1. Health and Safety at Work
Young Workers
Health and Safety at Work
Work Environment Information Unit
Julia Flintrop

2. Content EU-OSHA activities on young workers
Facts and figures concerning young workers
Special risks
Main employment sectors
Employment conditions
Prevention of accidents and ill health
Conclusions from facts and figures report
Good practice example
Overview on the activities EU-OSHA has done in the field of young workers safety and health
I’ll go more into detail concerning facts and figures related to young worker’s health and employment conditions
Third part of the presentation will refer to the question how YW health can be improved. I will discuss some conclusions that can be drawn from the facts & figures report and I will give you an example on how employers can target YW health.

3. EU-OSHA activities
Campaign on young workers: Safe start
Visual materials for awareness raising
video competition
E-cards
Animated films: NAPO
Research and background information:
OSH in figures report: Young workers
Practical information:
Factsheets for employers, young workers, parents & supervisors
Risk prevention for young workers: Collection of good practice examples (2006)
Mainstreaming OSH into education: Collection of good practice examples (2009)
Workplace health promotion: Collection of good practice examples (2010)

4. Exposure to risk factors%
15-24 years
total work force

5. Exposure to dangerous substances
Netherlands
About 15% of young workers exposed to dangerous substances, compared to 7% of all workers
Germany
About 20.9% of young workers report working with oil, grease, soil and dirt, compared to 18.1% of all workers EU
Carcinogenic substances, under 25 years 17% exposure, ca. 13% for older workers
France
Exposure to chemicals, 47% of young workers, 37% others

6. Occupational accidents
Non-fatal accidents in the EU (2003)
4,7% years, 3,3% all workers
Comparing year old workers to 55-64% year old workers, young workers have a 50% higher incident rate for non-fatal accidents
France
Likelyhood of under 25 year olds to have an accident is 3 times greater than overall average
Netherlands
Possible chance of accidents for young workers (20-24 years) as twice as high as for normal workforce

7. Why are young people at special risk?
Factors putting young workers at risk include:
Lack of awareness of OSH risks
Lack of skill/training in the job they are doing
Physical/mental immaturity
Being given jobs that are beyond their capabilities
Lack of health and safety information and training
Lack of supervision
Lack of awareness of employers’ duties, and their own rights and responsibilities
Lack of confidence to raise OSH issues

8. Main employment sectors for young workers
Percentage of workers being years old %

9. Employment conditions
Temporary work
37,5% of YW were in fixed-term jobs, compared to 12% of all workers (2005)
Part-time jobs
25% young workers had a part-time job within the EU-25 compared to 16% of workers aged (2005)
Shift work
YW do more shift work and have more irregular working hours (shift work 22,4% YW – 19,3% all workers, 2000)
High pace at work
YW are more often working at high speed and tight deadlines than others (27,9% of YW - 24,9% all workers, 2000)
Effects of unemployment on young workers
In most of the European regions, unemployment of YW was at least twice as high than total unemployment rate (2005)

10. Conclusions for prevention
Focus on special sectors
Focus on most prevalent risks
Develop effective training methods
Target employment agencies
Give attention to ‘female’ jobs
Mainstream OSH into education at all levels
Remember that young workers are not a homogenous group
Pay special attention to part-timers and temporary workers
Include young workers’ issues into guidelines on shift working
Cooperation across policy areas is needed
Train inspectors on the special risks for young people

11. Manpower/AXA/Arcelor – Belgium
Good practice example
Manpower/AXA/Arcelor – Belgium
Temporary workers must know steel company Arcelor safety rules BEFORE being employed
Arcelor safety rules difficult to learn. 30% assessment failure. How well were rules remembered by those passing?
Partnership between temporary work agency, Manpower, company – Arcelor, Mutual insurer AXA
Young workers developed tool at AXA for training at Manpower
Self-paced e-learning, step-wise approach, illustrations, quizzes
Computerized multiple choice test ->Safety passport
Success: 100% pass rate, no accidents to temporary workers in the period from

12. Thank you for your attention! flintrop@osha.europa.eu