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Temporary agency workers and MSDs: are they more exposed to these risks?

MSDs are currently the leading cause of occupational diseases in France. They spare no sector — whether primary, secondary, or tertiary. Among the affected workers is a group that often goes unnoticed, yet is heavily exposed to physical demands: temporary agency workers. Moving from one short assignment to another, often in demanding roles, they step in where needs are most urgent… and sometimes most hazardous. This raises a key question: are temporary workers more exposed to MSDs due to the very nature of their employment status?

This question is all the more relevant given that temporary workers hold a significant presence in the most physically demanding sectors, yet they often remain on the sidelines of companies’ prevention policies.

Temporary work in France: an overview

What is temporary agency work?

Temporary work, also known as agency work or fixed-term labor, involves the short-term provision of employees to client companies. These workers are hired and paid by a temporary work agency (TWA) under agreed conditions. (Source: INSEE)

This employment arrangement is defined by a triangular relationship between three parties: the temporary work agency, the client company (user company), and the employee. It requires two separate contracts: a service provision contract between the agency and the client, and an assignment contract between the agency and the worker.

Temporary work: key figures

To better understand the occupational health challenges linked to temporary work, it’s helpful to start with a brief statistical overview of the sector.

1

of temporary workers in 2023

  • 65% of temporary workers are men.
  • 76% of positions held are skilled or unskilled manual labor jobs.
  • 61% of temporary workers are aged between 18-34, making them a relatively young population.
Some contracts last less than a month85%
85%

According to data from the “Observatoire de l’Intérim” the sectors employing the highest number of full-time equivalent (FTE) temporary workers are mainly those involving significant physical strain. The most representative sectors, based on the NAF 700 classification, include:

  • Temporary work agency activities: around 55,000 FTEs, directly related to assignment management.

  • Non-refrigerated warehousing and storage: approximately 37,000 FTEs.

  • General masonry and structural building work: over 24,000 FTEs.

  • Postal services under universal service obligation, electrical installation, building construction: each between 16,000 and 18,000 FTEs.

  • Road transport, parcel delivery, waste collection, road construction, and large-scale retail (hypermarkets): each between 10,000 and 13,000 FTEs.

These figures confirm the strong presence of temporary workers in sectors involving manual handling, repetitive motions, and physically demanding postures — all factors that may contribute to the development of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).

What specific risk factors affect temporary workers?

Beyond their strong presence in physically demanding sectors, temporary workers face several characteristics that make them particularly vulnerable to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). These risks are not only linked to the nature of the jobs they perform, but also to organizational factors.

  • Limited training on safety and proper techniques: Due to the urgency and short duration of assignments, temporary workers often receive little to no specific training on the risks associated with their tasks. Although prevention is a shared responsibility between the temporary work agency (TWA) and the host company, onboarding and integration processes may be incomplete due to time constraints or lack of coordination.

  • Low familiarity with the workstation or tools used: Temporary workers may arrive in an unfamiliar environment, without knowing the tools, processes, or workplace culture. This “newcomer” status can increase the likelihood of improper movements, awkward postures, or handling errors.

  • Frequent task changes during assignments: It is not uncommon for a temporary worker to be reassigned to a different task mid-mission, sometimes unrelated to their original role. These unplanned changes can cause stress, confusion, or even workplace accidents — all of which can amplify the risk of MSDs.

  • Little or no personalized medical follow-up, especially when assignments follow one another with little downtime. Moreover, some workers may avoid reporting pain or discomfort out of fear of losing future job opportunities. Employment insecurity can therefore lead to underreporting of symptoms, preventing early detection of MSDs.

Temporary workers and MSDs: how prevalent are they?

While several factors suggest that temporary workers may be just as exposed—or even more exposed—to MSDs, the results of studies on this topic remain mixed. Findings vary depending on the research methods used, the sectors observed, and the indicators considered (workplace accidents, reported pain, officially recognized occupational diseases, etc.).

Generally high rates of occupational injuries and illnesses

Data from several regional CARSAT offices confirm that temporary workers show significantly higher rates of workplace accidents and occupational diseases.

Pays de la Loire:

The 2022 CARSAT Pays de la Loire report shows that temporary workers in the region have higher accident rates than permanent employees, particularly in the construction and logistics sectors.
When it comes to occupational diseases, nearly 95% of those affecting temporary workers are MSD-related.

Hauts-de-France:


In this historically industrial region, CARSAT Hauts-de-France emphasizes the social and human challenges linked to temporary work:
In 2018, it recorded 148 workplace accidents per day involving temporary workers—amounting to nearly 4 million days of sick leave. That year, 1,200 occupational diseases were officially recognized (a 44% increase compared to 2017), and 89 temporary workers lost their lives.

