for some site managers, “security is more of a constraint”, denounces a director of a temporary work agency

As branch manager, she regularly visits the sites to which she sends temporary workers, and what she observes is not always reassuring about their working conditions: “Sometimes it’s tense. We see that the site manager either doesn’t have the skills or doesn’t want to implement them. For him, safety is more of a constraint”, she testifies.

As for her, the fear of an accident would be part of her daily life. “We are always on the line between ‘I’m putting an extra person in the job’, and ‘I hope nothing will happen to him’, she confides.” She admits that she sometimes assigns workers knowing that they may be working in dangerous conditions: “In these cases, we warn the employee to be very, very attentive to what we are going to ask him to do.

Botched security tests?

Before arriving on a construction site, a temporary worker must pass a safety test. At Randstad, according to this agency director, the pressure of the number would push to rush this preparatory stage. Even when the result is barely sufficient, even if his understanding of the questions leaves something to be desired (the answers would then be blown to him), it happens that he is still sent on the mission.

On the site, the worker is welcomed by the tutor of the temporary staff. At that time, explains the branch manager, he receives “possibly new security information”… which would not exceed ten minutes, according to her. In less than an hour, a person could therefore be considered ready to work as a temporary worker on a construction site…

Excerpt from “When work kills”, a document from “Complementary investigation” to be seen on April 20, 2023.

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