The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 imposes a statutory duty on employers to take reasonable and practicable steps to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of their staff. This duty of care extends towards visitors and contractors (non-employees) who are present on their site.
Although these obligations are well known, businesses often overlook responsibilities towards seasonal, agency and temporary workers. Regardless of their status, as long as they are present on your site carrying out work on your behalf, they are under your control. In these circumstances, businesses/employers become responsible. Seasonal and temporary workers usually work alone, operating under tight deadlines and working unsocial hours. These circumstances highlight the need to consider issues such as lone working policies, welfare provisions and general wellbeing. These common failings have been highlighted in two recent HSE prosecutions.
Caselaw
Loadhog Ltd were prosecuted in April 2024 and fined £100,000 after an agency worker was seriously injured by a table saw. The court found that the company had failed to provide adequate protection to the worker, including failure to provide a machine guard and not having a safe system of work. Chelmsford City Council were prosecuted in June 2023 and fined £80,000 after a temporary worker was fatally hit by a waste collection lorry. The investigations revealed that the council failed to train temporary workers on safe reversing practices and non-verbal communication, such as hand signals.
What Should I be Doing?
If you are using seasonal, temporary or agency workers, they become your responsibility, and they should be covered by your health and safety procedures.
- Consider the suitability and competency of the ‘worker’ before you engage them
- Upon their engagement, carry out an induction on the first day. This should deal with your health and safety policies and procedures - highlighting local safety rules such as fire safety procedures, evacuation plans and assembly area, first aid, smoking rules and welfare facilities. If there are task-specific risk assessments and/or Method Statements, these should be discussed and explained. Keep signed records these discussions as evidence.
- If necessary, draw up new risk assessments which highlight hazards these ‘workers’ may face. This can include Lone Working risk assessment, Young Workers risk assessment, Manual Handling etc. It is important to communicate these risks and the accompanying control measures to ensure staff know what risks they face and how to avoid or minimise the impact of these on their safety.
- Try to ensure that these ‘workers’ are not isolated. Involve them in your daily communal activities and staff meetings.
- Update your health and safety policies and procedures
Readers are advised to call the Health and Safety Helpline to discuss their particular concerns and needs.
