HSE launches video pack to help teachers educate pupils on work place safety

HSE Press Release E176:02 - 17 September 2002

Today the HSE launched its 'Check it Out' video pack - its first ever educational tool specifically designed to help teachers and pupils manage the health and safety risks involved in work placements and how to reduce the chances of accidents happening.

Health and Safety Commission (HSC) Chair Bill Callaghan said:

"Learning about risk is part of growing up and learning about life. There are risks in everything we do, at home, at leisure and in our work. Young people need to be aware of what work-related risks are about, how to look out for them and what to expect from employers. And teachers have a key role in preparing them for this. Students need to acquire these skills early on, before leaving the classroom permanently. Work experience is a good opportunity for students to put these skills into practice, giving them awareness and confidence and so helping to manage risk."

Lord Puttnam, Chairman of the Trustees for the National Teaching Awards, added,

"The ability to assess and manage risk is a key life skill. Taking risks is an unavoidable and necessary part of life - it can be beneficial or harmful depending on the circumstances. The purpose of this initiative is to help teachers provide their students with the necessary skills to be able to identify, assess and manage risk."

Lord Puttnam welcomed the new video pack, saying:

"Health and safety and risk management are an important part of the National Curriculum. This initiative will help teachers to more thoroughly prepare their pupils for life in the wider world."

The 'Check it Out' video is for use by teachers in schools and applicable in training and induction situations for new young workers aged between 14 and 18.

The pack comprises a video showing the experience of four young people on work experience from school in four different work environments and demonstrates how risk management principles can be used in practice. The accompanying teacher notes are designed to prompt and support debate about the issues in the video and provide a link to other risks that students face in their school and personal lives.

Notes to editors

1. Each summer over 500,000 pupils in Key Stage 4 go on work placements. While generally work placements are safe, since 1996 there have been 127 major injuries to children on work experience in England and Wales, 306 minor injuries, and one fatality.

2. The video tracks four youngsters and the working situations they face in their given work placements. The video and accompanying teacher notes are a tool for teachers in raising awareness of health and safety risks, primarily for youngsters going on work experience. The video encourages group discussion. The messages on risk are equally appropriate for youngsters who have part-time jobs or are about to leave education to start work.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is undertaking a programme of work under the Government initiative 'Revitalising Health and Safety' to develop in tandem:

• health and safety competence for those undergoing vocational training;
• understanding of risk concepts by young people through the educational system.

3. Earlier this year Department for Education and Skills (DfES) included proposals for considerable expansion in work experience opportunities for students in the Green Paper '14 - 19: Extending opportunities, raising standards'. The stated aim is to modernise the curriculum and to put the needs of the individual learner at the heart of the education system through innovative solutions and qualifications. A much greater emphasis on vocational studies than at present will require longer periods of work experience away from the classroom and will increasingly involve Further Education Colleges in its delivery.

4. The HSE collaborated with the Qualifications Curriculum Authority (QCA) in producing guidance on applying the new general teaching requirement for health and safety following successful lobbying for its introduction to the National Curriculum from the 2000/2001 academic year.

5. In England and Wales students aged 14 - 18 take part in work experience schemes in their last two years of compulsory education. Work experience generally lasts for two weeks during the academic year but in some cases the curriculum can be suspended to allow longer periods with an employer according to individual pupil need.

6. Research commissioned by HSE into data derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) on the relative risk of injury between different age groups after allowing for the effects of occupations, hours of work and other job characteristics concluded that:

• Men aged 16-24 have a substantially higher risk of all workplace injury (including injuries with less than 3 days absence) than older male workers (40% higher than 45-54 age group)
• Workers of all ages in the first few months with their employer have the highest rate of injury (once annualised to a 12 month period)
• There is no evidence to suggest a higher risk of reportable injury (over 3 days absence) in young workers, men or women, compared with older ones
• There is no substantial variation in risk of injury among female workers by age.

7. HSE has, in addition, published guidance booklets on the following:

• For work experience organisers: 'Managing health and safety on work experience. A guide for organisers'
• For employers of young people below 18: 'Young people at work. A guide for employers'
• For employers who offer work placements: 'The right start. Young people on work experience: health and safety basics for employers'.

8. HSE has consulted a number of teaching unions and they have fully endorsed the programme of getting risk education onto the National Curriculum.

9. A summary of the research is available on HSE's website: http://www.hse.gov.uk

10. The video and teachers' notes 'Check it out. Risk assessment for young people on work placement' ISBN 07176-2351-3 can be ordered from HSE Books online at: http://books.hse.gov.uk. The price will be £30.00 + VAT per package, and £25.00 + VAT for the video

11. Examples of prosecutions relating to young people in recent years:

• Manufacturing company in the West Midlands prosecuted in 2002 after a 16 year-old agency worker on his first day of work suffered severe burns when he became trapped by a heat-sealer bar on a shrink-wrap machine - he had reached into the machine to release a blockage. The company had failed to provide an adequate guarding system and instruction. It was fined £10,000.
• Local authority in Scotland prosecuted in 2001 after a work experience trainee suffered serious foot injuries whilst standing on the drawbar of a tractor. The employer failed to provide the young person with adequate training, instruction and supervision. The authority was fined £2,500.
• Company in Devon prosecuted in 2001 after a 16 year-old girl had part of her finger amputated whilst operating a unguarded indexing machine. There had been no risk assessment taking into account the fact that she was a young person. The company was fined £3,000.
• Vehicle repair company in Norfolk prosecuted in 2001 after a 17 year-old trainee was trapped under a vehicle he was working on. The company had carried out a risk assessment for young persons but failed to follow this and adopted an unsafe system of work. It was fined £12,000.
• Farming company in Wiltshire prosecuted in 2000 following the death of a work experience trainee who fell from an all terrain vehicle. The young person had received no training and no head protection was provided. The company was fined £1,000.
• Manufacturing company in Ipswich prosecuted in 2000 after a 16 year-old who had been working for the company for less than two months was struck by a fork lift truck. The person was not provided with safety shoes and no risk assessment had been carried out to consider the risks to young people. The company was fined £2,000.
• Manufacturing company in the Midlands prosecuted in 2000 after a 17 year-old employee was injured using a circular saw on his first day at work. The person had received minimal instruction and training, and no risk assessment had been carried out. The company was fined £6,000.
• Engineering company in the Midlands prosecuted in 2000 after a young person suffered hand injuries on their first day at work whilst using an unguarded tube bending machine. The company had previously received a prohibition notice relating to machinery guarding. It was fined £10,000.
• Construction company in London prosecuted in 2000 after a 17 year-old employee suffered serious injuries after striking a live cable during digging work with a pneumatic breaker. The company failed to provide a safe system of work, information and training. It was fined £10,000.
• Microelectronic company prosecuted in Berkshire in 1999 after the finger of a 16 year-old trainee was amputated in a cable cutting machine. The company was fined £1,800.

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