Young people in the workplace

As a new generation starts to enter the workplace there's a good chance that your business will employ young people under the age of 18 but having reached school leaving age. As an employer, you have a unique set of responsibilities and challenges when it comes to their employment and their health and safety.

The working time regulations regulate the number of hours a young worker can legally work in a week, their working status can also affect their rights. Whilst you have the same responsibilities to protect a young worker’s health and wellbeing as you do any other member of staff, young workers lack workplace experience and as such are more at risk, especially in the first 6 months of their role.

If you need more advice on young people and how to navigate their introduction into the workplace, as well as their working rights and health and safety responsibilities, contact Croner today. Call 0808 501 6651 and speak to a member of our award-winning HR and Health and Safety consultancy team. 

Who are classed as young people? 

Any worker who is aged between the minimum school leaving age and 18 is officially considered a young worker. The law regarding working and young people differs depending on location. 

For instance in England, someone between school leaving age and 18 must be in either full time education, work based learning or working (or volunteering) for 20 hours or more, whilst in part time education or training. In Scotland and Wales this law does not apply and a person of minimum school leaving age can go into full time employment.

Young workers and working hours

By law a young worker must not work more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week. Young workers must also be granted the following conditions as a minimum:

• 30 minute break entitlement when working longer than 4.5 hours consecutively.
• 12 hours rest per working 24-hour period (E.g. Between the previous and following working day).
• A 48-hour consecutive rest break per working week (36 hours minimum if this is not possible due to business reasons, the additional 12 hours must be taken as soon as possible).

As an employer you cannot allow young workers to work during the following hours of 10pm and 6am, unless their contract stipulates this. If their contract does allow for this then you must ensure that they do not work between the hours of 11pm and 7am.

However in certain industries they can work until midnight or from 4am onwards if they are involved in any of the following:

• Advertising
• Agriculture
• Bakery
• Catering
• Hospitals or similar (medical)
• Hotels, pubs or restaurants
• Post, mail or newspaper deliveries
• Retail

This however, is on the condition that there are no adult workers available and could be working the specified hours will not have a negative impact on any training or education that the young worker is involved in.

If a young person has to work late (after 10pm- or before 7am) then they must be supervised by an adult worker for safeguarding and health and safety purposes. They must also be allowed enough rest at another time if they are required to work during their regular rest breaks and periods.

Please note: Employers are in breach of the law and will be liable if they allow a young worker to work between midnight and 4am, even if they are involved in one of the professions or roles mentioned in the list.

Employers must keep records that prove that a young worker has not worked more than 8 hours a day and no more than 40 hours a week and has not worked restricted hours. They must also prove that they have offered the worker a health assessment before offering night working and during their employment. 

Risks to young people in the workplace

Because of their inexperience a young worker are more at risk in the workplace, this can be subject to several reasons:

Yet to reach physical maturity (muscle and bone density)

• Lack of life experiences and mental maturity
• Eagerness to impress colleagues
• General unawareness of how to raise concerns in a working environment

You should already be managing all significant risks to your staff’s wellbeing, including their mental health. The same is true of young workers however, you should take the time to consider any additional factors that employing a young worker will present. 

For those young workers (or those in placements like students or apprentices) in low risk environments such as offices or shops existing arrangements should suffice, however in the case that there are risks that the young person is less familiar with, light assembly etc or in high risk environments such as construction, manufacture and agriculture you should take additional precautions to manage risks.

In high risk environments you should take additional steps to ensure safety, including: 

• Observation of the risks involved in the work being undertaken and how they are managed
• Evaluate the instruction, supervision and training given and assess if they work in practice

In high risk environments there is the potential to be exposed to several factors ordinarily not encountered, such as:

• Radiation and radioactive materials
• Noise and vibration
• Substances that are either toxic or hazardous
• Extremes of temperature

These factors should already be controlled if your business deals in an industry where these are prevalent. You should consider the impact of exposure on occupational health and ensure that legal limits are rigidly adhered to. Age limitations on the use of machinery should also be a consideration. 

You should review your risk assessments, and ensure you have a suitable young workers risk assessment, particularly if any of the following conditions are true of your organisation or situation:

• You currently do not employ young people or have not done so in a couple of years
• It is your business’s first time setting on a young worker
• You are taking on a young worker with particular needs

As you’d expect, young workers can benefit from a clear and detailed induction, training and supervision. This should be approached from both a professional skills point of view as well as from a health and safety perspective as any inexperienced member of staff can potentially put themselves and others at risk. They may also require more supervision than adult workers.

Training and supervision for young workers

When it comes to training you should identify the risk and tailor the training to be proportionate to the amount of risk involved. Bear in mind that those young people on work experience placements etc, may require an adapted  induction that is more specific and task based. 

Before the young person moves onto conducting any work you should check with them to ensure that they:

• Understand the risks of the role and in the workplace
• Understand and are aware of the health and safety precautions in place

When it comes to supervision, a young person will likely require more. Good supervision and frequent check-ins will give you a good idea of their skills and capabilities, it will also monitor the effectiveness of their training and onboarding. 

Remember, depending on the age of the young worker, it might be appropriate to put age restrictions on the use of some equipment and machinery, such as forklifts etc. 

Pay and remuneration for young workers

It is the law that anyone above school leaving age must be paid the National Minimum wage or over. 

Need advice on employing young people?

Contact Croner today and our expert team can assist you with any query you may have relating to young people, employment law and their health and safety.

Ensure your HR documentation and processes are in line with the latest legislation and help avoid costly legal litigation.

Call us today on 0808 501 6651.

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