Students

Linda
Health and safety law defines a young person as anyone under eighteen years of age The law on working time defines a young worker as being below 18 years of age and above the MSLA (minimum school leaving age).

Before employing a young person, your health and safety risk assessment must take these specific factors into account:
• the fitting-out and layout of the workplace and the particular site where they will work;
• the nature of any physical, biological and chemical agents they will be exposed to, for how long and to what extent;
• what types of work equipment will be used and how this will be handled;
• how the work and processes involved are organised;
• the need to assess and provide health and safety training; and
• risks from the particular agents, processes and work.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations require that young people are protected at work from risks to their health and safety which are a consequence of the following factors:
• physical or psychological capacity
• pace of work
• temperature extremes, noise or vibration
• radiation
• compressed air and diving
• hazardous substances
• lack of training and experience

Your risk assessment should focus on critical tasks which rely on skill, experience and an understanding of the task requirements.
You should provide young people with training and effective supervision, particularly where they might be:
• using machinery with exposed dangerous parts, eg food slicing machinery;
• potentially exposed to violent or aggressive behaviour.
There is no need for you to carry out a new risk assessment each time you employ a young person, as long as your current risk assessment takes account of the characteristics of young people and activities which present significant risks to their health and safety.

This situation is covered by the legislation. Employers must complete a 'young persons' risk assessment before the young person starts work. This risk assessment covers the risks to those under 18 years of age.

For example:-
. any risks or increase in the risks due to youth/ inexperience
. specific training, information and supervision required

The risks to young employees are greater whatever their employment is, due to inexperience, enthusiasm, youthful exhuberance and, in the case of teenagers generally, knowing absolutely everything.

It's prudent to include Work Experience placements in the risk assessment regime, even if its 'only' DSE work involved.

What age are the students?

Some schools refer to their children as students rather than pupils.

I'm not absolutely sure, but would think that a risk assesment done properly would take into account any issues, and that would be communicated to the people concerned through the correct channels and method.

Therefore, if the students are of working age, i.e; over 16, then the risk assesment needn't be specific to them.

A slight digression...
I do know of a situation that happened to my daughter when she was 16, and working part time, the company realised that their liability insurance only covered people over 21, and they had to let her go.

Is there a specific Risk Assessment that should be carried out on students working for the company