Interview: The new digital industry solution for staff leasing

In Switzerland, around 400,000 people work temporarily via a staff leasing company every year. To make it easier for staffing companies to implement occupational health and safety, swissstaffing, as the industry association for staffing service providers, is launching an industry solution in October 2022 in conjunction with the "safely" web application.

Ms Bryner, you are the project manager of the industry solution for occupational health and safety. Why the sudden need for an industry solution in staff leasing?
Julia Bryner: Temporary employees still have an increased risk of accidents. We want to change that. The decision in favor of the industry solution for occupational health and safety in staff leasing was a clear vote by our Board of Directors in favor of accident prevention. swissstaffing has been involved in occupational health and safety for many years and various smaller projects have taken place. Not least with a further training program together with Suva. With the industry solution, we are tackling the prevention of accidents on a large scale: systematically and together as an industry.

What preceded the actual decision?
J.B.: In staff leasing, things often have to happen quickly. For example, the construction site company has an employee who is ill and needs a new employee in two to three hours as a result of an order. The recruitment with the necessary instructions, including PPE equipment and the required qualifications, must be well prepared. This is the main challenge: on the one hand, managing the interface between the assignment company, the temporary office and the employee; on the other hand, involving several parties who need to coordinate with each other. All of this requires good orchestration. A clear safety system can provide great support and prevent accidents.

Was there therefore a greater need for professionalization?
J.B.: Professionalization and quality are important issues. However, you can't say that our industry didn't have any tools before. Some rental companies have better systems, others have less professionalized measures. But if we now look at the system of an industry solution and proceed exactly according to this system, all those points of this "patchwork quilt" can be eliminated and accidents minimized. This is generally confirmed by the statistics of many industry solutions: that success is achieved with a system.

Ms. Cantagallo, you are the future contact person for the industry solution at swissstaffing. Did you also come under increasing pressure from labor inspectors?
Maria Cantagallo: In 2019, Suva initiated increased inspections of the industry as a whole and triggered the need to better fulfill certain ASGS requirements in staff leasing. When such a postulate is triggered, the association naturally accepts it and weighs up which new projects make sense - and so it was quickly decided that a further step was necessary - for which the necessary budgets also had to be approved: no small decision that is carefully weighed up.

How will the industry solution help the member companies? What is the added value?
M.C.: The companies receive an almost ready-made solution tailored to the staff leasing sector. All templates are made technically available to the companies. These can be adopted one-to-one and only need to be customized accordingly. The know-how of the occupational safety specialists is guaranteed via our industry solution. Through further training, information and support, we also help personnel leasing companies to implement occupational safety in their everyday work. With the industry solution's safety system, the affiliated companies comply with EKAS Directive 6508. At the same time, our aim is to minimize accidents in the long term and reduce Suva premiums.

The range of activities in the staff leasing sector with regard to ASA inspections is huge. How do you reconcile this?
M.C.: The business processes are very similar across all staff leasing companies. In general, we offer the "basics" and the companies then choose from various tools. All checklists from A to Z naturally differ slightly from sector to sector. However, the typical main checklists for PPE, helmets and protective clothing are structured very similarly as overarching templates. We can also use
We can also use our solution to put together certain packages for all the industries concerned, which standardize and simplify the instructions regarding occupational safety. There are both defined and optional checklists that are also available.

The solution is digital from the outset. How did this come about?
J.B.: We have held numerous workshops with our members since the start of the project. The aim was to gather the needs of different member companies from all regions of Switzerland and to mirror the tools. One of the most important needs was the desire for a device-independent digital tool and faster communication. It was important to us from the outset that it was a Swiss solution. We were also looking for an intuitive and easy-to-use tool. Although many recruiters work in front of a desktop PC during the day, they are also on the move with their mobile devices. This was followed by an in-depth analysis and we looked around the market for options. In the end, we came across the "safely" solution from Lobsiger & Partner GmbH, which made a good impression on us right from the start because it is tailored to industry solutions for all sectors.

What are the advantages of a digital solution for the member companies?
M.C.: First and foremost, the solution creates a central specialist and contact point that provides advice. We have integrated many standardized to-do steps as a guide in order to fulfill the various points in the respective chapters. Our motto is: "Keep it short and simple." Both a training manager and a maintenance tool are integrated into the tool per se, including all checklists and specialist templates, which are updated on an ongoing basis. All occupational health and safety tasks can be processed in the system, for example by means of tasks. The package also includes our ERFA meetings, at which the affiliated companies can regularly exchange information with each other in order to actively shape the industry solution together.

What does it cost?
M.C.: The solution will not be completely free of charge. A very fair amount will be charged per member and non-member of swissstaffing. This includes the SiBe and CEO training, the manual with all templates and checklists as well as the web application safely. Support from the office and ERFA conferences are also included in the price for affiliated companies. In order for the industry solution to be successful, it is important that numerous personnel leasing companies join. But as the saying goes: what costs nothing is worth nothing. That's why the price is deliberately kept low. The use of the solution and the success of the industry solution are a matter close to our hearts.

When will the project officially enter the pilot phase?
M.C.: The industry solution will enter the pilot phase on October 3 and personnel leasing companies will be able to participate from this date. The alternative to the industry solution is to develop a security system independently, but this can be very expensive. The association has therefore now taken the initiative to offer such a solution. By joining the industry solution, a staff leasing company not only increases its quality, it is also prepared for Suva inspections. Joining an industry solution is therefore an interesting alternative.

Originally published in SAFETY-PLUS 3/22, page 12-13