Temporary Worker Injury: Host or Staffing Agency OSHA 300 Log?

A temporary worker is injured at a host company's site. The staffing agency pays the worker and manages leave. The host assigns tasks, directs the work and controls the equipment. Both businesses receive an incident report. Which OSHA 300 Log should contain the case?

The answer turns on 29 CFR 1904.31. A covered employer records qualifying injuries and illnesses of people on its payroll. It also records qualifying cases involving people who are not on its payroll if it supervises them on a day-to-day basis. For a temporary worker, the host records a recordable case if the host provides that supervision. If the staffing agency actually directs the details of the work, the agency may be the recording employer. The businesses coordinate so the case is recorded once.

That rule is narrower than the full set of obligations both businesses may have toward a temporary worker. It does not mean the non-recording business can ignore the incident or the hazard. Nor does it make a case recordable merely because it occurred at a host site. Coverage, work-relatedness and the recording criteria are separate questions. This guide helps a recordkeeper identify the correct employer before deciding which establishment Log receives an entry.

Start with actual daily supervision

The name on a paycheck is an important fact, but it is not the whole Part 1904 test. Section 1904.31 expressly covers workers who are not on a business's payroll when that business supervises them day to day. It applies the same principle to workers supplied by temporary help, employee leasing or personnel supply services.

OSHA's FAQ 31-1 explains the meaning of day-to-day supervision. It looks beyond the desired output or end result to who directs the details, means, methods and processes by which the work is performed. That explanation comes from the regulator's interpretation of the rule. The text of section 1904.31 supplies the legal allocation duty.

Ask who assigns the worker's tasks, directs the steps, changes the method when conditions shift, supervises use of equipment and controls the activity during the shift. A manager who merely specifies the finished product is different from a supervisor who directs how the worker performs the job. The answer is based on what actually happens, not on the heading in a services agreement.

For example, a staffing agency may recruit and pay a machine operator, while the host's floor supervisor assigns the machine, explains the process and directs adjustments throughout the shift. In those facts, the host may be the day-to-day supervisor for recordkeeping. Change the facts so an agency supervisor directs the actual work methods and the answer may change. Avoid making either example a universal rule for every placement.

Payroll, human resources and safety supervision are different facts

An employer may handle wages, benefits, vacation requests, discipline and drug screening without directing the means and methods of work at the host site. OSHA's 2015 interpretation letter discussed just such a fact pattern. OSHA concluded that the agency's listed personnel activities did not amount to daily supervision of work methods in that case. The host assigned daily tasks, so the host was the recording employer for the circumstances described.

The letter is an interpretation of the regulation, not a second statute. It does not say payroll or an onsite agency representative can never matter. A representative could be directing the work rather than only translating instructions or administering time records. Document the actual authority and activity. A person's job title, employer badge or physical presence at the site cannot answer the question alone.

The same interpretation says a contract's label does not override the real supervision facts. A clause that calls the staffing agency “responsible for OSHA logs” may help the parties coordinate their records, but it cannot substitute for examining who supervised the details of the job. If the practical arrangement has changed since the agreement was signed, update the recordkeeping decision and the communication procedure.

Only one employer records the case

Section 1904.31's coordination paragraph says the host and personnel supplier should coordinate so a temporary, leased or contract worker's injury or illness is recorded only once, by the employer providing day-to-day supervision. OSHA's 2015 letter similarly says that, for Part 1904 recordkeeping, one employer actually provides the day-to-day supervision that determines the recording obligation. The businesses should not each create an OSHA 300 entry for the same case just to be safe.

Coordination is not the same as suppressing information. Both businesses may need an internal incident report. The staffing agency may need to follow up with its worker, and the host may need to investigate a hazard at its site. Those internal records are not necessarily duplicate OSHA 300 entries. Identify the designated recording employer and keep enough information moving between the parties for that employer to apply the actual recordability test and update the case if later facts change.

OSHA's Temporary Worker Initiative recordkeeping bulletin recommends notification procedures so that an injury reported to one employer reaches the other. The bulletin is guidance, not a new federal form requirement. It supports a practical process: workers know how to report an event, the host and agency know whom to contact, and the recording employer receives relevant facts promptly.

A decision sequence for host and staffing teams

The sequence below is an internal decision aid. OSHA does not prescribe this particular worksheet.

1. Identify both businesses and the worker arrangement. Record the host, staffing or leasing firm, worksite and relevant assignment dates. Include any contractor that actually directs the worker's task. 2. Identify who supervised the work methods at the time. Ask who assigned the daily task, instructed the worker's steps, changed the procedure, controlled equipment use and corrected the work during the shift. Preserve examples, not just a conclusion. 3. Separate personnel administration from work direction. Payroll, leave and benefit decisions may identify an employment relationship but do not by themselves settle daily supervision under OSHA's explanation. 4. Designate one recording employer under section 1904.31. Apply the actual facts. If the facts are disputed, do not use an unsupported checkbox to force an answer. Reconstruct the supervision arrangement with the people who were present and consider case-specific advice if the ambiguity remains material. 5. Check Part 1904 coverage and case criteria. Determine whether the recording employer is required to maintain routine records and whether the incident is work-related, a new case and meets a recording criterion. Do not add a case merely because an injury report exists. 6. Choose the correct establishment Log. Once the employer is identified, use section 1904.30 to decide which of that employer's Logs receives the record. The host-versus-agency choice and the establishment choice are consecutive, different decisions. 7. Coordinate updates. If medical information, days away or work restrictions emerge later, make sure the recording employer receives them and updates its records as required. The non-recording business can keep its own operational file without opening a second OSHA 300 case.