Brittany:


According to CARSAT Brittany, temporary workers made up just 4.5% of the region’s salaried workforce in 2023, yet accounted for 11% of all reported workplace accidents. This overrepresentation points to a structural imbalance between the proportion of temporary workers and their level of exposure to occupational risks.

Equally revealing national data

The 2016 report from the Observatory of Temporary Work and Recruitment (OIR) highlights particularly high rates of occupational incidents in the sector:

  • 41,501 workplace accidents were recorded, including 41 fatalities.

  • 644 occupational diseases were officially recognized, 91% of which were periarticular disorders — directly linked to MSDs.

  • Manual handling was the leading cause of accidents (56%), followed by slips and trips on the same level (10%) and falls from height (9%).

These figures point to a heightened physical burden: temporary workers are at the heart of high-risk jobs, and MSDs represent the main chronic consequence.

Occupational illnesses linked to MSDs91%
91%

More frequent pain… but multiple causes

A study conducted by Santé Publique France and published in the Bulletin Épidémiologique Hebdomadaire (2020) brings important nuance to the discussion. The study analyzed occupational health consultations between 2009 and 2014 to compare work-related health conditions (WRHCs) among temporary and permanent employees.

Based on a sample of 370,064 employees, of whom 6.2% were temporary workers, the results showed:

  • Repetitive movements were more frequently reported as exposure factors among temporary workers. However, no statistical association was found between temporary status and MSDs affecting the hand/wrist, shoulder, or elbow.

  • Spinal MSDs were actually less frequent among temporary workers, which may be explained by a “healthy worker effect”.

  • Psychological suffering related to work was also less often reported by temporary workers. This may be due to underreporting during pre-assignment medical visits, which are common in this group, and to job insecurity, which can discourage workers from disclosing health problems.

A real but underestimated risk?

National and regional studies reveal a mixed reality: temporary workers are not always overrepresented in official MSD statistics, but this apparent underrepresentation may conceal a very real level of exposure.

Short assignments, fragmented career paths, limited long-term medical follow-up, the healthy worker effect*, and fear of losing future assignments can all contribute to the underreporting or non-recognition of MSDs.

In short, while statistics don’t always show an overrepresentation of MSDs among temporary workers, their working conditions, field observations, and organizational factors all point to a real, though partly invisible, risk.

*Healthy worker effect: type of bias that occurs in epidemiological studies when working populations are in better health than the general population, leading to an underestimation of the health risks associated with occupational exposures. This phenomenon is due to the fact that people who are ill or disabled are less likely to be in employment, which means that the working population is generally healthier than people who are not in work (Source: Fiveable).

Preventing MSDs among temporary workers

A shared responsibility

Given these facts, the prevention of MSDs among temporary workers must be seen as a public health issue. This at-risk population requires specific, tailored measures to be taken from the very start of the risk: this is the objective of primary prevention.

Would you like to find out more about the different levels of prevention? Read our dedicated article: https://moovency.com/en/msd-prevention-action-at-three-levels/ 

The obligation to prevent occupational risks faced by temporary workers lies with both the user company and the temporary work agency.

  • The user company is responsible for providing a safety briefing, adapting the workstation if necessary, and integrating the temporary worker into its internal prevention systems.
  • The temporary work agency must inform the worker of any known risks and supply appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).

The temporary worker, for their part, is also responsible for their own safety. They should not hesitate to report any risky situations or discomfort related to the position to either of the two other parties involved in the assignment.

A recent regulatory development is moving in the right direction: Since the decree of July 5, 2024, the costs of workplace accidents and occupational diseases (AT/MP) are now shared between temporary work agencies and user companies. This measure clearly encourages the latter to take greater responsibility for prevention.

Levers for action that need strengthening

Several levers can be activated to take concrete steps forward:

  • Increase preliminary site visits by employment agencies to user companies, especially for physically demanding positions. This helps better match workers to roles and enables upstream training.

  • Enhance safety onboarding, including an initial briefing and hands-on demonstration of technical movements.

  • Strengthen medical follow-up, particularly for long or recurring assignments, to ensure continuity and avoid gaps in health monitoring.

Integrating temporary workers into the prevention culture

This also means making the most of their feedback from the field (they are often more lucid about the points of tension) and adopting an inclusive approach to prevention, which goes beyond contractual status.

Preventing MSDs among temporary workers is not just a matter of regulatory compliance. It also means guaranteeing fair treatment in the face of occupational risk and improving the overall health of all workers, whatever their status or the length of their assignment…

Sources : 

 

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