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When a staffing agency sends temporary workers to a jobsite, the staffing agency and the staffing agency’s client (the host employer) are considered joint employers of those temporary workers. As joint employers, both the staffing agency and the host employer are responsible for assessing the temporary workers’ working conditions and complying with the law. This article addresses common questions regarding how each employer can fulfill its duty to comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) and other applicable standards.
General employer responsibilities
When a company hires temporary workers, the staffing agency and the host employer are both responsible for providing training. All training should be completed before the worker begins work and it must be in a language and vocabulary the worker understands. Requirements will vary depending on potential hazards, location of the worksite and assigned duties. As a recommended practice, the staffing agency and host employer should discuss their responsibilities for each aspect of training.
Host employer responsibilities
The host employer is usually in the best position to ensure compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements at the worksite and provide site-specific training because it generally controls the means, methods and processes by which the work is accomplished and is familiar with the associated hazards. Therefore, the host employer is responsible for inspections, site-specific protections, policies and procedures, including training. This may include assessing the adequacy of training the temporary worker acquired in the past and what training is required on the new worksite. For example, powered industrial truck (e.g., forklift) training and certification must be tailored to the worksite and the specific types of powered industrial trucks operated.
Also, while the host employer may take the lead on performing the worksite hazard assessment (or job hazard analysis), it should share the results with the staffing agency and allow the staffing agency to conduct its own assessment. The host employer should provide the staffing agency with all task assignments, written job descriptions, job hazard analysis and a list of equipment and/or machinery on the worksite. The host employer should also provide the staffing agency with any information on necessary protective measures related to scaffolds, fall protection, personal protective equipment (PPE), powered industrial trucks (e.g., forklifts), mechanical equipment and training requirements.
The host employer is responsible for developing site-specific programs. OSHA recommends that the staffing agency also develop written injury and illness programs outlining how it and the host employer protect temporary workers. When feasible, the host employer and staffing agency should exchange and review each other’s programs.
Staffing agency responsibilities
The staffing agency has a duty to inquire into the conditions of its workers’ assigned workplaces and verify that the host employer has fulfilled its responsibilities for a safe workplace. The staffing agency is typically responsible for providing general safety and health training so that its employees can identify hazardous situations, report hazards, injuries, and illnesses and understand their rights if confronted with a hazardous situation at a construction worksite. The staffing agency is also responsible for ensuring that employees receive site-specific training, although the host usually provides such training. To fulfill this obligation, the staffing agency must inquire and verify that the host employer’s training adequately addresses the potential hazards to which employees will be exposed at the host employer’s worksite. If the staffing agency believes training is missing or unsafe conditions exist, it must speak up or remove its workers from the jobsite.
Even when a staffing agency has a representative at the host employer’s worksite, the presence of that representative does not transfer site-specific safety responsibilities to the staffing agency. The staffing agency should conduct a walk-through of the construction worksite to identify tasks that temporary workers will perform and any hazards related to those tasks. However, the employer responsible for the site-specific training (determined by supervision and control over the workers and hazards—typically the host employer) should still ensure that workers complete the training and that the training is adequate before work begins.
Joint responsibilities
The staffing agency and the host employer should both evaluate potential hazards the temporary worker might foreseeably be exposed to during assigned work at all worksites. Host employers are generally responsible for conducting worksite assessments (or job hazard analyses) to identify and abate potential safety and health hazards through design, training, work practices and necessary protective equipment for each worker. Staffing agencies do not have to be experts on specific workplace hazards, but should determine what conditions exist at the worksite, what hazards may be encountered and how to best ensure protection for the temporary workers.
Employers must provide and ensure the proper use, maintenance and fit of PPE when it is required by OSHA standards or by the employer. The host employer will usually have the primary responsibility for selecting, providing, and ensuring the use of adequate PPE for each process or operation workers are assigned. PPE requirements vary between industries and OSHA standards.
Both the host employer and the staffing agency are responsible for ensuring workers are provided with properly fitting PPE and trained on PPE use. Although the host employer is often best suited to provide the PPE and training, the staffing agency shares responsibility for its workers’ safety and must take reasonable steps to ensure that the host employer conducts the appropriate hazard assessment and provides adequate PPE.
The staffing agency and the host employer may agree to have the staffing agency supply some or all the PPE and training if the host employer ensures that the PPE is appropriate for the worker’s assigned tasks and provided at no cost to the worker. However, neither employer may escape its responsibilities under the OSH Act by agreeing that the other party will perform those tasks.
OSHA provides help to employers through its On-Site Consultation Program. To locate the OSHA On-Site Consultation Program nearest you, call 1-800-321-6742 or visit osha.gov/consultation.