CONSULTATION AS UK OPT-OUT ON YOUNG WORKERS ENDS
It is being proposed that amendments be made to the Working Time Regulations to take account of the ending of the UK’s opt-out from certain provisions of the “Young Workers Directive”. These proposals are now the subject of a consultation process which began in December 2000. The main areas concerned are the limitation of working time to eight hours per day and 40 hours per week, and the prohibition of night work between 10pm and 6am or 11 pm and 7am. The consultation document also contains a copy of the draft Regulations~ and a regulatory impact assessment. The document can be downloaded from the DTI website at

1.       Every employer shall ensure that all persons who use work equipment have received adequate training for the purpose of Health and Safety, including training in the methods which may be adopted when using the work equipment, any risks which such use may entail and precautions to be taken.

2. Every employer shall ensure that any of his employees who supervises or manages the use of work equipment has received adequate training for the purpose of Health and Safety, including training in the methods which may be adopted when using the work equipment, any risks which such use may entail and precautions to be taken.

Regulation 3 of PUWER 1998 extends the requirements of the Regulations to apply to the self employed and those who have control (To the extent that their control allows) of work equipment, people at work who use, supervise or manage the use of work equipment, or the way in which work equipment is used at work.

Obligation to provide basic training:

Employees should not allow anyone to operate, even on a very occasional basis, Lift Trucks within the scope of this ACOP who have not satisfactorily completed basic training and testing as described in this ACOP, except for those undergoing such training under adequate supervision.
Employees need to keep a record for each employee who has satisfactorily completed basic training and testing in accordance with ACOP. This should include copies of the test certificate and information to identify the employee.
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Provisions for young people

Page 27 & 28 Section 9&12

Mechanical lifting operations

9   The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 apply to lifting equipment in all premises and work situations subject to the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.24 The Approved Code of Practice and Guidance Safe use of lifting equipment. The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 states that young people under 18 years should not be allowed to use high-risk lifting machinery unless they have the necessary maturity and competence which includes having successfully completed appropriate training. Examples of high-risk lifting equipment which normally should not be operated by young people include:
                                                              cranes;
                                                  construction site hoists;
                                                    and fork-lift trucks.

12   The Approved Code of Practice and Guidance Rider-operated lift trucks: Operator training states that operators of lift trucks on docks premises must be aged at least 18 years. Young people under 18 years should not be allowed to operate lift trucks on other premises without adequate supervision unless they have the necessary competence and maturity, as well as having successfully completed appropriate training. Children under the MSLA should never operate lift trucks.

Selection of people for training

Page 5 Section 28
28    Employers should select potential lift-truck operators carefully. Those selected for training need to have the ability to do the job in a responsible manner and the potential to become competent operators. Operators of lift trucks on docks premises must be aged at least 18 years. For advice on the locks Regulations 1988 see Safety in docks (details in Further reading section). Young persons (under 18 years of age) are often exposed to risks to their health and safety when using work equipment as a consequence of their immaturity, lack of experience or absence of awareness of existing or potential risks. Therefore, such young people should not be allowed to operate lift trucks without adequate supervision unless they have the necessary competence and maturity, as well as having successfully completed appropriate training. For more information see The Health and Safety (Young Persons) Regulations 1997 (SI 1997 No 135) which applies to young workers aged under 18 years and Young people at work – A Guide to employers  which give a guidance on the Regulations. Children under minimum school leaving age should never operate lift truck

Selection of operators and trainees

Page 8 section 14
14 Lift truck operators should be over the minimum school-leaving age (except in docks, where they must be at least 18 years old). Advice on the Health and Safety (Young Persons) Regulations 1997, which apply to people under 18, is contained in Young people at work - A guide for employers.  The immaturity of young people, together with their lack of experience and absence of awareness of existing or potential risks, should be taken into account before they are selected for training as lift truck operators. Minimum ages specified in road traffic legislation apply when lift trucks are on public roads.
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HSE publishes updated health and safety guidance for bosses who employ under-18s

To day the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published updated guidance for employers of under 18s, which will also be helpful for parents, guardians, teachers and people who organise work experience.
Last year six under-19s lost their lives carrying out work-related activities, 1,551 sustained major injuries and a further 5,310 youngsters were off work for over three days as a result of a work-related illness or injury.

