Young Persons Guidance

Although all employees should receive a satisfactory standard of protection from health and safety risks, young people are perceived as being at greater risk and additional control measures may need to be introduced to ensure their health and safety whilst at work. Factors known to contribute to the vulnerability of young people are their inexperience, lack of knowledge, training, perception of danger and their immaturity - both physically and mentally.

PRACTICAL GUIDANCE

For the purposes of this guidance and associated legislation, a "young person" is someone of school leaving age (usually 16 or nearly 16) but who has not yet reached 18 years of age. Further requirements exist where 'children' (those under school leaving age) are present in the workplace. Contact Croner Consulting (formerly IRPC) for further information.

Employers who employ young people to work in factory premises must notify the local careers office within seven days. The details which have to be notified are:

This enables a check to be kept on young people who have a medical problem or who require medical supervision. The Employment Medical Advisory Service (EMAS) of the Health and Safety Executive give advice on the medical aspects of employing young people.

RISK ASSESSMENTS

Young people may not be employed unless an assessment of the risks to their health and safety has been undertaken or reviewed, as appropriate.

The factors in the table below should be taken into account when carrying out risk assessments.


Factors for consideration	Related work
Beyond physical capacity	Work involving: repetitive or forceful movements, awkward postures, insufficient rest periods, imposed work rates
Beyond psychological capacity	Work involving: violence, aggression, stressful decisions
Physical agents	Work in high pressure atmospheres, i.e. in compressed air, diving
Biological agents	Work involving exposure to bacteria, viruses and other sources of infection
Chemical agents	Work involving exposure to substances which are: Toxic/very toxic Harmful Irritant Corrosive Carcinogenic Lead Asbestos Or which cause heritable genetic damage, harm to unborn children or any other chronic health effects
Radiation	Work involving ionising radiations, e.g. radioactive materials or non-ionising electromagnetic radiations, e.g. ultraviolet light, infrared radiation, electromagnetic fields.
Insufficient experience, training, maturity or perception of danger	Work involving fireworks or other explosive devices, fierce/poisonous animals, animal slaughtering, handling, storing or using compressed, liquefied or dissolved gases, vats, tanks or carboys containing chemical agents, risk of structural collapse, high voltage electrical hazards.
Temperature extremes	Work involving very hot or very cold temperatures.
Noise	Work involving loud and/or prolonged exposure to noise.
Vibration	Work involving exposure to whole body and/or hand-arm vibration.

INFORMATION TRAINING AND SUPERVISION

Young people should be provided with comprehensible and relevant training and information on health and safety, including the findings of any relevant risk assessments. Young persons should be subject to an increased level of supervision to ensure that they are working in a safe manner and are not exposed to greater risk, due to their immaturity, inexperience or lack of awareness.

They may not be employed where the work involves the factors listed above in the table. These prohibitions do not apply to young people where the work is part of their training, is under the supervision of a competent person and any risks are reduced to their lowest practical level reasonably possible.