To that end, OSHA recently issued a memorandum to regional administrators detailing OSHA’s concern about temporary workers “suffering fatal injuries during the first days on the job. In some cases, the employer failed to provide safety training or, if some instruction was given, it inadequately addressed the hazard, and this failure contributed to their death.”
In addition to outlining OSHA’s new push to protect temporary workers, the memo details a new code for tracking temporary worker exposure to hazards in the workplace.
In its announcement of the new initiative, OSHA’s Dr. David Michaels says that "Many of those killed and injured are temporary workers who often perform the most dangerous jobs have limited English proficiency and are not receiving the training and protective measures required.”
Supporting its claim, OSHA points to data from BLS that shows 12% of workplace fatal injuries in 2011 involved contractors, and of those contractors, 28% were Hispanic/Latino.