May/June 2014
Temporary workers may be at greater risk for injury than other employees. Work with your staffing agency to ensure they have the knowledge, skills, and protective equipment to stay safe.
By Diana Mota
Since the 2008 recession, the use of temporary workers has grown to record levels—about 2.86 million workers nationwide, according to April 2014 numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Washington, D.C.). Many of these workers are in blue-collar jobs, says Michael Grabell, a reporter with ProPublica (New York) who has investigated and written about temporary-worker safety for the past 18 months. As he explains, “blue-collar-type workplaces have adopted the temp model started by office environments,” using temps to reduce workers’ compensation costs, try out potential permanent employees, or address fluctuations in workloads.
With the rise in temporary employment, however, has come a rise in injuries to these workers, Grabell says. ProPublica looked at five years of workers’ compensation claims by temporary employees in California, Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Oregon—more than 3.5 million claims total. According to its analysis, published in December 2013, “temporary workers were injured at significantly higher rates than permanent workers, and that rate increased greatly when we looked at blue-collar jobs,” Grabell says. In California and Florida, temporary workers were about 50 percent more likely than permanent workers to have a workers’-comp-reportable injury in that five-year period. In Minnesota, they were 72 percent more likely; in Oregon, 66 percent more likely; and in Massachusetts, 36 percent more likely, Grabell says. (Each state differs in its definition of a reportable injury.)
In Florida, where the data allowed further analysis by occupation, ProPublica’s research found that temps in blue-collar workplaces were six times more likely to be injured than permanent employees doing a similar job. Looking at specific types of injuries, temporary workers in Florida were three times as likely to suffer an amputation and about two times as likely to suffer crushing injuries, dislocations, lacerations, fractures, or punctures in that five-year period, Grabell says. It also found that temporary workers are “disproportionately clustered in high-risk occupations,” with such workers 68 percent more likely than permanent employees to work in the 20 percent of occupations with the highest injury rates, as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (For the full report, read “Temporary Work, Lasting Harm” and the associated white paper at www.propublica.org.)
The ProPublica analysis is not alone. A growing body of research indicates that temporary workers are at greater risk of workplace injuries and illnesses than nontemporary workers, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Washington, D.C.). Temporary workers have been mangled or crushed by machines they didn’t know how to use and asphyxiated in confined spaces they didn’t know how to navigate, the agency says. In some cases, host employers failed to provide safety training, or the training inadequately addressed the hazard. In response to these injuries and fatalities, OSHA launched the Temporary Worker Initiative on April 29, 2013, to protect workers and ensure staffing agencies and host employers understand that temporary workers are entitled to the same safety and health protections as direct-hire employees.
The host company, staffing agency, and temporary workers each play a role in ensuring the workers’ safety in a scrapyard environment, according to those in the scrap, safety, and staffing fields. Together, they must ensure temps are aware of the hazards they might face, trained to work safely, and given the proper protection.
What Puts Temps at Risk?
Temporary workers are some of the nation’s most vulnerable workers, says Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition of Occupational Safety and Health (Dorchester, Mass.), which is working nationwide to protect temporary workers’ rights. MassCOSH has evaluated risks to temporary workers in recycling facilities, she points out. “We’ve seen a number of serious injuries and fatalities.”
Several factors could make temporary workers more vulnerable. Some research has shown that new workers are more likely to get injured than experienced workers. Because temporary workers often find themselves in a new job several times a year, the odds of injury increase, Goldstein-Gelb points out.
That new job might be in an unfamiliar work environment, she adds, with machinery and tasks for which they’re not trained. This, too, can increase the risk of injury, says Daniel Curran, director of underwriting for the RecycleGuard® insurance program (Portsmouth, N.H.). “Temporary or leased employees may not have the training or the skill set needed to safely perform their duties and may not know all the workplace dangers to look out for.” Temporary workers who were cleaning around bales of paper have been crushed and killed after the bales fell on them, for example. Temps might not be familiar with industry-specific terms for procedures such as lock-out/tag-out, Grabell says. And because job duties vary from assignment to assignment, they might strain muscles they don’t typical use.
