Young People in the Workplace Training

All employers have a legal duty to keep their employees safe, regardless of their age. This includes carrying out risk assessments to identify hazards and then taking reasonable steps to remove or reduce them. Reasonable steps can mean setting up safety measures and devices like guard rails and barriers, providing personal protective equipment, changing working practices, and providing training and instruction to all relevant employees.

Likewise, all employees, regardless of age, have a responsibility to take care of their own health and safety and for anyone affected by what they do. This means always following their employer’s safety policies and procedures, properly using safety equipment and PPE, and reporting any faults, damages, or concerns that they find.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations has specific duties for organisations who employ young people. It says that employers can’t hire child workers for any work that’s too physically or mentally demanding, has a high risk of accidents, or involves exposure to extreme temperatures, loud noises, powerful vibrations, radiation, or harmful substances. Young workers can be hired for these kinds of work but only if they’re being trained and supervised and the risks have been reduced as much as possible.

All other workplace health and safety laws and regulations – from COSHH to PUWER - apply to young people in the same way as they do to adult workers. This includes work experience students and apprentices too.