The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which is part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the American Staffing Association (ASA), are pleased to announce a five-year partnership agreement to advance the protection of temporary workers, those who are paid by a staffing company and assigned to work for a host employer company.

The new partnership will ensure the promotion of best practices, support the application of research to practice, and encourage staffing companies and host employers to develop and utilise safety and health management programs and effective prevention strategies and technologies.

“A key issue presented by the future of work is the growing number of nonstandard work arrangements, including employment in the temporary staffing industry,” said NIOSH director John Howard, M.D. “Through this partnership, we will increase outreach to staffing companies and host employers and provide information and resources that are vital to protecting temporary workers.”

“Protecting and promoting the safety and well-being of temporary workers has long been a top priority of the ASA and its member companies,” said Stephen C. Dwyer, Esq., ASA Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Operating Officer. “We are proud to work together with NIOSH to raise awareness of NIOSH’s research, develop new guidance and resources, and enhance outreach and communication, especially among staffing companies.”

Specifically, NIOSH and ASA intend to work together to

• Advance research and understanding of the value occupational safety and health brings to business and the American people
• Explore potential areas for joint research to better understand and promote the safety and health of temporary workers
• Develop information on the recognition and prevention of workplace hazards and disseminate such information to staffing companies, host employers, and temporary workers through print and electronic media, educational conferences, meetings, and other dissemination channels
• Promote the translation of research results and the implementation of injury and illness prevention strategies and technologies among both staffing companies and host employers to better protect the safety and health of temporary workers

One of the first activities NIOSH and ASA plan to undertake is to collaborate on the dissemination of a new set of recommended practices for host employers to better protect temporary workers. These recommended practices are being developed by the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) Services Sector Council, on which ASA and some of its member companies currently serve.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, NIOSH and ASA, along with other representatives from the NORA Services Sector Council, have been working together to ensure temporary workers doing essential work are afforded the same protections and access to vaccines as non-temporary workers doing the same or similar work.

The partnership agreement will be in effect through January 2025.