Sometimes temporary workers find themselves assigned duties by host employers outside the scope for which they were hired, and they don’t have or are not given the proper training, Grabell adds. Or they might observe and mimic other workers who are cutting safety corners, such as by reaching into machinery while it’s operating to unjam material and keep the production line moving. “Whereas it may have worked for [the other] employees, it didn’t for them, and they ended up losing a limb—or worse.” Thus, it’s important to train all employees properly and make them follow the rules, he says.
Temporary workers don’t have job security, Goldstein-Gelb points out. As a result, when employers ask them to perform duties for which they lack training or knowledge to perform, “they may agree to take risks other workers wouldn’t take—especially if they’re hopeful the temporary position will lead to a permanent one.” For example, sometimes temporary workers work too fast to impress their host employer, says Andy Knudsen, general manager of Zero Accident Consulting (Libertyville, Ill.).
Alternatively, the lack of job security can lead to fears of retaliation against temp workers who report hazardous conditions. “It’s very difficult to participate in a process” of identifying safety hazards if you feel that by speaking up, you risk getting fired, Goldstein-Gelb says.
Grabell suggests that host companies lack a monetary incentive for keeping temporary workers safe because they aren’t responsible for their workers’ comp costs. “If a temporary worker gets injured, it’s the staffing firm’s insurance premiums that go up. The host companies aren’t paying the price for having unsafe workplaces.” Anthony Doman, RecycleGuard’s claims quality assurance director, disagrees with that assertion, however. When staffing agencies pay higher workers’ comp costs, they pass them along to the customers as higher client fees, Doman says.
One additional factor is how the host company treats its temps. “Temps are often treated as second-class citizens,” Grabell says. The host companies don’t provide them with the same safety resources and training because they don’t know how long they will stay with the company, he says.
The recovery and recycling division of The Newark Group, like many other recyclers, has been using “more and more temporary labor over the past two years to keep costs down,” says Johnny Gold, the division’s senior vice president. About 40 percent of the division’s work force is now temporary, Gold says, and the company has found temp workers are well-suited to “a variety of jobs, such as sorting paper.” But the company does not divide or define its workers by whether they’re temporary or permanent, he points out. “Temporary workers work with us. They have to be treated [the same], educated, and kept safe. Don’t treat them like stepchildren.” When it comes to safety, scrap companies should—at a minimum—treat temporary workers as they would their permanent employees, says Tony Smith, ReMA safety outreach manager. “If you don’t put them through a solid safety orientation and training, then you run the risk of hurting someone in the field,” he says.
Although Stephen C. Dwyer, general counsel for the American Staffing Association (Alexandria, Va.), agrees that some host companies might not take ownership of temporary employees’ safety, he questions whether they are treating temporary workers differently, or whether the host companies have unsafe work sites that expose all workers to hazards. The increase in injuries among temporary workers could mask what’s happening across certain work forces, he says.
Taking Ownership
With temporary workers, “don’t assume you have less of a safety obligation,” Knudsen says. Indeed, “temporary workers are entitled to the same safety and health protections as direct-hire employees,” the OSHA spokesperson points out. These protections include a workplace free of serious recognized hazards, appropriate training in a language and vocabulary workers understand, and no retaliation if they raise safety concerns or report injuries. And though OSHA considers both the host company and the staffing agency responsible for the workers’ safety, “in most cases, the host employer is the one responsible for recording the injuries and illnesses of temporary workers,” according to its Temporary Worker Initiative Bulletin No. 1.
Under state and federal workplace safety laws, Dwyer says, staffing firms are responsible for general workplace safety training. But because the host company controls the job site, in most situations, it is responsible for site-specific safety, including providing personal protective equipment. To prevent confusion, each should acknowledge its responsibilities and expectations in writing, Smith says.
