OSHA introduces best safety practices for temporary workers
South of the border, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released recommendations for the protection of a rapidly emerging faction of the workforce — the temporary worker.
According to OSHA, the recommended practices for protecting temporary workers — those hired through staffing agencies, temporary foreign workers and part-time or contract workers — were necessary in a changing labour force.
The agency pointed to an incident where a 27-year-old employee, hired through a staffing agency, was killed after being pulled into the rotating part of a machine.
"While the company’s permanent maintenance employees were provided with training on procedures to ensure workers were not exposed to energized equipment during maintenance or cleaning, this training was not provided to cleaners employed through the staffing agency," OSHA explained.
Incidents such as these prompted the need for a universal safety regime for temporary workers. Ideally, the agency noted, the document should be enforced by the staffing agency or host employer, and would be agreed upon through a written contract at the time of hiring.
As part of maintaining a safe job site for temporary workers, OSHA recommended staffing agencies evaluate the host employer’s worksite prior to accepting them as a client. This includes a list of temporary worker-specific training and competencies related to the tasks to be performed.
Training agency staff to recognize safety and health hazards is another way to better equip the agency to discover hazards and enable them to eliminate or lessen these hazards before an injury or illness occurs.
Ensuring the employer meets or exceeds the other employer’s standards, by reviewing each other’s injury and illness prevention programs, can promote an overall culture of safety. For instance, host employers in certain industries like construction will only accept bids and hire staff from staffing agencies that have been previously verified and deemed safe.
Once an employee is hired, it is important to conduct safety and health training as well as new project orientation, OSHA noted.
"The training of temporary workers is a responsibility that is shared between the staffing agency and the host employer," the agency said. "Host employers should provide temporary workers with safety training that is identical or equivalent to that provided to the host employers’ own employees performing the same or similar work."
Finally, an injury and illness prevention program must be maintained, and an employer should keep up regular assessments, investigations and contact with workers.
The Canadian landscape
In Canada, steps are being taken to protect temporary workers through legislation.
Gerry Culina, the manager of general health and safety services at the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety in Hamilton, pointed to Ontario’s Bill 146, the Stronger Workplaces for Stronger Economies Act, in which the liberal government intends to protect vulnerable workers and even change the definition of "worker" itself to include temporary and part-time contract employees.
"It’s an important concept and important change," Culina said. "The trend is, we’re to recognize that these people are workers too, from a different perspective."
Though the CCOHS does not have an all-encompassing document for best practices like OSHA, one is in the works, Culina said — there are good resources out there now for temporary workers.
For instance, CCOHS alongside the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) designs employer toolboxes for settlement offices, where an immigrant would go upon arrival to Canada. These toolboxes include information about health and safety as well as worker’s compensation. It is designed to be a resource for foreign workers and vulnerable workers, he added.
One way employers can bolster their health and safety programs for temporary workers is to know where they’re coming from, and to ask questions.
"You have to decide if it’s something that you want to do yourself, training-wise, or if you’re going to have someone else provide the training. Where do these foreign workers come from? Are you going to hire them directly or are you going to hire them through a temp agency? If you’re going to have a good relationship, do your homework — what training do they provide? How long have they been in business? Do they come to inspect your site — which is something they should do," Culina said.
Finally, the employment arrangement should be an equal and shared responsibility that is built right into the contract. That way, a reference point will be created should inspectors need to look for it.
"If it’s not written down, it’s not done. We encourage employers to document," Culina added.
Though these steps are positive, some labour groups believe they do not go far enough.
According to Stan Raper, national representative of the United Food and Commercial Workers, a union which represents many temporary workers, these best practices need to be reflected in legislation.
"Whether they’re temporary foreign workers, new immigrants, Canadian citizens — the best tools, not the best practices, are legislative requirements and enforcement of that legislation," Raper said.
Oftentimes, temporary workers — especially foreign — are afraid to speak up or refuse unsafe work for fear of losing their jobs. For foreign workers, they face language and cultural barriers, as well as the threat of repatriation.
"There is a threat by the employer, there’s an imbalance of power," he said. "So if you have a good employer, your working environment and your situation is decent. If you have a bad employer, your work environment and your situation is horrible. We’ve seen both sides of the spectrum and those stuck in the middle," Raper said, adding that a national standard should be put in place.
