Explain how health and safety duties are shared and cannot be fully delegated between host employers, agencies and platform operators.
Occupational Health & Safety
Shared Health and Safety Duties for Agency, Temporary and Platform Workers
Clarifies how health and safety duties are shared between host employers, staffing agencies and platform operators, and equips managers to close the gaps that leave agency, temporary and platform workers exposed.
🗓️Duration5 training days
📚Content4 modules · 8 sessions
🎓On completionAccredited attendance certificate
About the programme
Course Overview
Agency, temporary and platform workers often fall into gaps between organisations, with each party assuming the other has covered induction, training or supervision, and this ambiguity shows up repeatedly in incident investigations involving non-permanent staff; platform work adds further complexity because control over how, when and where work is done is split between the platform, the worker and sometimes a client business. This course explains the legal frameworks that establish shared and non-delegable duties, and shows how to allocate contractual responsibility for induction, training, supervision and equipment across a labour supply chain. It covers designing induction for short-tenure workers, supervising and communicating with an indirect workforce, assessing platform operator obligations despite limited direct control, and building incident reporting and compliance monitoring that works across separate employing and engaging organisations. Teaching includes a duty-mapping exercise across a realistic labour supply chain and a contract clause review, so participants leave with a duty-allocation matrix and an induction checklist for non-permanent workers.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Map contractual responsibility for induction, training, supervision and equipment across a labour supply chain.
Design an induction process suited to short-tenure agency and temporary workers who lack the host site's institutional knowledge.
Identify the specific safety risks that arise when supervision and communication are indirect or infrequent.
Establish incident reporting and data-sharing arrangements that work across separate employing and engaging organisations.
Assess platform work arrangements for safety obligations despite the platform's limited direct control over how tasks are performed.
Build a compliance monitoring process that tracks safety performance across the whole contingent workforce, not only direct employees.
Who Should Attend
Health and safety managers overseeing sites with significant agency or temporary staff.
Staffing and recruitment agency compliance managers.
Platform operations managers responsible for gig worker safety arrangements.
Procurement teams contracting labour supply and platform services.
Site supervisors managing mixed teams of permanent and temporary workers.
Legal and compliance advisers reviewing labour supply and platform contracts.
Course Modules
Select any module to see its sessions and points.
01Understanding Shared and Non-Delegable Duties
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Legal Basis for Shared Health and Safety Duties
- Explain why health and safety duties toward agency and temporary workers are typically shared and cannot be entirely transferred by contract.
- Distinguish the host employer's duty to control the workplace from the agency's duty to select, train and supply competent workers.
- Review how courts and regulators have apportioned liability between host and agency when investigations follow an incident.
- Identify common contractual clauses that attempt to shift full responsibility to one party and explain why they do not remove legal duties.
Session 2Allocating Responsibility Across the Labour Supply Chain
- Map every organisation in the labour supply chain, including recruitment agencies, umbrella companies and intermediate contractors.
- Assign explicit responsibility for induction, task-specific training, personal protective equipment and supervision to a named party at each stage.
- Document the agreed allocation in the commercial contract and confirm it matches what actually happens on site.
- Review the allocation whenever the supply chain changes, such as when a new agency or subcontractor is introduced.
02Induction, Training and Supervision for Non-Permanent Workers
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Designing Induction for Short-Tenure Workers
- Design a condensed induction covering the highest-priority hazards and emergency procedures for workers present for only days or weeks.
- Use visual and multilingual induction materials to reach workers who may not read the host organisation's default language fluently.
- Verify that agency-provided generic training has been supplemented with site-specific hazard information before work begins.
- Record induction completion in a system accessible to both the host site and the supplying agency for verification.
Session 2Supervising and Communicating with Indirect Workforces
- Establish a supervision ratio and check-in frequency appropriate to the risk level of tasks performed by temporary workers.
- Create communication channels that allow temporary and platform workers to raise safety concerns without going through multiple intermediaries.
- Brief on-site supervisors on their responsibility for temporary workers' safety even when those workers are not directly employed.
- Monitor for signs that temporary workers are undertaking tasks beyond their training or competence due to unclear task allocation.
03Platform Work and Emerging Duty Questions
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Assessing Platform Operator Safety Obligations
- Assess the platform's degree of control over task allocation, timing, pricing and performance monitoring to determine its safety obligations.
- Review platform terms of service and algorithmic management practices for features that could pressure unsafe work, such as tight time windows.
- Identify safety information the platform can reasonably provide, such as hazard warnings or minimum equipment requirements, before task acceptance.
- Consider jurisdictional differences in how platform workers are classified and the resulting variation in applicable safety duties.
Session 2Managing Safety Risk in Task-Based Gig Work
- Identify hazards specific to task-based gig work, including lone working, time pressure, vehicle use and unfamiliar client premises.
- Assess how algorithmic performance ratings and incentive structures may discourage workers from reporting hazards or refusing unsafe tasks.
- Provide practical safety guidance, such as personal protective equipment recommendations, suited to workers who are rarely on a single site.
- Establish an incident reporting channel accessible directly through the platform interface so incidents are not lost between parties.
04Reporting, Data Sharing and Compliance Monitoring
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Cross-Organisational Incident Reporting
- Agree incident reporting timelines and formats between host, agency and platform so information is not delayed by unclear ownership.
- Ensure agency and platform-supplied workers are included in the host organisation's incident investigation process where relevant.
- Share investigation findings back to the supplying agency or platform so training and selection processes can be improved.
- Maintain a combined incident record covering the whole contingent workforce, not only directly employed staff, for trend analysis.
Session 2Monitoring Compliance Across the Contingent Workforce
- Audit agency and platform partners periodically against agreed safety standards, induction records and incident history.
- Track safety performance indicators separately for agency, temporary and platform workers to identify where risk concentrates.
- Include health and safety compliance clauses and performance reviews in contracts with staffing agencies and platform providers.
- Escalate persistent non-compliance from a supplying organisation to a formal contract review or termination decision.
What the participant receives
4 course modules
A structured syllabus
8 training sessions
across 5 days
32 detailed points
Applied, detailed content
Accredited attendance certificate
On completing the programme
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