threat against democracy today, both here and abroad, to the threat posed by Adolf Hitler in Germany in 1941.

Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault here at home as they are today.

What makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack, both at home and overseas, at the very same time.

Biden’s challenge in this election is to make Americans believe his quest to save democracy is an urgent matter. The rise of Trump from the political desert suggests many Americans are tiring of the message.

Overseas, Putin of Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos throughout Europe and beyond.

If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not.

But Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons it needs to defend itself. That is all Ukraine is asking. They are not asking for American soldiers.

In fact, there are no American soldiers at war in Ukraine. And I am determined to keep it that way.

This was an important pledge for Americans to hear. French President Emmanuel Macron recently suggested European troops could be called to Ukraine .

But now assistance for Ukraine is being blocked by those who want us to walk away from our leadership in the world.

The Senate passed a bill to give Ukraine an additional $60 billion in US aid, but Speaker Mike Johnson, who sat over Biden’s left shoulder during the speech, has not schedule d a vote in the House .

It wasn’t that long ago when a Republican President, Ronald Reagan, thundered, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."

Now, my predecessor, a former Republican President, tells Putin, “Do whatever the hell you want."

Reagan’s words were an important moment in US history. Watch it here. Trump, he who shall not be named in this speech, said recently that he told a European leader that Russia should be able to “ do whatever the hell they want ” to European countries that don’t spend enough on defense.

A former American President actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader.

It’s outrageous. It’s dangerous. It’s unacceptable.

This “bowing down” line has become a staple of Biden’s speeches.

America is a founding member of NATO the military alliance of democratic nations created after World War II to prevent war and keep the peace.

Today, we’ve made NATO stronger than ever.

We welcomed Finland to the Alliance last year, and just this morning, Sweden officially joined NATO, and their Prime Minister is here tonight.

Mr. Prime Minister, welcome to NATO, the strongest military alliance the world has ever known.

Sweden was able to join NATO after Turkey and Hungary dropped objections. Coincidentally, Trump is set to meet with Hungary’s Putin-friendly prime minister, Viktor Orban, at Mar-a-Lago on Friday.

I say this to Congress: we must stand up to Putin. Send me the Bipartisan National Security Bill.

History is watching.

If the United States walks away now, it will put Ukraine at risk.

Europe at risk. The free world at risk, emboldening others who wish to do us harm.

My message to President Putin is simple.

We will not walk away. We will not bow down. I will not bow down.

History is watching, just like history watched three years ago on January 6th.

This was an important turn, from standing up to Putin to the threat of insurrectionists at home. Trump’s affinity for Putin is no secret. Trump argues he would be able to contain Putin better than Biden.

Insurrectionists stormed this very Capitol and placed a dagger at the throat of American democracy.

Many of you were here on that darkest of days.

We all saw with our own eyes these insurrectionists were not patriots.

They had come to stop the peaceful transfer of power and to overturn the will of the people.

Everyone saw it, but many Republican lawmakers now downplay the threat posed by the January 6, 2021, insurrection. Johnson was among the lawmakers who objected to the counting of electoral votes in key states Biden won in 2020.

January 6th and the lies about the 2020 election, and the plots to steal the election, posed the gravest threat to our democracy since the Civil War.

But they failed. America stood strong and democracy prevailed.

But we must be honest the threat remains and democracy must be defended.

My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth of January 6th.

I will not do that.

A lot of Americans might want to move on from 2020, but Biden will try to remind them at every turn. He’ll get help from Trump, who is also still very focused on 2020. Trump has fashioned his campaign as a weapon of “retribution.”

This is a moment to speak the truth and bury the lies.

And here’s the simplest truth. You can’t love your country only when you win.

As I’ve done ever since being elected to office, I ask you all, without regard to party, to join together and defend our democracy!

Remember your oath of office to defend against all threats foreign and domestic.

Respect free and fair elections! Restore trust in our institutions! And make clear –political violence has absolutely no place in America!

Biden frequently uses this line about having to love your country when you lose too. The erosion of faith in US institutions is a troubling development reflected in multiple polls .

And history is watching another assault on freedom.

Joining us tonight is Latorya Beasley, a social worker from Birmingham, Alabama . 14 months ago tonight, she and her husband welcomed a baby girl thanks to the miracle of IVF.

She scheduled treatments to have a second child, but t he Alabama Supreme Court shut down IVF treatments across the state , unleashed by the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

She was told her dream would have to wait.

Here’s a list of all of the people who sat with first lady Jill Biden.

Notably, some Alabama clinics have resumed treatment under a bipartisan law hastily passed in that state. But Democrats will continue to make this argument about abortion restrictions being an assault on freedom.

What her family has gone through should never have happened. And unless Congress acts, it could happen again.

So tonight, let’s stand up for families like hers!

To my friends across the aisle, don’t keep families waiting any longer. Guarantee the right to IVF nationwide!

This will be an interesting request to monitor, since it could theoretically gain bipartisan support.

Like most Americans, I believe Roe v. Wade got it right. And I thank Vice President Harris for being an incredible leader, defending reproductive freedom and so much more.

But my predecessor came to office determined to see Roe v. Wade overturned.

He’s the reason it was overturned. In fact, he brags about it.

Look at the chaos that has resulted.

Most Americans support abortion rights in some form, but the parties are hopelessly split. It will help Trump with his base to brag about overturning Roe v. Wade. It will help Biden with his base to blame Trump.

Joining us tonight is Kate Cox, a wife and mother from Dallas.

When she became pregnant again, the fetus had a fatal condition.

Her doctors told Kate that her own life and her ability to have children in the future were at risk if she didn’t act.

Because Texas law banned abortion, Kate and her husband had to leave the state to get the care she needed.

What her family has gone through should never have happened as well. But it is happening to so many others.

CNN’s Betsy Klein notes that Biden leaned on the personal stories of two of the guests in the first lady’s box: Latorya Beasley, an Alabama mother who had to pause in vitro fertilization treatment, and Kate Cox , the Texas mother of two who had to leave her state for access to a lifesaving abortion. And he pointed to a patchwork of abortion rights laws around the country.

