Who is Responsible for Health and Safety of Temporary Workers? EU and UK Perspectives

There have been several attempts to provide certain protection to temporary agency workers at the EU level by Directive 91/383/EEC in respect of health and safety and most recently by Directive 2008/104/EC in respect of other working conditions. However, the precarious employment status of temporary workers has been a stumbling block in clear understanding of who owes duties and responsibilities for health and safe of these workers.

By seeking to address this issue, the paper analyses the existing legal provisions relating to health and safety of temporary agency workers at the EU and UK levels in the context of a more general problem associated with the employment status of such workers, and suggests a number of alternatives to the existing legal regime which could potentially clarify the situation.