TWI BULLETIN NO. 5

Temporary Worker Initiative

Hazard Communication 

This is part of a series of guidance documents developed under the 

Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) Temporary Worker 

Initiative (TWI). This Initiative focuses on compliance with safety and health 

requirements when temporary workers are employed under the joint 

employment of a staffing agency and a host employer.

Temporary workers are entitled to the same 

protections under the Occupational Safety and 

Health Act of 1970 (the OSH Act) as all other 

covered workers. When a staffing agency supplies 

temporary workers to a business, typically, the 

staffing agency and the staffing agency’s client, 

commonly referred to as the host employer, are 

joint employers of those workers. Both employers 

are responsible for determining the conditions of 

employment and for complying with the law. In this 

joint employment structure, questions regarding 

employer responsibility for particular safety and 

health protections are common. This bulletin 

addresses how to identify who is responsible for 

providing hazard communication information and 

training to temporary workers. 

Workers have the right to know and understand 

the hazardous properties of the chemicals in the 

workplace to which they may be exposed. They also 

have the right to all pertinent information that will 

enable them to work with or around such chemicals 

in a safe manner. The Hazard Communication 

Standard (HCS), 29 CFR 1910.1200 (h), requires all 

employers to provide information and training to 

their employees about the hazardous chemicals 

to which they may be exposed at the time of their 

initial assignment and whenever a new hazard is 

introduced into their work area. 

Employers must also maintain a written hazard 

communication program at their facility as required 

by the HCS, 29 CFR 1910.1200 (e). The written 

program should include requirements for labels 

and other forms of warning, safety data sheets 

(SDSs), and information and training. The HCS 

applies to any chemical known to be present in the 

workplace in such a manner that employees may 

be exposed under normal conditions of use or in 

any foreseeable emergency.

Hazard Communication for 

Temporary Workers

Staffing agencies and host employers share 

control over temporary employees, and are 

therefore jointly responsible for ensuring that these 

employees are effectively informed and trained 

regarding exposure to hazardous chemicals. 

As a recommended practice, the staffing agency 

and host employer should discuss responsibility 

for each aspect of hazard communication training 

and inform the other employer when the hazard 

communication training is completed. The details 

of the particular training to be performed can 

be clearly stated in the language of the contract 

between the employers and in the host employer’s 

written hazard communication program. [See 

also 1910.1200 (e)(2)]. While employers cannot 
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discharge or subcontract their legal responsibilities 

to another party, the host employer may specify 

the qualifications required for temporary workers, 

including generic hazard communication training, 

in its contract with the staffing agency. 

Hazard communication training must be completed 

before the worker begins work on a project and 

before a new chemical hazard is introduced 

that the worker has not been trained on before. 

Additionally, the training must be in a language and 

vocabulary the worker understands. Depending 

on the industry, worksite, and job duties involved, 

other OSHA standards that also require sitespecific training may be applicable. 

Host Employer Responsibilities

The host employer holds the primary responsibility 

for providing site-specific hazard communication 

information and training on chemical hazards 

in the workplace to temporary employees since 

it uses or produces the hazardous chemicals 

and creates and controls the work process. The 

host employer is therefore best suited to inform 

employees of the chemical hazards specific to 

the workplace environment through site-specific 

training. This responsibility includes identifying 

and communicating information about worksitespecific chemical hazards, ensuring appropriate 

labeling of chemical containers, providing access 

to SDSs, and providing appropriate personal 

protective equipment (PPE). The HCS training 

provided to temporary workers should be 

identical or equivalent to the training given to 

the host employers’ own employees. While the 

staffing agency may have a representative at the 

host employer’s worksite, the presence of that 

representative does not transfer responsibilities for 

site-specific training to the staffing agency. 