But Republicans would have as much trouble passing a nationwide abortion ban as Democrats would have passing a bill to codify Roe v. Wade.

There are state laws banning the right to choose, criminalizing doctors, and forcing survivors of rape and incest to leave their states as well to get the care they need.

Many of you in this Chamber and my predecessor are promising to pass a national ban on reproductive freedom.

My God, what freedoms will you take away next?

In its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade the Supreme Court majority wrote, “Women are not without – electoral or political power.”

No kidding.

Clearly, those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America.

They found out though when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out again, in 2024.

Democratic candidates will do everything they can to raise the abortion rights issue during the general election. Even voters in red states have chosen to support abortion rights when given the chance. There could be abortion-related ballot questions in key states, including Florida .

If Americans send me a Congress that supports the right to choose , I promise you, I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again!

This math doesn’t work. Passing legislation to protect abortion rights nationwide and restore Roe would surely require 60 votes in the Senate. Democrats currently have 51 seats, and there are few opportunities for pickups in 2024. Two Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, publicly support a national abortion rights law. That’s not nearly enough.

America cannot go back. I am here tonight to show the way forward. Because I know how far we’ve come.

Four years ago next week, before I came to office, our country was hit by the worst pandemic and the worst economic crisis in a century.

Remember the fear. Record job losses. Remember the spike in crime. And the murder rate.

A raging virus that would take more than 1 million American lives and leave millions of loved ones behind.

Biden’s figure needs context. Many lives were lost to Covid-19 during the Trump administration, but the US didn’t reach its millionth death until May 2022 when Biden was in office.

A mental health crisis of isolation and loneliness.

A president, my predecessor, who failed the most basic duty. Any President owes the American people the duty to care.

That is unforgivable.

I came to office determined to get us through one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history .

It is sometimes hard to remember that the Covid-19 pandemic started during the Trump administration and dominated the start of the Biden administration.

And we have. It doesn’t make the news but in thousands of cities and towns the American people are writing the greatest comeback story never told.

So let’s tell that story here and now.

America’s comeback is building a future of American possibilities, building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up , not the top down, investing in all of America, in all Americans to make sure everyone has a fair shot and we leave no one behind!

Republicans frequently try to label Biden as a socialist for spending taxpayer money. But Democrats and Biden argue the public has an interest in trying to make sure opportunities are accessible to everyone.

The pandemic no longer controls our lives. The vaccines that saved us from COVID are now being used to help beat cancer.

Turning setback into comeback.

That's America!

I inherited an economy that was on the brink. Now our economy is the envy of the world!

15 million new jobs in just three years - that's a record!

Biden’s claim is correct: the US economy added about 14.8 million jobs between Biden’s first full month in office, February 2021, and January 2024, more jobs than were added in any previous four-year presidential term. However, it’s important to note that Biden took office in an unusual pandemic context that makes meaningful comparison to other periods very difficult.

Unemployment at 50-year lows.

This needs context. The unemployment rate did hit a five-decade low during two months of early 2023 , 3.4%, and it has since remained close to that level — but the latest available unemployment rate, 3.7% for January, is higher than the rate was during nine months under President Donald Trump in 2019 and pre-pandemic 2020. (The rate then skyrocketed on account of the pandemic, and it was 6.4% the month Biden took office in January 2021.)

A record 16 million Americans are starting small businesses and each one is an act of hope.

With historic job growth and small business growth for Black, Hispanic, and Asian-Americans.

800,000 new manufacturing jobs in America and counting.

Biden’s figure is correct. The US economy added 791,000 manufacturing jobs from Biden’s first full month in office, February 2021, through January 2024, the last month for which Bureau of Labor Statistics data is available — though it’s worth noting that the growth largely occurred in 2021 and 2022 (with 746,000 manufacturing jobs added starting in February 2021) before a relatively flat 2023.

More people have health insurance today than ever before.

The racial wealth gap is the smallest it’s been in 20 years.

Wages keep going up and inflation keeps coming down!

Inflation has dropped from 9% to 3% – the lowest in the world!

Convincing Americans that their economy is good and improving may be Biden’s most important task in his reelection campaign. Because despite all of that data he rattled off, people are having trouble making ends meet. He’ll have more work to do to convince them .

And trending lower.

And now instead of importing foreign products and exporting American jobs, we’re exporting American products and creating American jobs – right here in America where they belong!

And the American people are beginning to feel it.

Consumer studies show consumer confidence is soaring.

Buy American has been the law of the land since the 1930s.

Past administrations including my predecessor failed to Buy American.

Not any more.

On my watch, federal projects like helping to build American roads bridges and highways will be made with American products built by American workers creating good-paying American jobs!

Thanks to my Chips and Science Act the United States is investing more in research and development than ever before.

Biden did oversee the passage of multiple, bipartisan bills to improve the country. The bipartisan infrastructure law is meant to improve things across the country. Propping up a semiconductor chip industry is also meant to make the US more independent from China.

During the pandemic a shortage of semiconductor chips drove up prices for everything from cell phones to automobiles.

Well instead of having to import semiconductor chips, which America invented I might add, private companies are now investing billions of dollars to build new chip factories here in America!

Creating tens of thousands of jobs many of them paying over $100,000 a year and don’t require a college degree.

In fact my policies have attracted $650 Billion of private sector investments in clean energy and advanced manufacturing creating tens of thousands of jobs here in America!

Thanks to our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 46,000 new projects have been announced across your communities – modernizing our roads and bridges, ports and airports, and public transit systems.

A futuristic airport terminal, a fish passage and ski town bus lanes: Here are some of the projects being built through the infrastructure law.

Removing poisonous lead pipes so every child can drink clean water without risk of getting brain damage.

Providing affordable high speed internet for every American no matter where you live.

Urban, suburban, and rural communities — in red states and blue.

Record investments in tribal communities.

Because of my investments, family farms are better be able to stay in the family and children and grandchildren won’t have to leave home to make a living.