The decision should be made from the actual working arrangement, not from an abstract notion that hosts always record or that agencies always record because they issue paychecks. Many placements will point to the host, but the legal test is supervision. A company using several staffing suppliers should apply the same test to each assignment rather than declaring one enterprise-wide rule.

What if there is an agency supervisor onsite?

An onsite agency representative may translate instructions, collect time sheets, handle attendance or speak with the worker about personnel matters. Those activities may be useful, but the representative's location alone does not settle the section 1904.31 question. Ask whether that person directed the worker's actual work methods, or whether a host supervisor did so.

OSHA's recordkeeping bulletin uses a scenario in which an agency team lead was present, while a host supervisor assigned machines and directed the workers' tasks. The host had the relevant daily control in that scenario. The point is the nature of supervision, not the presence or absence of an agency employee at the facility.

For a different assignment, the agency might bring its own supervisor and conduct a defined service under its own daily direction. If the contractor's employee is under the contractor's day-to-day supervision, section 1904.31 places the recording responsibility with the contractor. If the host directs the contractor employee's daily work instead, the host records. The label “contractor” does not make the answer automatic.

Where both businesses say they direct different parts of the job, identify who controlled the details, means, methods and processes of the actual work when the event occurred. OSHA's 2015 letter says the recordkeeping responsibility follows the actual supervision facts even where an agreement uses different wording. A complex or disputed arrangement may require a fact-specific determination. The article does not choose a recording employer for a reader's unexamined contract.

Do not confuse OSHA 300 recording with other duties

The OSHA 300 Log is an injury and illness record. The question of which employer records a temporary worker's case is not the same as which businesses must protect the worker from hazards, train them, report a severe event, administer workers' compensation or respond to a client claim. OSHA's temporary-worker guidance explains that hosts and staffing agencies can both have safety responsibilities. A single Log entry does not release the other business from its separate obligations.

It is also possible for an internal report to exist without a federal OSHA 300 entry. The selected employer must apply Part 1904's coverage and recording tests. Section 1904.1 addresses a small-employer routine recordkeeping exemption, while section 1904.2 covers certain industry exemptions. A written regulator request can alter routine exemption treatment. Section 1904.7 sets general recording criteria. This page does not decide those questions for a particular employer or injury.

If the event triggers a separate severe-injury reporting duty under section 1904.39, that deadline and responsible-party analysis should be addressed immediately rather than waiting for the annual Log process. A business should not assume that deciding which OSHA 300 Log owns a case completes every OSHA reporting obligation. The Complys guide to severe-injury reporting covers that different workflow.

What information should cross the host-agency boundary?

The recording employer needs a reliable account of the event and later medical or work-status developments. The other business may hold some of those facts. The host may know exactly what task and equipment were involved. The staffing agency may later receive a worker's medical update or absence information. A quiet agreement on “who owns the Log” will fail if the parties have no way to share subsequent case information.

A useful coordination plan can name the reporting contact at each business, explain how workers can report an injury, identify who investigates the site hazard, specify when facts are transferred and record who assesses OSHA recordability. It should also say how the selected recording employer learns of later changes. These are workflow suggestions informed by OSHA's temporary-worker bulletin. They are not presented as a federally prescribed template.

Avoid collecting more personal medical detail than is needed for the relevant purpose, and restrict access appropriately. A shared spreadsheet emailed to a wide distribution list can create a separate privacy and record-integrity problem. The selected recordkeeper still needs enough information to complete accurate OSHA forms and honor applicable employee access rights.

If the arrangement changes during a placement, review the supervision decision. A host may begin by directing the work and later allow a contractor team to run an autonomous operation, or the reverse. Keep the decision tied to the real work rather than freezing it at onboarding. For a specific injury, establish the facts at the time of the event.

Record the answer, then allocate the case

A defensible recordkeeping file can state who employed the worker, who directed the work methods, which facts support that finding, which employer is designated to assess and record the case, and how the other business will supply updates. That file supports the decision but is not a substitute for the OSHA 300 Log if a case is recordable.

After the responsible employer is identified, a multi-site business may still need to decide which of its establishment Logs receives the entry. OSHA's multiple-establishment rule governs that later step. Do not put a case on the host's Log merely because the worker was injured on host property if the host was not the recording employer under section 1904.31. Likewise, do not automatically put it on the staffing firm's Log because the agency issued the paycheck.

For the broader coverage and forms framework, read the live Complys OSHA 300 guide. If you are assessing a system for incident information shared between a host and staffing agency, explore Complys for US businesses and confirm the current incident-record, access and export functions in the actual product. No software can decide daily supervision from a contract title alone. The businesses need to establish the facts, coordinate one accurate entry and keep their other safety duties in view.

Related guides

See also: How to Correct an OSHA 300 Log Entry After New Information, OSHA 300 Logs for Multiple Establishments and Short-Term Jobsites.