U.S. Department of Labor News Release (04/29/13)

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration on April 29 announced an initiative to further protect temporary employees from workplace hazards. OSHA sent a memorandum to the agency’s regional administrators directing field inspectors to assess whether employers who use temporary workers are complying with their responsibilities under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Inspectors will use a newly created code in their information system to denote when temporary workers are exposed to safety and health violations. Additionally, they will assess whether temporary workers received required training in a language and vocabulary they could understand.

In addition, OSHA has begun working with the American Staffing Association and employers that use staffing firms to promote best practices ensuring that temporary workers are protected from job hazards.