Contract workers Massive discrimination in occupational safety and health promotion

Part-time workers and temporary workers are severely disadvantaged
According to a study by the Hans Böckler Foundation, agency workers and part-time workers benefit considerably less from so-called risk assessments. The assessments are systematic procedures to identify the burdens on employees in the workplace. Above all, temporary workers are disadvantaged.

In terms of legal work, temporary workers, mini-jobbers or contract workers are largely the same as regular employees in terms of occupational safety, according to the scientists in their analysis, which appeared in the current issue of WSI-Mitteilungen. In practice, "but considerable difficulties" would arise. For example, atypical employees are often excluded from occupational safety routines such as regular instruction due to short deployment times. In addition, there are shortcomings in the care by security specialists and company doctors. When it comes to temporary work, it proves to be problematic that lenders and borrowers share a responsibility for safety. This leads to the fact that in many cases nobody feels responsible.

Every second (57 percent) full-time employee receives a risk assessment. Forty-three percent of the part-time employees surveyed said so too and 47 percent of the temporary workers said so too. In addition, 58 percent of regular and full-time employees receive regular health promotion offers. Part-time workers benefit from health promotion only in 43% of cases. For temporary workers it looks even worse. Only 29 percent of those affected receive the health promotion offer here.

"Members of precarious marginalized people and other atypical workers" are "excluded from many achievements in occupational safety and health prevention," the scientists report. It also plays a role that they have less or no co-determination rights compared to the core workforce, the researchers said. (Sb)