Who’s responsible for the workplace safety and health of temporary workers? The client or the staffing agency?
Summary
Host employers (the client where the employee is working) are provided with best practices for “evaluating and addressing workplace safety and health in a written contract; training for temporary workers and their worksite supervisors; and for reporting, response and record keeping for injuries and illness.” The United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in conjunction with the American Staffing Association and other partners share that host employers should have a best practices checklist for evaluating and contracting to work with temporary employees. Regarding the host employer’s best practices for utilizing temporary workers within their firm, written contracts signed by the host employer and staffing company should include the following details: • job details with approved tasks and qualifications, any hazardous tasks employees should NOT perform and any equipment and/or machinery they are NOT allowed to operate along with the needed qualifications/experience the employee should have to perform the job. Further, injury and illness reporting, response and record keeping details and requirements are outlined by the CDC in this set of new best practices to better protect temporary workers. The CDC shares that “additional information and resources regarding the joint safety and health responsibilities of host employers and staffing companies can be found on the OSHA Temporary Worker Initiative website.” Also, note that these best practices are applicable across all industries and occupations. A slide deck is also available for staffing firms to use to educate their clients (host employers) on best practices and can learn more through the ASA Safety Matters web page.
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