A Four-Step Process For Safety Success With a Temporary Workforce
Chances are, if you haven’t utilized temporary employees in your workplace, you’ve interacted with or heard accounts from someone who has. The use of a variable workforce to minimize human capital expense has resulted in substantial cost benefits for employers with fluctuating production schedules. In turn, there is an abundance of staffing agencies popping up, eager and ready to recruit for and fill those contingent positions.
With the demand for high-quality workers in large quantities coupled with short time-to-fill requirements, it is easy to see how certain details are skimped on in the process and employee safety, believe it or not, is a huge one. OSHA’s April 2013 initiative to protect temporary workers sought to bring attention to the issue of safety for temporary workers and change how worker safety is handled by both the host and actual employer. There are responsibilities for employee safety on both sides of the employment fence, and I will identify where partnership opportunities lies between a host employer and staffing agency.
As the former safety leader for a large staffing company, I can say with confidence that when asked, “What does safety mean to you?” leaders from nine out of 10 staffing companies will tell you plainly: “workers’ comp.” To a safety professional, that response sounds like nails on a chalkboard.
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