Slide 1 Temporary Workers and Contractor Safety in your Workplace Cameron Colby EIT Senior Environmental, Health, and Safety Consultant Life and Safety Consultants, Inc. www.lifeandsafety.com Life and Safety Consultants, Inc. // 15 Brendan Way Suite 140, Greenville SC 29615 // www.lifeandsafety.com
Slide 2 "Host employers need to treat temporary workers as they treat existing employees. Temporary staffing agencies and host employers share control over the employee, and are therefore jointly responsible for temp employee's safety and health. It is essential that both employers comply with all relevant OSHA requirements." -David Michaels, PhD, MPH, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health
Slide 3 Statistics • 2.8 million temporary workers in the United States annually • Of 4,400+ workplace fatalities in 2012, 12% were temporary or contract workers • Recent years have shown rapid increase of temporary worker fatality on the first days of a job The most national temporary worker fatality – which launched the TWI - occurred at the Bacardi factory in August of 2012 when a temporary worker on his first day of work was crushed while cleaning out a palletizer and another employee, not knowing he was inside, turned the machine on. The employee had not received LOTO training or hardware.
Slide 4 OSHA’S Temporary Worker Initiative • April 29th, Sept. 5th, 2013 OSHA Memoranda • Direct field inspectors to assess staffing firms and host employers ’ compliance • New code (“TEMPWORKERS”) to denote when temporary workers are exposed to safety and health violations • Assess whether temporary workers received required training in a language / vocabulary they could understand • Document staffing firm information (name, location & supervising structure – which party is supervising day-to-day work) • Contracts • Staffing agency investigation This acts as an information gathering initiative until trends can be analyzed. Citations can, and will, be issued where necessary. Unless investigation is aimed at staffing agency, the staffing agency will not be explicitly investigated unless the investigator has evidence of wrong doing or willful violations committed by staffing agency. An investigation of a host company does not automatically equate to an investigation of the staffing company as well.
Slide 5 OSHA Inspection Data • In FY 2014: • 283 OSHA inspections involving temporary labor providers • Inspection frequency up 322% from 2013 • 15% of inspections had violations and cited both the host employer and temporary labor provider • 83 citations issued to staffing companies
Slide 6 Violation Findings • Most frequently citations to staffing companies: • Hazard Communication • Occupational Noise Exposure • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Slide 7 Shared Responsibility • Temporary workers are entitled to the same safety and health protections as direct- hire employees • Both host employer and staffing agency are responsible for aspects of employee health and safety • The co-employment myth • Mutual benefit While there are no requirements on which employer needs to give which parts of the safety and health responsibility, OSHA does explicitly state that both employers retain responsibility for the safety of temporary employees. Staffing companies (captive insurance programs) are trying to keep worker’s compensation costs down. Host employers are trying to keep incident rates down – it mutually benefits both sides to work together when it comes to health and safety. Staffing companies are not experts in safety. Safety is typically measured in mod rates and $$ Offering training and involvement in safety progams at your facility for temporary workers will not, under any circumstance, constitute a violation of co-employment With this said, I’d like to go through the considerations necessary when deciding to use contract or temporary labor at your facility.
Slide 8 Worksite Evaluation • Staffing agencies need not become experts • Host employers should welcome onsite visit from staffing agency • 3 rd party consultation Host employers – assess staffing company used if they do not request a worksite walk thru prior to sending employee.
Slide 9 Job Descriptions • Often overlooked • Scope of work to be performed • Fit the right person to the job • Employee safety and legal implications
Slide 10 The Contract • Assign responsibilities • Training and training records • Personal protective equipment (PPE) • Industrial Hygiene and Medical Program monitoring/cost coverage • Medical treatment (where applicable) • Recordkeeping
Slide 11 Temporary Worker Right to Know Act • Massachusetts made effective Jan. 2013 • Requirements: • Written Job Orders provided to temporary employees • Expectations • Pay days • Actual hourly rate of pay • Overtime • Etc. • Regulates fees staffing agency can charge temporary employee • Tools for transparency and accountability
Slide 12 Orientation and Training • Site and task specific health and safety training • General • Specific • Training provided must be identical to, or equivalent to, the training provided to the host employer’s own employees performing the same or similar work • Injury and illness reporting
Slide 13 Safety and Health Programs • Injury and illness prevention program • Staffing agencies and host employers • Specific to hazards of work being performed • Bloodborne pathogens • Hearing Conservation • Respiratory Protection • Hazard Communication • Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout) • Construction • 29 CFR 1926 Subpart C, General Safety and Health Provisions • Requirements for accident prevention programs
Slide 14 Incident Investigation • Performed by both host employer and staffing agency • Establish corrective/preventative actions • Communication between employers – recordkeeping
Slide 15 Communication • Between staffing company and host employer • Hazards and corrective actions identified by employees • Incident investigations • Changes to employee tasks • Between staffing company and their employees • Hazards or concerns • Changes to employee job task • Incident reporting
Slide 16 Recordkeeping • Most cases the host employer will be responsible • Determined by supervision • Supervision of day-to-day activities • Day-to-day supervision occurs when: • “in addition to specifying output, product, or result to be accomplished by the person’s work, the employer supervises the details, means, methods, and processes by which the work is to be accomplished” • Staffing agency representative onsite does not constitute ‘supervision’
Slide 17 Verification and Assessments • Effectiveness of health and safety programs • Tracking metrics – proactive v. reactive indicators • Annual basis • Internal and/or external parties • Prioritized recommendations for improvement • Contract review
Slide 18 Scenarios • Read through the following scenarios and discuss how you would recommend handling the situation
Slide 19 Scenario #1 A manufacturer of metal cans, Metal Can Co., needs machine operators for a short-term increase in production. Metal Can Co. contracts with Industrial Staffing, a staffing agency, to provide machine operators to work shifts on a temporary basis. Industrial Staffing hires ten operators with minimal knowledge of English and sends them to work onsite at Metal Can Co. The staffing agency also hires a person to act as the temporary workers’ team lead who will translate the employers’ orders and any provided training, and perform administrative duties such as time and attendance tracking. At the worksite, a supervisor from Metal Can Co. assigns each of the temporary workers to a particular machine. The supervisor also controls and checks on the employees’ work throughout their shift. On their second day, one of the temporary workers suffers a finger amputation injury from an inadequately guarded machine press. Who is resp sponsib sible le for recordin ing this is inju jury? y? For recordkeeping purposes, Metal Can Co. must record the injury on its injury and illness log. The key fact in this scenario is that Metal Can Co. supervises and controls the day-to-day work of the temporary employees at its facility. The team leader provided by the staffing agency is not empowered to modify or override the host employer’s directions and therefore is not considered a supervisor under OSHA’s recordkeeping regulation. While Metal Can Co. should inform the staffing agency of the injury, the staffing agency should not record it on its own log because the injury should only be recorded on one set of injury and illness logs. Should Metal Can Co. refuse or ignore its duty to record, the company may be subject to an OSHA citation.
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