The number of temporary workers has drastically increased in recent decades, with almost 3 million in the US workforce today. In 2013, OSHA launched the Temporary Worker Initiative (TWI) to reduce work-related injuries and fatalities for those workers contracted through a third-party staffing agency.

In two different op-ed articles, Dr. David Michaels, OSHA's Assistant Secretary of Labor, highlighted specific temporary worker fatalities¹. In one, a temporary worker was provided with ill-fitted personal protective equipment which resulted in his entanglement and eventual crushing by a shaft spinning at 350 rpm. The second incident involved a worker who had suffered heat stroke after loading 16 tons of garbage on an extremely hot 10-hour work day. Many causal factors identified in these two incidents were directly related to inadequate training provided to the workers regarding the hazards of the job and the mitigating and/or preventative practices. These incidents and a number of others involving temporary workers have been the driving force behind the TWI.

The core of the TWI is that both the host employer and the hiring agency must ensure that workers are provided the information needed to protect themselves from the hazards of the job. The TWI states, "A key concept is that each employer should consider the hazards it is in a position to prevent and correct and in a position to comply with OSHA standards" (original emphasis). The TWI also includes notification to OSHA inspectors that increases scrutiny of host employers through evaluation of training records and workplace exposures through routine inspections. The inspections will determine if differential treatment exists between temporary and permanent workers.

In August 2014, OSHA and NIOSH jointly published the guidance document Recommended Practices: Protecting Temporary Workers. Key practices include a site tour to identity hazards at the host employer, general hazard recognition training for temporary workers, and detailed contractual language regarding safety and health responsibilities for both host employers and hiring agencies.

OSHA's TWI can be found at https://www.osha.gov/temp_workers/. The site includes copies of agency policy statements, the joint guidance document, letters of interpretation, and enforcement memorandum, as well as news releases related to incidents involving temporary workers and the OSHA/NIOSH responses.