Temporary workers are used in a lot of industries and it can be a challenge to keep them safe. The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) wants to help safety professionals with this problem.
ASSP is offering a free technical report, Protecting Temporary Workers: Best Practices for Host Employers, that’s meant to provide guidance to help safety professionals keep temporary workers safe.
This report was originally published by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), but ASSP turned it into an ANSI-registered technical report for a wider group of occupational safety and health professionals.
“When a workforce involves temporary and short-term work arrangements, the likelihood of an injury or fatality can increase,” said ASSP President Jim Thornton. “It’s important for businesses to implement safeguards in non-standard circumstances to ensure the safety and health of all workers.”
The report is organized into three sections:
- evaluation and contracting
- training for temporary workers and their worksite supervisors, and
- injury and illness reporting, response and recordkeeping.
The focus is on temporary or contract workers located in the same facility, including construction sites which often involve multiple subcontractors.
“Single work sites may include workers who are employed by different companies, so the supervising employer needs to manage the safety of everyone,” Thornton said. “That includes warehouses during the holiday season where temp agencies will help place a number of workers.”
ASSP also has a book, Safety Management Systems in a Joint-Employer Environment, that explains the escalation of risk in a joint-employer setting.
