“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
George Bernard Shaw
The purpose Part 2 of this blog is to reinforce the benefits of good communication between the host employer who takes on temporary employees and Temp Agencies that provide them for the host. The end goal is to make sure both parties have a good strategy to keep employees safe while on the job. For the remainder of the blog, we are going to focus on tips where the central element is assuring employee safety through employer communication.
First, there should be an agreement on who will be responsible for evaluating the workspace the temporary employee will be working in to determine not only the job demands, but also possible safety issues. It will be essential that both parties agree who will take on this role. If the host employer takes this job on, the Temp Agency has to be sure to have access to this assessment. If the Temp Agency takes it on, do they have someone on staff or a qualified third party they can bring in to do such an assessment. If there are work space concerns or the host employer feels the temp employee does not fit the work demands, what steps will be taken to resolve these issues. Having a well written agreement will promote a well-designed relationship
Second, it should be clearly communicated between employers what work the employee will be doing. It should not fall outside the areas that were evaluated and determined in the job demands analysis. If the employee does work outside of the established work demands their safety is not assured. Once it has been decided the role of the employee, the employers need to clearly define which of them will provide the employee with the outlined tasks that will be required of them while they are at the worksite.
Thirdly, once the work demands are understood, education and training of the temporary employee is a must. Discussion should take place on who will take on this training or will each employer be responsible for different aspects of the training. Some training to be considered is HR requirements, onsite job training, and how to report injuries should they occur to name just a few. Once again, communication and a well thought out written agreement is essential.
Finally, there is no guarantee, even with a well thought out plan that an employee won’t get injured. There could be several reasons why the employee could get injured. The employee might not have been trained well enough or thought they could do more than they thought and went outside the plan. The employee may just want to help in other areas to be a part of the team or to impress the host employer. The job demands may have not been thorough enough.
Whatever the reason, there needs to be a complete review of this injury including injury reports, review of the job demands and interview of the employee and supervisor. Once this is all completed, a well-developed plan of action should be devised. Who should be involved in this process? It will vary depending on the worksite, but possibly the Temp employer, the host employer, employee and immediate supervisor as well as the the onsite health and safety team, if there is one.
Depending on the host employers job site, many of these topics will need to be a part of any temp employee pre-hire plan. If the site is very small, very few of these will be of concern. If the host site is large or the work is complex, these and many more topics may need to be addressed. At the end of the day, communication between all parties will be essential to assure the experience is productive, but safe for all involved.
Part 3 of this blog will discuss reporting, tracking of any injuries that do occur to a temp employee and will conclude with the pros and cons to actual pre-hire testing of temp employees.
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