The best approach, many of these sources say, is to treat temporary workers exactly the same as permanent workers when it comes to safety. “Temporary workers must follow the same training, procedures, and rules—no exceptions,” Knudsen says. The Newark Group’s temporary workers participate in the company’s basic safety and orientation programs when they first start, as well as daily safety meetings and monthly seminars. “We have to get [temporary workers] acclimated the same way as we would any other employee,” Gold says. “You can’t just throw them into the den. … The expectations and training are the same.”
The company has “safety absolutes that all employees must follow,” Gold adds. “If you don’t follow them, you can lose your job immediately.” For example, a worker who is found not using lock-out/tag-out when appropriate would immediately be fired, he says. “We expect everybody to be safe. We have zero tolerance for unsafe behavior.”
Goldstein-Gelb urges companies to foster an environment in which all workers feel safe to speak up about hazards—“and don’t reprimand them if you don’t like what you hear,” she adds.
The Staffing Agency’s Role
The ASA has developed best practices for staffing agencies to help them protect the safety of the workers they place. It recommends that agencies take reasonable steps to determine work-site conditions, provide temporary workers with generic safety information, and advise them on how to protect themselves from the hazards they could face on the job. Instruction given to each worker should include emergency procedures, how to avoid and report incidents, ergonomics, and site layout, ASA says.
Staffing firms should review the host company’s safety policies and practices and, if possible, visit a work site prior to assigning a worker, Dwyer adds. If feasible, a staffing agency representative should participate in a client’s safety committee so the agency has meaningful input regarding the safety of temporary workers, ASA best practices suggest.
The staffing agency also is the host company’s source for information about potential temporary workers. It should screen a worker’s background—with a particular focus on licensing, continuing education, background checks, and drug tests—and have a means for communicating that information to the client, ASA says. For example, if a state allows temporary workers to operate equipment such as a forklift, the worker must have the appropriate license and training, Gold says.
“It’s extremely important to have good relationships with the agencies you use,” Gold adds. “The one we use in Salem, Mass., stops at the facility every two weeks.” Be choosy about the staffing firm you use, Dwyer suggests. “Do your due diligence to determine the agency’s level of expertise.” Ask about its safety policies and what, if any, type of training it gives its workers, he adds. “Ask about employment law certifications,” too, he says. For example, individuals who hold one or more of ASA’s certifications have had to demonstrate a commitment to and understanding of employment laws, he says. Get references, and make sure the company has workers’ comp insurance for its workers, Knudsen suggests.
Get It in Writing
Clear and frequent communication between the host company and the staffing agency are essential for protecting temporary workers’ safety, Dwyer says. This means “communication prior to assigning a worker to a site, communication during the worker’s assignment, and communication should an injury or illness occur, so it’s handled expeditiously and that both parties are aware of it.”
A written contract between the staffing agency and host company will help prevent “misunderstanding or miscommunication about each other’s responsibilities,” Doman says. The contract should outline the worker’s scope of work and duties, Dwyer says. If the assignment deviates from that scope of work, they should note the change and any new training required or hazards involved. Any site-specific training a worker receives should be noted as well.
The ASA best practices recommend that the contract specify the hierarchy of supervision and give details on the procedures to follow if the worker becomes ill or injured: Who’s responsible for transporting an injured worker to obtain care? What’s the process for notifying the staffing firm? (Who makes the call? Whom does that person call? How soon after the incident?) What information will the host company share with the staffing firm from post-incident investigations?
Goldstein-Gelb believes the best temporary-worker safety plan is to use temps only on rare occasions. “It just doesn’t make sense from a safety standpoint,” she says. “To have an entire work force of temporary workers is asking for an accident.” In the end, she says, “permanent employees are more invested in the company. You’ll be rewarded with quality performance.”
Diana Mota is associate editor of Scrap.
