Temporary workers make up a significant part of the workforce in the construction industry. This is why it is important that the responsibilities of the various parties are clear to everyone.
Photo: Sakari Röyskö
Common practices have been promoted in the personnel services division of Rakennusteollisuus RT, which has been in operation since 2019. The division includes the largest personnel service companies in the construction industry, including Bolt.Works, whose personnel director Desiree Saarikivi acts as the chairman of the division.
"The division's long-term goals are not only to make the voice of a significant part of the personnel better heard within RT, but also to highlight what is good practice, sustainable personnel hiring", Saarikivi opens the division's activities. "We want to jointly bring these good operating practices to the fore."
The division has a strong shared view that merely fulfilling the minimum obligations required by law is not enough.
"It is important to advance common issues such as occupational safety, regardless of who is the employer," Saarikivi states.
The rules of the game clarify the responsibilities of the different parties
In the beginning of 2023, RT's personnel services division has worked with member companies on the rules of the game for the use of temporary labor.
"The rules of the game are a simplified guide to what good hiring in the construction industry means. From a safety perspective, they summarize things that mostly come from legislation, but they express even more succinctly what each party's responsibilities and obligations are," Saarikivi opens.
"According to the law, the responsibility for safety belongs to the user company, i.e. the company that uses temporary work. In the division, however, we see that this alone is not enough: the employee may move from one site to another at a frequent pace, so the booth must be taken more widely and the safety culture must be actively developed. Only that will truly move this industry forward."
The rules of the game state, for example, that the personnel service company has the opportunity to carry out its own security guards, safety walks and TR measurements at the site in cooperation with the user company. Saarikivi emphasizes a common commitment to improving things both in the rules of the game and in the operations of the personnel services department.
"We have a strong desire to implement sustainable practices in personnel hiring. We hope that in the future these rules of the game could serve, for example, in contracts as an attachment document that can be used to indicate responsibilities, obligations and roles," Saarikivi sums up.