Young Worker Policy

[Mike]

I need to create a “Young Worker Policy” due to the amount of near misses that has the potential to create an incident in the construction industry. I have concerns with young people i.e. apprentices, work experience etc. I would like to develop this policy and train up the supervisors on site to follow it and make them aware of the high risk. If anyone has developed one that they do not mind me viewing I would appreciate seeing it, I have a good idea of the wording I would like to use but would like to see some others prior to printing it.

[DaveG]

Mike,
Reading between the lines it sounds like the "young workers" concerned aren't getting enough OH&S training!

[Mike]

Yes i am sure that this is the case and hope to remidy the situation but need to start by developing a policy, do you have anything in the lines of a young workers policy?

[DaveG]

I'm sorry Mike, I don't have anything to offer in terms of documents, but surely the policy shouldn't be any different to that for other workers?

If a situation or practice is unsafe for a younger worker is it not just as unsafe for an older worker?

What do you see as the differences that would set a young worker's policy apart from a policy for other workers?

Where are the problem areas?

[Mike]

Dave,
There is a definite difference if you look at the stats 15 to 24 year old employees use up a lot of the WorkCover recourses. In the construction industry where the work site has so many risks and the site changes so often, it sometimes comes down to experience to be able to identify these risks. Young employees are on occasions put in to the deep end without the proper inductions and training and are to green to ask. Some supervisors need to be more aware of this and trained to ensure that this is not the case. Hence a policy needs to be introduced and a procedure of how that policy will be actioned put in place. Thanks for your input Dave!

[HRbeat]

SafeWork SA has a really good initiative in regards to your concern. They conduct an annual SafeWork Week where there are concurrent seminars in various locations, different sponsors and participants.

Last year, they had a seminar addressing your specific concerns, even provided statistics. They are now bringing OHS&W awareness into school, before young workers potentialy enter the workplace. They are also providing kits for comprehensive induction, awareness-raising for young people, etc. It includes posters and other media that specifically targets young people and are attractive for young people to actually engage in.

www.safework.sa.gov.au