It’s transformative.

A great comeback story is Belvidere, Illinois. Home to an auto plant for nearly 60 years.

Before I came to office the plant was on its way to shutting down.

Thousands of workers feared for their livelihoods. Hope was fading.

Then I was elected to office and we raised Belvidere repeatedly with the auto company knowing unions make all the difference.

The UAW worked like hell to keep the plant open and get those jobs back. And together, we succeeded!

Instead of an auto factory shutting down an auto factory is re-opening and a new state-of-the art battery factory is being built to power those cars.

Instead of a town being left behind it’s a community moving forward again!

Because instead of watching auto jobs of the future go overseas 4,000 union workers with higher wages will be building that future, in Belvidere, here in America!

Here tonight is UAW President, Shawn Fain, a great friend, and a great labor leader.

And Dawn Simms, a third generation UAW worker in Belvidere.

Shawn, I was proud to be the first President in American history to walk a picket line.

Biden attended a U nited A uto W orkers rally in Belvidere with UAW President Shawn Fain last year. He also became the first president to join a picket line when he stood with workers in Michigan.

And today Dawn has a job in her hometown providing stability for her family and pride and dignity.

Showing once again, Wall Street didn’t build this country!

The middle class built this country! And unions built the middle class!

Both Biden and Trump will try to argue they are looking out for the middle class. The turn of White voters without college degrees away from Democrats and toward Republicans has been a major shift in politics that drove the rise of Trump.

When Americans get knocked down, we get back up!

We keep going!

That’s America! That’s you, the American people!

It’s because of you America is coming back!

It’s because of you, our future is brighter!

Never has a State of the Union transcript included so many exclamations. Biden presented as a vigorous and energized leader here, far from the doddering old man he has been portrayed as by Republicans.

And it’s because of you that tonight we can proudly say the State of our Union is strong and getting stronger!

Tonight I want to talk about the future of possibilities that we can build together.

A future where the days of trickle-down economics are over and the wealthy and biggest corporations no longer get all the breaks.

I grew up in a home where not a lot trickled down on my Dad’s kitchen table.

That’s why I’m determined to turn things around so the middle class does well the poor have a way up and the wealthy still does well.

After earlier praising Reagan’s foreign policy, here Biden trashed the guiding principle of Reagan’s economic policy (and Republicans who have worked tirelessly to cut taxes for a generation).

We all do well.

And there’s more to do to make sure you’re feeling the benefits of all we’re doing.

Americans pay more for prescription drugs than anywhere else.

It’s wrong and I’m ending it.

With a law I proposed and signed and not one Republican voted for we finally beat Big Pharma!

This is the Inflation Reduction Act , a post-Covid-19 recovery plan that Democrats loaded up with other policy priorities and were able to pass without Republican votes by bending budget rules.

Democrats had been trying for years to pass a law that would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices . This is a first step.

Instead of paying $400 a month for insulin seniors with diabetes only have to pay $35 a month!

And now I want to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for every American who needs it!

For years people have talked about it but I finally got it done and gave Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs just like the VA does for our veterans.

That’s not just saving seniors money.

It’s saving taxpayers money cutting the federal deficit by $160 billion because Medicare will no longer have to pay exorbitant prices to Big Pharma.

It’s true that two of the main drug price provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats pushed through Congress in 2022, are expected to reduce the deficit by $160 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. In total, the law’s drug measures are expected to reduce the deficit by $237 billion, though delaying the implementation of a Trump administration drug rebate rule accounts for the difference.

This year Medicare is negotiating lower prices for some of the costliest drugs on the market that treat everything from heart disease to arthritis.

Now it’s time to go further and give Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for 500 drugs over the next decade.

That will not only save lives it will save taxpayers another $200 Billion!

Starting next year that same law caps total prescription drug costs for seniors on Medicare at $2,000 a year even for expensive cancer drugs that can cost $10,000, $12,000, $15,000 a year.

Now I want to cap prescription drug costs at $2,000 a year for everyone!

Another major contrast between Trump and Biden. Trump still wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act . Biden seemed to be veering toward “Medicare for All” here.

Folks Obamacare, known as the Affordable Care Act is still a very big deal.

Over one hundred million of you can no longer be denied health insurance because of pre-existing conditions.

But my predecessor and many in this chamber want to take that protection away by repealing the Affordable Care Act I won’t let that happen!

We stopped you 50 times before and we will stop you again!

In fact I am protecting it and expanding it.

I enacted tax credits that save $800 per person per year reducing health care premiums for millions of working families.

Those tax credits expire next year.

I want to make those savings permanent!

Women are more than half of our population but research on women’s health has always been underfunded.

That’s why we’re launching the first-ever White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, led by Jill who is doing an incredible job as First Lady.

Creating a commission or new office is a classic State of the Union maneuver. That this speech focused on women’s health is not surprising since Democrats are so focused on the issue.

Pass my plan for $12 Billion to transform women’s health research and benefit millions of lives across America!

I know the cost of housing is so important to you .

If inflation keeps coming down mortgage rates will come down as well.

But I’m not waiting.

I want to provide an annual tax credit that will give Americans $400 a month for the next two years as mortgage rates come down to put toward their mortgage when they buy a first home or trade up for a little more space.

My Administration is also eliminating title insurance fees for federally backed mortgages.

When you refinance your home this can save you $1,000 or more.

These are all very specific ideas to put people at ease about the cost of buying and renting, major issues that are affecting how people view the economy . But Biden can’t accomplish all of this. He will need Congress to enact tax credits. He will need inflation to continue to come down to bring down mortgage rates .

For millions of renters, we’re cracking down on big landlords who break antitrust laws by price-fixing and driving up rents.

I’ve cut red tape so more builders can get federal financing, which is already helping build a record 1.7 million housing units nationwide.

Now pass my plan to build and renovate 2 million affordable homes and bring those rents down!

To remain the strongest economy in the world we need the best education system in the world.

I want to give every child a good start by providing access to pre-school for 3- and 4-year-olds.

