Contract workers are some of the most vulnerable groups in our workforce, and many of their roles require them to put themselves at risk of injury on a daily basis.
Contract workers have experienced some of the highest number of deaths within the sector, with immigrant workers being particularly vulnerable.
Corporations seem to continue to place a lower value on the well-being of contract workers to that of their direct employees.
A lack of effective health and safety training leaving your contract workers both unsure and unsafe, increasing the chances of an accident.
Unsafe workstations, buildings, warehouses and heavy-duty equipment present greater risk to workers who are unfamiliar with related hazards.
Lack of ongoing safety communication on site.
STATS
Contract workers are a vulnerable population. Of the 5,147 fatal work injuries in the United States in 2017, 800 were contracted workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Fatal work injuries incurred by contracted workers increased to 829 in 2015 from 802 in 2014. In the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), a contracted worker is employed by one firm but working for another firm that is responsible for the operations at the site where the worker was killed.
For the employer industry (the industry in which the worker is directly employed), 497 of the fatally injured contracted workers were employed by a private construction firm in 2015. Another 125 fatally injured workers were employed in administrative and support and waste management and remediation services.
Construction laborers accounted for the largest number of fatal occupational injuries among contracted workers, with 135 fatalities in 2015. Just under 60 % of all construction laborers who died in 2015 from a work-related injury were contracted workers.
Contracted workers account for a small part of fatalities in some occupations—for example, 8 percent of heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in 2015. Contracted workers constitute a much larger share of fatalities in other occupations.
According to a report from ISN Analytics, the use of contractors and the outsourcing of work continue to grow. About 42% of organizations plan to increase their outsourcing. Almost half of the surveyed contractor hiring organizations reported that between 40% and 100% of their on-site work is completed by contractors, and 23% of organizations use over 1,000 contractor companies. In 55% of organizations, the EHS department owns the contractor management process.