Study of workplace amputations confirms hazards of agency work

A recent study of workplace amputations in the US state of Illinois points to a “public health emergency” and puts agency work at the center of that emergency. The researchers looked at nearly 4,000 amputations – over three-quarters of them involving fingertips, but also arms and legs – and found that half of the employers with the highest number of amputations over a 7-year period were temp agencies. The study also determined that the federal agency responsible for occupational health and safety, OSHA, conducted no investigations into these incidents, which confirms the conscious use of agency workers by employers specifically to evade regulation.

You can access the full study here.

Click here to read about a recent case involving the death of a temp worker who was fatally scalded at a Chicago factory which relied heavily on agency workers.