He’s actually wanted to enact universal pre-K for some time. But Democrats could not come up with the votes to include that program in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Studies show that children who go to pre-school are nearly 50% more likely to finish high school and go on to earn a 2- or 4-year degree no matter their background.

I want to expand high-quality tutoring and summer learning time and see to it that every child learns to read by third grade.

I’m also connecting businesses and high schools so students get hands-on experience and a path to a good-paying job whether or not they go to college.

And I want to make college more affordable.

Let’s continue increasing Pell Grants for working- and middle-class families and increase our record investments in HBCUs and Hispanic and Minority-serving Institutions

I fixed student loan programs to reduce the burden of student debt for nearly 4 Million Americans including nurses firefighters and others in public service like Keenan Jones a public-school educator in Minnesota who’s here with us tonight.

Biden has done quite a bit to forgive federal student loan debt, canceling about $138 billion so far. Here’s a good visualization of that . But his most expansive plan, which he hoped to do through executive action and would have canceled up to $20,000 for borrowers who make less than $125,000 a year, was rejected by the Supreme Court.

He’s educated hundreds of students so they can go to college now he can help his own daughter pay for college.

Such relief is good for the economy because folks are now able to buy a home start a business even start a family.

While we’re at it I want to give public school teachers a raise!

Now let me speak to a question of fundamental fairness for all Americans.

I’ve been delivering real results in a fiscally responsible way.

I’ve already cut the federal deficit by over one trillion dollars.

Biden’s claim leaves out such critical context that it is misleading. While the annual federal budget deficit was more than $1 trillion lower in the 2023 fiscal year than it was in both the 2020 fiscal year (under President Donald Trump) and the 2021 fiscal year (partially under Trump and partially under Biden), analysts have repeatedly noted that Biden’s own actions, including laws he has signed and executive orders he has issued, have had the overall effect of worsening annual deficits, not reducing them. As in past remarks , Biden didn’t explain that the primary reason the deficit fell by a record amount during his tenure was that it had skyrocketed to a record high at the end of Trump’s term because of bipartisan emergency pandemic relief spending, then fell as expected when that spending expired as planned.

I signed a bipartisan budget deal that will cut another trillion dollars over the next decade.

And now it’s my goal to cut the federal deficit $3 trillion more by making big corporations and the very wealthy finally pay their fair share.

Look, I’m a capitalist.

If you want to make a million bucks – great!

Just pay your fair share in taxes.

A fair tax code is how we invest in the things –

that make a country great, health care, education, defense, and more.

But here’s the deal.

The last administration enacted a $2 Trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the very wealthy and the biggest corporations and exploded the federal deficit.

They added more to the national debt than in any presidential term in American history.

Biden’s numbers are correct; the national debt rose from about $19.9 trillion to about $27.8 trillion during Trump’s tenure, an increase of about 39% and more than in any other four-year presidential term, in part because of Trump’s major tax cuts. But it is an oversimplification to blame presidents alone for debt incurred during their tenures. Some of the Trump-era increase in the debt was due to the trillions of dollars in emergency Covid-19 pandemic relief spending that passed with bipartisan support and because of spending required by safety-net programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, that were created by previous presidents.

For folks at home does anybody really think the tax code is fair?

Do you really think the wealthy and big corporations need another $2 trillion in tax breaks?

I sure don’t. I’m going to keep fighting like hell to make it fair!

Under my plan nobody earning less than $400,000 will pay an additional penny in federal taxes.

Nobody. Not one penny.

In fact the Child Tax Credit I passed during the pandemic cut taxes for millions of working families and cut child poverty in HALF.

Restore the Child Tax Credit because no child should go hungry in this country!

The way to make the tax code fair is to make big corporations and the very wealthy finally pay their share.

In 2020 55 of the biggest companies in America made $40 billion in profits and paid zero in federal income taxes.

Not any more!

Thanks to the law I wrote and signed big companies now have to pay a minimum of 15%.

Biden’s “not anymore” claim is false, an exaggeration. While his 15% corporate minimum tax will reduce the number of big companies that don’t pay any federal taxes, it’s not true that “not anymore” will any big company — such as the ones on the list of 55 companies Biden mentioned — ever do so. That’s because the minimum tax, on the “book income” companies report to investors, only applies to companies with at least $1 billion in average annual income. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, only 14 of the companies on its list of 55 non-payers reported having US pre-tax income of at least $1 billion.

But that’s still less than working people pay in federal taxes.

It’s time to raise the corporate minimum tax to at least 21% so every big corporation finally begins to pay their fair share.

I also want to end the tax breaks for Big Pharma, Big Oil, private jets, and massive executive pay!

End it now!

There are 1,000 billionaires in America.

You know what the average federal tax rate for these billionaires is? 8.2 percent!

That’s far less than the vast majority of Americans pay.

No billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a teacher, a sanitation worker, a nurse!

That’s why I’ve proposed a minimum tax of 25% for billionaires. Just 25%.

That would raise $500 Billion over the next 10 years.

Imagine what that could do for America. Imagine a future with affordable child care so millions of families can get the care they need and still go to work and help grow the economy.

Imagine a future with paid leave because no one should have to choose between working and taking care of yourself or a sick family member.

Imagine a future with home care and elder care so seniors and people living with disabilities can stay in their homes and family caregivers get paid what they deserve!

Tonight, let’s all agree once again to stand up for seniors!

Many of my Republican friends want to put Social Security on the chopping block.

If anyone here tries to cut Social Security or Medicare or raise the retirement age I will stop them!

Working people who built this country pay more into Social Security than millionaires and billionaires do. It’s not fair.

We have two ways to go on Social Security.

Republicans will cut Social Security and give more tax cuts to the wealthy.

Biden went off script here, engaging in a back-and-forth with Republicans on the House floor. Republicans jeered when he said they would cut Social Security . Many in their party say they will do no such thing.

“That’s the proposal — oh no? You guys don’t want another $2 trillion tax cut?” Biden said. “I kind of thought that’s what your plan was. Well, that's good to hear.”