Staffing Agency Responsibilities

Staffing agencies must, at a minimum, provide 

generic hazard communication information 

and training to their employees to explain HCS 

requirements applicable to different occupational 

settings that the temporary employees are 

expected to encounter1. The training should 

include information on labels and other forms of 

warning, the format and content of SDSs, and other 

employee information and training required by the 

HCS. Workers should be trained so that they have 

a basic ability to identify potentially hazardous 

chemicals, and staffing agencies must ensure that 

their employees understand their rights whenever 

hazardous chemicals are present in their work area. 

This training will enable workers to understand 

key components of the Hazard Communication 

standard regardless of where they work.

The staffing agency also has a duty to inquire 

and verify that the host employer has adequately 

fulfilled its shared training responsibilities for 

assigned employees. To fulfill this obligation, the 

staffing agency should take reasonable steps and 

have a reasonable basis for believing that the 

host employer’s hazard communication training 

adequately addresses the potential chemical hazards 

to which employees may be exposed to at the 

host’s worksite. To ensure that the host employer 

provides appropriate and sufficient information 

and training regarding hazardous chemicals, the 

staffing agency should become familiar with the 

hazards at the host employer’s worksite. The staffing 

agency may choose to review the host employer’s 

hazard communication program and training 

and/or conduct a walkthrough of the worksite to 

accomplish this. Staffing agencies should also 

maintain communication with their workers and the 

host employer so that they are alerted to additional 

or newly-created site-specific workplace hazards 

that may need to be addressed.

1. See OSHA CPL 02-02-079, page 73, Inspection Procedures for 

the Hazard Communication Standard, July 9, 2015.
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Example Scenario*

The example provided below is fictitious but describes what may happen when temporary 

workers are not adequately provided hazard communication information and training for their 

job assignments by the staffing agencies and host employers.

The engine shop of Neptune Shipyard (NS) was refurbishing parts of a ship engine and needed 

additional workers to clean engine parts to meet a project deadline. NS had a contract with 

Temp Staffing, a staffing agency, to provide the extra workers to perform paint stripping. Temp 

Staffing hired ten workers, informed them they would be cleaning engine parts, and gave them 

general safety training before sending them over to NS.

At the shipyard, the temporary workers were tasked with wiping down the engine parts with 

a chemical that strips away rust and paint. The workers only knew that it was a stripping 

solution, and that they were to spray it on and then wipe it off with rags. The solution was 

provided in bottles and jugs that had no labels except for the words “Paint Stripper” written 

on the containers with permanent marker. After a couple of days, a handful of the temporary 

workers began to develop rashes on their hands and arms. As more time passed, other workers 

developed rashes. When the temporary workers complained, NS provided gloves. 

After several days, the temporary workers began developing respiratory problems that they 

believed were tied to the paint stripping solution. NS was unresponsive to the temporary 

workers’ requests for additional details on the solution they were using. The temporary workers 

informed Temp Staffing of their concerns, which resulted in the staffing agency requesting 

the solution’s Safety Data Sheet (SDS) from NS. When NS provided the SDS, the SDS did not 

indicate that the paint stripper was associated with respiratory issues. However, when a Temp 

Staffing representative visited the site for a meeting with the temporary workers, she saw that 

other workers in the engine shop were working with other chemicals. Temp Staffing requested 

the SDSs for those chemicals but NS refused. The Temp Staffing representative left the site 

but continued negotiating with NS for the SDSs. Workers from Temp Staffing continued their 

assigned work in the NS engine shop. 

Analysis

Temp Staffing fulfilled its responsibility for providing the generic safety training, but failed to 

provide generic hazard communication information and training and neglected its initial duty 

of performing some inquiry to identify the specific chemicals its workers would be using. Since 

the staffing agency knew the workers would be paint stripping, it should have inquired about 

the chemicals to be used and ensured that NS provided appropriate PPE and site-specific 

hazard communication information and training on working with the chemicals before the 

work began. Further, because a representative visited the worksite and noted other employees 

working with additional chemicals and that NS refused to provide the other SDSs, the staffing 

agency failed to ensure the shipyard provided site-specific hazard communication information 

and training and related protections to the temporary workers. As a last resort, they could 

have removed the temporary employees from the worksite until NS provided the other SDSs 

and abated any associated hazards. Temp Staffing may be subject to OSHA citations for not 

providing generic hazard communication information and training. 
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State Plans

Twenty-eight states and U.S. territories have their 

own OSHA-approved occupational safety and health 

programs called State Plans. These State Plans 

have and enforce their own occupational safety and 

health standards that must be at least as effective 

as OSHA’s, but may have different or additional 

requirements. A list of the State Plans and more 

information are available at: www.osha.gov/dcsp/osp. 

