About
When a business offers a work experience placement to students, they have the same responsibilities for their health, safety and welfare as for all of their workforce. Under health and safety law, these students will be regarded as employees.
Definitions of young people and children by age
It is helpful to know how people are defined by age in health and safety law, especially when working out what the young person is allowed to do:
a young person is anyone under 18 years’ old
a child is anyone who has not yet reached the official age at which they may leave school, just before or just after their 16th birthday
The Assessment
The law requires a business to take account of a number of points in their existing risk assessment before a young person starts work or work experience.
The business should try to look at their workplace from an adolescent’s viewpoint. What dangers will they recognise?
They may not be fully grown – will they find their workplace awkward and the tools too big?
In particular they should look at:
How the workplace is fitted and laid out (and the particular site where they will work);
What type of work equipment will be used and how it will be handled;
How the work is organised;
The need to assess and provide health and safety training;
The nature of any physical, biological and chemical agents they may be exposed to, for how long and to what extent;
The risks from certain work hazards (This includes any work they cannot do because of their age);
You must not allow the young person to do the work where you find that a significant risk remains in spite of your best efforts to take all reasonable steps to control it.
Associated Legislation
The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations both require a business to fully assess the risks in the workplace, in particular, those risks which may not be familiar to a young person.