I will protect and strengthen Social Security and make the wealthy pay their fair share!

Too many corporations raise their prices to pad their profits charging you more and more for less and less.

That’s why we’re cracking down on corporations that engage in price gouging or deceptive pricing from food to health care to housing.

In fact, snack companies think you won’t notice when they charge you just as much for the same size bag but with fewer chips in it.

Pass Senator Bob Casey’s bill to put a stop to shrinkflation !

While a lot of people seem to blame Biden for inflation and cite government spending, he’d like to blame corporations.

CNN’s Bryan Mena notes while there is evidence that companies have reduced the size of their products, according to Labor Department data, the reason is usually to cut costs during times of high inflation and is a widespread practice. Companies do this because consumers are more sensitive to price changes than the size of a product becoming smaller, according to research. “Shrinkflation” due to corporate greed is a hasty generalization.

I’m also getting rid of junk fees those hidden fees added at the end of your bills without your knowledge. My administration just announced we’re cutting credit card late fees from $32 to just $8.

The banks and credit card companies don’t like it.

I’m saving American families $20 billion a year with all of the junk fees I’m eliminating .

And I’m not stopping there.

If this sounded familiar, that’s because he talked about junk fees at last year’s State of the Union .

My Administration has proposed rules to make cable, travel, utilities and online ticket sellers tell you the total price upfront so there are no surprises.

It matters.

This was his chance to say the words “ Taylor Swift .” Fail.

And so does this.

In November, my team began serious negotiations with a bipartisan group of Senators.

The result was a bipartisan bill with the toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen in this country .

He went off script again here. CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez notes that Biden baited Republicans with praise for the bipartisan Senate border bill .

“Oh, you don’t like that bill, huh? That conservatives got together and said it was a good bill. I’ll be darned. That’s amazing,” Biden said, as some Republicans grumbled in the crowd.

Republican Sen. James Lankford, a key negotiator on the bipartisan border deal who faced pushback from members of his own party, stared ahead, appearing to nod as Biden ticked through elements of the bill -- including how it would shore up federal resources and include an emergency authority that would allow him to shut down the border if certain triggers are met.

That bipartisan deal would hire 1,500 more border security agents and officers.

100 more immigration judges to help tackle a backload of 2 million cases.

4,300 more asylum officers and new policies so they can resolve cases in 6 months instead of 6 years.

100 more high-tech drug detection machines to significantly increase the ability to screen and stop vehicles from smuggling fentanyl into America.

This bill would save lives and bring order to the border.

It would also give me as President new emergency authority to temporarily shut down the border when the number of migrants at the border is overwhelming.

The Border Patrol Union endorsed the bill.

The Chamber of Commerce endorsed the bill.

I believe that given the opportunity a majority of the House and Senate would endorse it as well.

But unfortunately, politics have derailed it so far.

I’m told my predecessor called Republicans in Congress and demanded they block the bill . He feels it would be a political win for me and a political loser for him.

It’s not about him or me.

Biden was interrupted here by GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who shouted at him about Laken Riley , the Georgia nursing student killed, allegedly by an undocumented immigrant. It’s an incident that has driven claims that migrants are criminals.

Biden picked up a pin that read “Say Her Name Laken Riley” and directly addressed the parents of Laken Riley, who had been invited to the speech by a congressman.

“Lincoln (sic) Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. That's right. But how many of the thousands of people being killed by illegals - to her parents, I say my heart goes out to you. Having lost children myself, I understand.”

It is interesting that Biden also referred to the undocumented migrant who is suspected in Riley’s killing with the derogatory term “illegal.” Read more.

It’d be a winner for America!

My Republican friends you owe it to the American people to get this bill done.

We need to act.

And if my predecessor is watching instead of playing politics and pressuring members of Congress to block this bill, join me in telling Congress to pass it!

We can do it together. But here’s what I will not do.

I will not demonize immigrants saying they “poison the blood of our country” as he said in his own words.

I will not separate families.

I will not ban people from America because of their faith.

Trump’s rhetoric on immigration has gotten increasingly heated. He frequently refers to people crossing the border as “murderers,” for instance. The “poisoning the blood” line Trump uses is similar to a passage in Hitler’s manifesto “Mein Kampf.”

Unlike my predecessor, on my first day in office I introduced a comprehensive plan to fix our immigration system, secure the border, and provide a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and so much more.

Because unlike my predecessor, I know who we are as Americans.

We are the only nation in the world with a heart and soul that draws from old and new.

Home to Native Americans whose ancestors have been here for thousands of years. Home to people from every place on Earth.

Some came freely.

Some chained by force.

Some when famine struck, like my ancestral family in Ireland.

Some to flee persecution.

Some to chase dreams that are impossible anywhere but here in America.

That’s America, where we all come from somewhere, but we are all Americans.

We can fight about the border, or we can fix it. I’m ready to fix it.

Send me the border bill now!

Biden both eloquently talked about how the US is a nation of immigrants and also called on Congress to give him the power to close the border. His shift on the issue has been remarkable.

A transformational moment in our history happened 59 years ago today in Selma, Alabama.

Hundreds of foot soldiers for justice marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, named after a Grand Dragon of the KKK, to claim their fundamental right to vote.

They were beaten bloodied and left for dead.

Our late friend and former colleague John Lewis was at the march.

We miss him.

Joining us tonight are other marchers who were there including Betty May Fikes, known as the "Voice of Selma”.

A daughter of gospel singers and preachers, she sang songs of prayer and protest on that Bloody Sunday,

to help shake the nation’s conscience. Five months later, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law.

But 59 years later, there are forces taking us back in time.

Voter suppression. Election subversion. Unlimited dark money. Extreme gerrymandering.

John Lewis was a great friend to many of us here. But if you truly want to honor him and all the heroes who marched with him, then it’s time for more than just talk.

Pass and send me the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act!

If Democrats could not pass a new national voting standard when they controlled the House during Biden’s first two years in office, they will not be able to do it now, while Republicans control the chamber.