How Can OSHA Help?

Workers have a right to a safe workplace. If you 

think your job is unsafe or you have questions, 

contact OSHA at 1-800-321-OSHA (6742) or visit 

OSHA’s main web page at www.osha.gov. It’s 

confidential. We can help. 

For other valuable worker protection information, 

such as Workers’ Rights, Employer Responsibilities 

and other services OSHA offers, visit OSHA’s 

Workers’ page at www.osha.gov/workers.

For more information on Temporary Workers visit 

OSHA’s Temporary Workers’ page at www.osha.gov/

temp_workers.

For more information on Hazard Communication 

Training visit the Hazard Communication webpage 

at www.osha.gov/hazcom. This webpage contains 

a number of training aids, including QuickCardsTM 

on labels, SDSs, and pictograms. OSHA also 

created a fact sheet to explain the training required 

under the 2012 Hazard Communication Standard, 

aligned with the UN Globally Harmonized System 

of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. 

This fact sheet is available at www.osha.gov/

Publications/OSHA3642.pdf

The OSH Act prohibits employers from retaliating 

against their employees for exercising their rights 

under the OSH Act. These rights include raising 

a workplace health and safety concern with the 

employer, reporting an injury or illness, filing an 

OSHA complaint, and participating in an inspection 

or talking to an inspector. If workers have been 

retaliated or discriminated against for exercising 

their rights, they must file a complaint with OSHA 

within 30 days of the alleged adverse action to 

preserve their rights under section 11(c). For more 

information, please visit www.whistleblowers.gov.

OSHA also provides help to employers. OSHA’s 

On-site Consultation Program offers free and 

confidential occupational safety and health 

services to small and medium-sized businesses in 

all states and several territories across the country, 

with priority given to high-hazard worksites. 

On-site Consultation services are separate from 

enforcement and do not result in penalties or 

citations. Consultants from state agencies or 

universities work with employers to identify 

workplace hazards, provide advice on compliance 

with OSHA standards, and assist in establishing 

and improving safety and health management 

systems. To locate the OSHA On-site Consultation 

Program nearest you, call 1-800-321-6742 (OSHA) 

or visit www.osha.gov/consultation.

Neptune Shipyard was responsible for the site-specific hazard communication information 

and training and failed to provide it. NS supervises and controls the day-to-day work of the 

temporary employees at its facility. It is in the best position to provide the hazard communication 

information and training applicable to its workplace. For this failure to provide appropriate sitespecific hazard communication information and training, NS may be subject to OSHA citations.

NS also refused to provide SDSs to the workers and to Temp Staffing even though the HCS 

requires employers to provide such information to employees. For the refusal to provide the 

SDSs and its improper container labeling, NS may be subject to OSHA citations.

*Note: The company names in this scenario are fictitious. Any resemblance to real companies is entirely coincidental. 
Disclaimer: This bulletin is not a standard or regulation, and it creates no new legal obligations. It contains 

recommendations as well as descriptions of mandatory safety and health standards. The recommendations are 

advisory in nature, informational in content, and are intended to assist employers in providing a safe and healthful 

workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Act requires employers to comply with safety and health standards 

and regulations promulgated by OSHA or by a state with an OSHA-approved state plan. In addition, the OSH Act’s 

General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1), requires employers to provide their employees with a workplace free from 

recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm.

For more information

Occupational

Safety and Health

Administration

www.osha.gov (800) 321-OSHA (6742) U.S. Department of Labor

OSHA 3860-04 2016