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Health and Safety Obligations for Young Workers

According to WorkCover, young workers are those aged 15-24 years who are working permanently, casually, on labour hire, as an apprentice/trainee or as part of work experience or a structured workplace learning program.

There are a number of factors that put young workers at a greater health and safety risk including:

  • Lack of experience, knowledge or skill to fully appreciate the risks in the tasks they are performing
  • An inability to protect themselves or co-workers from injury as well as a more experienced worker might
  • An overconfidence in their work, performing tasks that may be beyond their current mental and physical capabilities
  • Lack of appropriate training and inductions
  • More reserved in asking questions or raising safety issues


To combat and limit these risks employers must ensure that you:

  1. Have policies and procedures in place
  2. Promote a strong safety culture
  3. Carry out an induction
  4. Provide adequate training
  5. Provide adequate supervision
  6. Ensure regular consultation


Although it may seem that young workers carry a great risk, they also bring new innovations and enthusiasm to the role and prove to be effective members of the working team.