And stop denying another core value of America our diversity across American life.

Banning books.

It’s wrong!

Instead of erasing history, let’s make history!

I want to protect other fundamental rights!

Pass the Equality Act, and my message to transgender Americans: I have your back!

Pass the PRO Act for workers rights! And raise the federal minimum wage because every worker has the right to earn a decent living!

We are also making history by confronting the climate crisis, not denying it.

I’m taking the most significant action on climate ever in the history of the world.

I am cutting our carbon emissions in half by 2030.

The climate crisis may be an existential problem for humanity, but it did not rate mention in the first half of this State of the Union address. That said, Biden, with help from the Inflation Reduction Act, has done more than previous presidents to address the issue. But n ot enough to satisfy activists . Trump, meanwhile, likes to poke fun at climate efforts.

Creating tens of thousands of clean-energy jobs, like the IBEW workers building and installing 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations.

Conserving 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030.

Taking historic action on environmental justice for fence-line communities smothered by the legacy of pollution.

And patterned after the Peace Corps and Ameri Corps, I’ve launched a Climate Corps to put 20,000 young people to work at the forefront of our clean energy future.

I’ll triple that number this decade.

All Americans deserve the freedom to be safe, and America is safer today than when I took office.

The year before I took office, murders went up 30% nationwide the biggest increase in history.

That was then.

Now, through my American Rescue Plan, which every Republican voted against, I’ve made the largest investment in public safety ever.

Last year, the murder rate saw the sharpest decrease in history, and violent crime fell to one of the lowest levels in more than 50 years.

This is true, at least based on preliminary 2023 data that should be treated with caution. The preliminary 2023 data published by the FBI, running through the third quarter of the year, showed that violent crime was down 8.2% compared to the same period in 2022 — a decline that would be “historically large” for a year, crime data expert Jeff Asher wrote in a December article. The data generally confirms Biden’s description of violent crime falling across the nation, though some communities have seen increases. Asher wrote: “The quarterly data shows violent crime down in big cities, small cities, suburban counties, and rural counties, pretty much across the board.”

But we have more to do.

Help cities and towns invest in more community police officers, more mental health workers, and more community violence intervention.

Give communities the tools to crack down on gun crime, retail crime, and carjacking.

Keep building public trust, as I’ve been doing by taking executive action on police reform, and calling for it to be the law of the land, directing my Cabinet to review the federal classification of marijuana, and expunging thousands of convictions for mere possession , because no one should be jailed for using or possessing marijuana!

Biden’s mass clemency for federal offenses of simple marijuana possession, announced before the m idterm elections in 2022 , was seen as a first step to national decriminalization.

To take on crimes of domestic violence, I am ramping up federal enforcement of the Violence Against Women Act, that I proudly wrote, so we can finally end the scourge of violence against women in America!

And there’s another kind of violence I want to stop.

With us tonight is Jasmine, whose 9-year-old sister Jackie was murdered with 21 classmates and teachers at her elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

Soon after it happened, Jill and I went to Uvalde and spent hours with the families.

We heard their message, and so should everyone in this chamber do something.

I did do something by establishing the first-ever Office of Gun Violence Prevention in the White House that Vice President Harris is leading.

Meanwhile, my predecessor told the NRA he’s proud he did nothing on guns when he was President.

After another school shooting in Iowa he said we should just “get over it.”

I say we must stop it.

I’m proud we beat the NRA when I signed the most significant gun safety law in nearly 30 years!

Now we must beat the NRA again!

I’m demanding a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines!

Pass universal background checks!

Again, none of this will happen without a major change in Congress.

None of this violates the Second Amendment or vilifies responsible gun owners.

As we manage challenges at home, we’re also managing crises abroad including in the Middle East.

I know the last five months have been gut-wrenching for so many people, for the Israeli people, the Palestinian people, and so many here in America.

This crisis began on October 7th with a massacre by the terrorist group Hamas.

1,200 innocent people women and girls men and boys slaughtered, many enduring sexual violence.

The deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

250 hostages taken.

Here in the chamber tonight are American families whose loved ones are still being held by Hamas.

I pledge to all the families that we will not rest until we bring their loved ones home.

We will also work around the clock to bring home Evan and Paul, Americans being unjustly detained all around the world.

Israel has a right to go after Hamas.

This is an incredibly important issue for Biden. Nothing else splits Democrats at the moment like Israel. Biden is a self-proclaimed Zionist. While he has increasingly called out the conservative government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it’s not nearly enough to satisfy the large portion of Democrats who are motivated by the plight of Palestinians who are stuck and starving in Gaza .

Hamas could end this conflict today by releasing the hostages, laying down arms, and surrendering those responsible for October 7th.

Israel has an added burden because Hamas hides and operates among the civilian population. But Israel also has a fundamental responsibility to protect innocent civilians in Gaza.

This war has taken a greater toll on innocent civilians than all previous wars in Gaza combined.

More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed.

Most of whom are not Hamas.

Thousands and thousands are innocent women and children.

Girls and boys also orphaned.

Nearly 2 million more Palestinians under bombardment or displaced.

Homes destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruin.

Families without food, water, medicine.

It’s heartbreaking.

We’ve been working non-stop to establish an immediate ceasefire that would last for at least six weeks.

It is notable that while Biden said the US is working for an immediate ceasefire, he did not say permanent. Israel wants the ability to revisit any ceasefire after six weeks.

Biden’s optimism for a ceasefire seems to have cooled. He had previously predicted there would be a ceasefire by this past Monday. In the meantime, the world was horrified by the killing of more than 100 Palestinians trying to get food from an Israeli aid truck.

As Biden spoke, House Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib — the sole Palestinian American member of Congress — held a sign reading “Ceasefire Now.”

It would get the hostages home, ease the intolerable humanitarian crisis, and build toward something more enduring.

The United States has been leading international efforts to get more humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

Tonight, I’m directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters.

No U.S. boots will be on the ground.

This temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day.

