What is a young person?
Definition. The HSE defines a young person as someone under the age of 18. When employing a young person whether for work, work experience, or as an apprentice, you have the same responsibilities for their health, safety and welfare as you do for other employees, although you must put together a suitable and sufficient risk assessment specific to the task and the individual.
However, this definition only refers to physical age. You will also need to consider the person’s mental attitude and maturity, whether they are easily led, whether they are distracted and how quick they are to pick up on their surroundings and the hazards and risks that are present. Some young people tend to think an accident will never happen to them and can be more likely to breach procedures.
Tip. A simple way to keep your business running smoothly and to avoid problems is to consider anyone under the age of 21 a “young person”. Your procedures should already be in place for under 18s, so this is just an extension of that group.
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