Young people at work - a guide for employers (second edition) explains employers' duties to protect young people at work, as well as offer specific guidance on risks young workers are likely to encounter. The guidance includes:

• particular risks to young people under 18 years of age; 
• what employers need to do to comply with the law; 
• specific restrictions on the work of young people; 
• the provision and use of work equipment to young workers; 
• how to get advice on limits on working hours, rest from work and annual holidays; 
• references to Approved Codes of Practice and other guidance which employers may find helpful in identifying and tackling specific risks to young people.

Dr Peter Graham, Head of HSE's Strategy and Analytical Support Directorate said:

"Starting work should be a time of considerable excitement and opportunity for young people, but they may also face unfamiliar risks from the job they will be doing and from the working environment. For example, they may find themselves working with - or near - powerful chemicals or machinery. Or they may be in an occupation with potential for violent or aggressive behaviour towards them. They are also likely to lack the confidence to question or challenge what they are asked to do, especially if they are trying to create a good impression with employers or colleagues. 

"I am concerned that each year young people are exposed to risks in the workplace resulting in serious injury or ill health which will affect them for the rest of their lives. This guidance will help employers to assess the risks that young people face in the workplace and take appropriate measures to minimise those risks. Bosses also have a responsibility to give young people a firm grounding in health and safety which will serve them well throughout their working lives."

Notes to Editors

1. The quoted figures on reported injuries are taken from Health and Safety Statistics 1999/2000 ISBN 0-7176-1867-6 published by HSE Books, price £17.50.

2. Deaths to young workers aged 16-19 years in 1999/2000:

• An 18-year-old in the South West was electrocuted when he reached inside a package sorting machine to open the back panel, which had jammed. Although the machine had been stopped by the emergency-stop control, investigation revealed exposed live conductors on the transformer. 
• A 19-year-old fork lift truck operator on a construction site in the Home Counties was transporting roof trusses - using the telescopic handler - across uneven ground, when the vehicle overturned. 
• A 16-year-old student was fatally crushed when driving a fork lift truck during a work experience placement on a farm in the South West. The fork lift truck tipped over when an attachments to sweep mud from a main road was hit by a passing vehicle. 
• An 18-year-old trainee instructor at an Outdoor Activity Centre in the South West died after falling 30 feet onto rocks as he tried to retrieve his dropped camera. 
• An 18-year-old trainee HGV fitter in Yorkshire suffered fatal crushing injuries when the vehicle he was working on slipped from a supporting jack while being prepared for the removal of a road spring. 
• A 19-year-old in Scotland was crushed between a stationery tipper vehicle and one that was moving. 

3. The United Kingdom has implemented the health and safety protections for young employees introduced by the European Directive on the Protection of Young People at Work (the Young Workers' Directive) through the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Young people at work: a guide for employers provides guidance on the provisions of the Regulations which give employers particular responsibilities towards young people below the age of 18 years they employ.

4. The tables in Section 4 contain more detailed information on the nature of specific risks to young people from the hazards listed in the Annex to the Young Workers' Directive and what to do about them. It also includes any associated restrictions on work by age in relevant health and safety law. Appendix 1 contains some further provisions by age relating to work in agriculture, docks, mines and quarries, shipbuilding, the carriage of dangerous goods, the provision and use of work equipment, lifting operations and equipment and lift trucks.)

5. Essentially an employer must carry out a risk assessment specifically taking into account the young person's possible lack of awareness of existing or potential risks, immaturity and inexperience. The updated guide aims to help those responsible for assessing the risks to consider all relevant factors that might apply to young people in their particular workplace.

6. Young people on work experience programmes are regarded in law as the employees of their work placement provider. Those involved in organising work experience have expressed particular interest in this updated guidance as being relevant to the thousands of employers providing work placement for school pupils and students.

Copies of Young people at work - a guide for employers (HSG(G) 165 (rev)) ISBN 0-7176-1889-7, price £7.95, and Managing health and safety at work - a guide for organisers (HSG199) ISBN 0-7176-1742-4, price £6.50, can be ordered online at http://www.hsebooks.co.uk or are available from HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2WA, tel: 01787-881165 or fax: 01787-313995. HSE priced publications are also available from all good bookshops.