This pier sounds like an incredible engineering feat. It’s not clear how soon it can be achieved. Also, this was the second time in the speech where Biden pledged that US troops will not get involved in an international conflict.

But Israel must also do its part.

Israel must allow more aid into Gaza and ensure that humanitarian workers aren’t caught in the cross fire.

To the leadership of Israel I say this.

Humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip.

Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority.

As we look to the future, the only real solution is a two-state solution.

I say this as a lifelong supporter of Israel and the only American president to visit Israel in wartime.

This is a public warning to Israel and an insistence that Israel must allow a Palestinian state. But it is not particularly stern considering the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have died .

There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and democracy.

There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live with peace and dignity.

There is no other path that guarantees peace between Israel and all of its Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia.

Creating stability in the Middle East also means containing the threat posed by Iran.

That’s why I built a coalition of more than a dozen countries to defend international shipping and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.

I’ve ordered strikes to degrade Houthi capabilities and defend U.S. Forces in the region.

As Commander in Chief, I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and military personnel.

The strikes have not so far had a deterrent effect.

For years, all I’ve heard from my Republican friends and so many others is China’s on the rise and America is falling behind.

They’ve got it backward.

America is rising.

We have the best economy in the world.

Since I’ve come to office, our GDP is up.

He is welcome to say this. Most Americans do not currently seem to believe it.

And our trade deficit with China is down to the lowest point in over a decade.

We’re standing up against China’s unfair economic practices.

And standing up for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

I’ve revitalized our partnerships and alliances in the Pacific.

I’ve made sure that the most advanced American technologies can’t be used in China’s weapons.

Frankly for all his tough talk on China, it never occurred to my predecessor to do that.

We want competition with China, but not conflict.

And we’re in a stronger position to win the competition for the 21st Century against China or anyone else for that matter.

Here at home I’ve signed over 400 bipartisan bills.

But there’s more to do to pass my Unity Agenda.

Strengthen penalties on fentanyl trafficking.

Pass bipartisan privacy legislation to protect our children online.

CNN's Brian Fung notes that this call for a bill to regulate social media platforms is the third time in as many years that Biden has criticized the social media industry in his State of the Union speech.

Notably, however, Biden’s call specifically highlighted legislation to protect children’s privacy — not any of the myriad bills circulating that would impose targeted restrictions on social media companies .

The House could vote soon on a separate bill meant to pressure TikTok’s China-linked parent company to spin off the app used by 170 million Americans.

Harness the promise of A.I. and protect us from its peril.

Ban A.I. voice impersonation and more!

Fung also notes that Biden knows personally about this. A fake robocall campaign cloned his voice and targeted thousands of New Hampshire primary voters in what authorities have described as an AI-enabled election meddling attempt.

But US lawmakers have struggled to advance any meaningful AI legislation in the roughly one year since Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made a rare and personal effort to put AI at the top of the congressional agenda.

Even as disinformation experts warn of AI’s threats to elections and public discourse, few expect Congress to pass legislation reining in the AI industry during a divisive election year.

And keep our one truly sacred obligation, to train and equip those we send into harm’s way and care for them and their families when they come home, and when they don’t.

That’s why I signed the PACT Act, one of the most significant laws ever, helping millions of veterans who were exposed to toxins and who now are battling more than 100 cancers.

Many of them didn’t come home.

We owe them and their families.

And we owe it to ourselves to keep supporting our new health research agency called ARPA-H and remind us that we can do big things like end cancer as we know it!

Let me close with this.

I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while.

And when you get to my age certain things become clearer than ever before.

I know the American story.

Again and again I’ve seen the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation.

Between those who want to pull America back to the past and those who want to move America into the future.

My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy.

A future based on the core values that have defined America.

Honesty. Decency. Dignity. Equality.

To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair shot. To give hate no safe harbor.

Now some other people my age see a different story.

An American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution.

That’s not me.

Biden put forward an energetic persona in this speech. And he pointed out that Trump is his age. Actually, Trump is four years younger.

The name “Trump” did not appear in the speech. But he was clearly top of mind. Trump has promised to be his supporters’ “retribution” and still does not admit to losing the 2020 election. Biden’s burden will be to convince voters who are wavering that trying to upend democracy should disqualify Trump.

I was born amid World War II when America stood for freedom in the world.

I grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Claymont, Delaware among working people who built this country.

I watched in horror as two of my heroes, Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy, were assassinated and their legacies inspired me to pursue a career in service.

A public defender, county councilman, elected United States Senator at 29, then Vice President, to our first Black President, now President, with our first woman Vice President.

In my career I’ve been told I’m too young and I’m too old.

Whether young or old, I’ve always known what endures.

Our North Star.

The very idea of America, that we are all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives.

We’ve never fully lived up to that idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either.

And I won’t walk away from it now.

My fellow Americans the issue facing our nation isn’t how old we are it’s how old our ideas are?

Hate, anger, revenge, retribution are among the oldest of ideas.

But you can’t lead America with ancient ideas that only take us back.

To lead America, the land of possibilities, you need a vision for the future of what America can and should be.

Tonight you’ve heard mine.

I see a future where we defend democracy not diminish it.

I see a future where we restore the right to choose and protect other freedoms not take them away.

I see a future where the middle class finally has a fair shot and the wealthy finally have to pay their fair share in taxes.

I see a future where we save the planet from the climate crisis and our country from gun violence.

Above all, I see a future for all Americans!

I see a country for all Americans!

And I will always be a president for all Americans!

Because I believe in America!

I believe in you the American people.

You’re the reason I’ve never been more optimistic about our future!

The speech ended with many more exclamations and a vigorous Biden pumping people up.

So let’s build that future together!

Let’s remember who we are!

We are the United States of America.

There is nothing beyond our capacity when we act together!

May God bless you all.

May God protect our troops.

