Risk assessments will protect work experience pupils, HSE says

Categories: Engineering Health and Safety |

Preventive measures, such as the supply of safety gloves and workwear, will prevent avoidable accidents to work experience pupils, it has been suggested.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) wants employers to carry out full risk assessments of equipment and tasks when untrained staff are active in the workplace.

"Work experience pupils are viewed as employees for the purposes of health and safety legislation, yet they are often more vulnerable than a company's trained and qualified employees," said Judith McNulty-Green, an inspector for the regulatory body.

Her comments come after a young worker was hospitalised with burns after an accident while on work experience.

Currently the HSE is advising firms of the potential risks posed by machinery as part of its Shattered Lives campaign.

Employers are warned on the initiative's official website that slips, trips and falls into or close to workplace machinery can often lead to devastating injuries.

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