Posted By Eric PD
Hi

When an recruitment agency ( Ie employer)sends a client( ie jobseeker) to a contractor , what Health and Safety precautions would be reasonably expected of the agency to ensure that the they have taken appropriate steps to ensure that they are not sending them to a dangerous job etc? Would a questionairre type approache to the contractor form the agency be suitable ?

Also in a court of law in the event of an accident to the agency worker , what are the proportions ( roughly speaking ) of liability between agency and employer of the agency staff where the accident happened??

Any ideas?

ERic

Posted By Dave Wilson
you would have to send a 'trained and copetent'person with the PPE he needs.

If the client asks for aa MEWP / Fork lift driver then no use sendung general labour etc. You should supply a pesron who would satisfy the clients requiremets and these should be spelled out by the client.

Not forgettting if its construction dont forget a CSCS card!!!

Posted By Salus
Hello Eric, for the 1st paragraph the employer (the agency) has a duties under the HASAWA Act 74.

An employer may incur liability for h & s in two ways,

1 the employer is personnally liable for accidents which result from the acts or omission of the employer
2. the employer is vicariously liable for accidents which result from acts or omissions of his or her employees. This liability may extend under common law to the payment of compensation to injured employees

Employers safety duties are owed to the emeployee personnally. If employers put an employee into the hands of another they are entrusting the safety performance of their duties to that other person.

The employer remains liable for the proper performance of those duties.

hope this is of some help

Posted By Eric PD
Thanks salus, i appreciate that agencies do have a duty under HSWA, I was more intersted in the practical application of this duty and what measures an agency could reasonably be expected to carry out to ensure it doesnt harm or injur the people it sends out on jobs.

Any ideas??

Posted By Eric PD
Ken

sorry to over confuse the issue. I am talking about an agency that provides a mixture of temp and contracted staff. Your first email now makes sense! What about this PPE issue??? Any ideas?

Posted By Ken Dickson
Eric,

The provision of PPE (technically) is the duty of the employer, but this arrangement introduces a confusion over who the employer is. The best test of employer in this instance is identifying a master / servant relationship. This would not be the agency. If the agency provides someone to work on a construction site without ensuring they have the basic PPE that would be required, yes they may be negligent. But if they are providing an individual to work in an environment that requires the use of breathing apparatus, it would not be reasonable for the employee to provide his own. Nor would it be expected that the agency would provide it. These issues should be dealt with by agreement, but the agency has a duty to ensure that their client is providing the protection for the employee as far as was agreed.

(Unless you know different.)

Hope that helps a bit.

Ken

Posted By Eric PD
So its a sometimes they do sometimes they dont situation!.. i am being flippant there, and i do understand where you are coming from. Like most H&S it boils down to common sense.

many thanks

eric

Posted By Richard Stewart
To clarify no difference between Employment Agency and Recruitment agency - this relates to the supply of people to be paid by the client directly, the Agency charges a one off fee.

If the Agency is payrolling the worker then the relationship becomes that off an Employment Business.

If the realtionship is that of Employment Agency there is no H&S responsibility on the Recruitment Company.

If the relationship is that of an Employment Business the Recruitment Company not directly responsible for H&S (assuming they have checked the candidates work history, qualification and traning) although must ensure that the client has done an RA and they must be made aware of any workplace accidents.

Responsibility for provision of PPE falls on the Recruitment Company.

Hope this helps

Richard Stewart (MREC)

Posted By Safetynut
The conduct of employment Agencies & Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 that came into force in april 2004 requires employment agencies to obtain, from companies who wish to hire its workers, information regarding the identified health & safety risks.

The regulations require the agency to ensure that the hirer has carried out a formal risk assessment for the work to be carried out by the work seeker, in order for that information can be supplied to the worker before commencing the work.

i hope this helps