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“Guidance on the management of risks and risk assessments at places of work”
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LESSON 2.RISK MANAGEMENT

COMMENTS

Managing home workers' health and safety
2. Risk assessment You must make sure your risk assessment covers home workers. It is important to keep a balanced and proportionate approach for home workers. In most cases you do not need...
Home working
Risk assessment Include home workers in your risk assessment Stress and mental health Manage the risks of stress from working at home Using computers and laptops safely at home Ensure home...
PDF Home Working Risk Assessment
Completing a risk assessment involves identifying the hazards relating to work activities carried out in the home environment and deciding whether appropriate steps (control measures) have been taken to prevent harm to them or to anyone else who may be affected by their work. risk assessment will:
Risk Assessment for Working From Home
3 min read If you work from home, whether it's from an office room, a desk in the corner or a spot at the dining room table, then it's likely that you're a lone worker. This means that you carry out your work activities in isolation from other people and without direct supervision.
Work From Home Hazard Assessment Guide
This useful guide will provide a step-by-step outline to follow when conducting a thorough at-home hazard assessment. View our Home Hazard Assessment Checklist To work safely from home, you must first ensure that identify, document and then mitigate any hazards that could jeopardize your well-being.
Risk assessments
Risk assessments By law, employers must conduct a 'suitable and sufficient' risk assessment of their employees' working environment. If an employer is not able to carry out a full risk assessment, they should provide their employees with information on working safely at home.
Managing home workers' health and safety
Things you should consider as part of your risk assessment for home workers include: stress and poor mental health using equipment like computers and laptops safely their working environment...
How to Conduct a Risk Assessment for Remote Workers
It is your duty as an employer to conduct risk assessments for remote and hybrid workers. The process of carrying out your risk assessment will be different. For example, you may not be able to visit the employees' homes to carry it out, however, you may ask them to do a risk assessment themselves or send you a picture of their workspace.
Risk assessment for homeworking during COVID-19
Homeworkers must abide by the requirements of the risk assessment. It is particularly important for homeworkers to facilitate communication with UCL as appropriate, to deliver the expected work outcomes and understand their own responsibilities regarding health and safety, data security and confidentiality.
PDF Homeworkers Workplace Risk Assessment
Homeworkers Workplace Risk Assessment This assessment checklist is to enable staff working from home and their managers to evaluate the home workplace for health and safety purposes. The form should be completed and returned to your manager. If you can answer
How To Carry Out a Home Working Risk Assessment
A home working risk assessment should check whether the proposed home worker's place of work is suitable. Much work carried out at home is going to be low-risk, office-type work so any risk assessment will consider: The Homeworking Environment A home worker risk assessment must assess the suitability of space.
PAT Testing for Homeworkers
By ensuring that homeworkers carry out a homeworker's risk assessment, employers will be able to identify and then deal with any health and safety risks as far as is "reasonably practicable". A homeworking risk assessment should check whether the proposed homeworker's place of work is suitable. Assessing risk is just one part of the ...
How to manage workplace injuries whilst working from home
If office premises are to be re-opened, a COVID-19 premises risk assessment must be done and communicated to staff and if there are in excess of 50 employees, it should be published on the company website. Homeworking is not new. Homeworkers were previously included in a "Lone working" guide published by the HSE.
Homeworker's Risk Assessment, Health and Safety
The Homeworker's Risk Assessment, Health and Safety course has been designed to make you aware of the health and safety requirements you should meet to work at home, as well as how to create a good workspace for yourself.
PDF Homeworking and Health & Safety FAQ
Ellis Whittam can work with you to complete risk assessments - call 0345 226 8393 or email [email protected] for more information. Should we use the DSE self-assessment or the homeworking checklist for homeworkers? We recommend you complete both for each homeworker.
Homeworker Risk Assessment
Help you to develop home worker risk assessments specific to your organisation, based on the work you are asking your homeworkers to do. A detailed risk assessment specific to your business and the work you are asking your workers to carry out at home. The risk assessment will typically cover the following areas: Working environment; DSE
Online Homeworking Health & Safety Assessment Tool
A Homeworking Assessment (or a Homeworking Risk Assessment) helps those who work from home identify and assess risks associated with their workstation and the nature of homeworking. Risk assessments are a basic legal requirement and should be carried out for every employee, not just homeworkers.
DSE Risk Assessment for Homeworkers
Our interactive Risk Assessments are simply to complete in a step-by-step basis and capture any issues raised by staff for managers to monitor, act upon and sign off for a full audit trail. Staff can also complete a fully engaging tutorial covering all key safety aspects on DSE which is also deployed and tracked under secure connection back to ...
Homeworker DSE Assessment
The process of conducting a DSE risk assessment for homeworkers can seem confusing, complex, and time-consuming. But it doesn't need to be. Start by contacting us and booking in a home-working DSE assessment. With the advent of Covid, we had to suddenly adapt to most of our employees working from home. From a DSE and compliance perspective ...
Homeworker risk assessment
For hybrid working arrangements and permanently based homeworkers, employers should review the specific risks that arise from homeworking and put controls in place to remove or minimise those risks. This is best done in conversation with the homeworker, rather than as a self-assessment, so that any issues can be discussed and resolved.
Managing home workers' health and safety
4. Using computers and laptops safely at home. You must protect your workers from health and safety risks from working on a computer or laptop (display screen equipment or DSE) at home. You should check to see if the DSE regulations apply to your workers. Where the regulations do apply, you should carry out a DSE assessment for individual workers.
The importance of working from home risk assessments
The HSE advises employers to conduct regular risk assessments for all employees, including homeworkers. Working from home risk assessments should include the minimum of: identifying hazards, what could cause injury or illness; identify how likely it is for the employee to be at risk; taking control or making adjustments to control risk
DSE Risk Assessment for Homeworkers
How to prevent Slip Trips and Falls at work. Guidance, Health and SafetyOllie Mightysites1 February 2021. AT&F Solutions. Unnamed Road, England, WR8 9DF, United Kingdom. 01905 [email protected]. Hours. Mon 9am - 5pm.
Biden's State of the Union address, annotated and fact-checked
Now our economy is the envy of the world! 15 million new jobs in just three years - that's a record! Biden's claim is correct: the US economy added about 14.8 million jobs between Biden's ...