OSHA’s Focus on Temps
As part of its Temporary Worker Initiative, launched in April 2013, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Washington, D.C.) is trying to determine how many injuries involve temporary workers, where the injuries are occurring, and the hazards to which temporary workers are exposed. As they visit work sites, OSHA inspectors are gathering temporary-worker data and verifying that temporary workers have received adequate and appropriate training. They are documenting the name and location of the staffing agency as well as that of the day-to-day supervisor.
Between April 29 and July 16, 2013, inspectors conducted 262 site visits that identified temporary workers who were exposed to at least 270 safety and health violations. Top violations at work sites with temporary workers related to electrical, lock-out/tag-out, machine guarding, fall protection, and powered industrial truck hazards as well as hazard communications.
One concern of OSHA and others is that confusion over who is responsible for reporting temps’ injuries and illnesses leads to many such incidents going unreported. Because the staffing agency typically pays for a temp’s workers’ compensation insurance, some host companies don’t realize they must report the worker on their OSHA 300 log when an injury or illness occurs, says Michael Grabell, a reporter with ProPublica (New York). “Oftentimes no one is recording them. There’s a big gap right now.”
To address the confusion, OSHA’s Temporary Worker Initiative Bulletin No. 1 specifies that reporting is based on supervision. “As long as the host employer maintains day-to-day supervision over the worker, the host employer is responsible for recording injuries and illnesses.” The bulletin further describes the safety roles of the host employer and the staffing agency and gives an example of how to determine reporting responsibility. Find the bulletin on the OSHA website, www.osha.gov. The site contains additional information about keeping temporary employees safe, such as a webinar the American Staffing Association (Alexandria, Va.) and OSHA held in July 2013, “Playing It Safe—Workplace Safety Obligations of Staffing Firms and Their Clients.”
Watching Out for Contractors
In 2011, of the 4,693 workers killed on the job in the United States, 542—or about 12 percent—were contractors, according to data released in April 2013 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Washington, D.C.). Falls were the leading cause of death, followed by pedestrian-vehicular incidents.
A variety of contractors—including electricians, equipment service technicians, and auditors—might set foot in a recycling facility. Once they do so, “you’re responsible for them,” says Tony Smith, ReMA safety outreach manager. “As with all workers, you have to inform them of the hazards present and ensure that they have proper safety training.”
Contractor safety controls should be proportional to the safety risks they’ll encounter, Smith says. You can develop a safety program for the contractor, or it can have its own, but be sure the contractor’s own safety program is as restrictive as or more restrictive than yours, he cautions. Put your safety expectations, including all necessary personal protective equipment, in your contract with that company, he says. “It’s not a bad idea for contractors to sign a document acknowledging their awareness of hazards and that they have appropriate training,” he adds. Andy Knudsen, general manager of Zero Accident Consulting (Libertyville, Ill.), also recommends asking for the contractor’s certificate of insurance—and check to make sure it’s current, he says, because some contractors let their insurance lapse.
When the contractor’s employees arrive at your facility, conduct an orientation so they understand your expectations and safety program. The extent and length of the training will depend on the type of work the contractor will be doing and what hazards it will encounter.
Companies typically give contractors who regularly visit a site more freedom because the belief is that they know what’s expected of them and they’re following the rules, Smith says. Still, he says, “I would audit the process periodically and make sure they’re living up to your company’s safety standards.” If they’re not following the rules, “you should immediately stop what they’re doing because they’re on your property, and you’re responsible for them,” he adds.
A “Toolbox Talks” handout on contractor safety from Caterpillar Safety Services (Peoria, Ill.) offers more suggestions for information you should provide to contractors, including a description of emergency evacuation routes and protection shelters, the types of processes you conduct, the most significant on-site safety and environmental concerns, personal protective equipment requirements, and emergency response personnel and protocols. Have the contractor review and acknowledge that information, it says, and verify that its workers will use proper lock-out/tag-out processes and be aware of moving traffic, pedestrian walkways, intersections, and posted signage. Download the handout at safety.cat.com.
Temporary workers may be at greater risk for injury than other employees. Work with your staffing agency to ensure they have the knowledge, skills, and protective equipment to stay safe.