Employers putting young people at risk

A 16-year-old worker’s legs were broken less than two hours into his first day at work. He fell from the footplate of an 18-tonne refuse lorry and he was dragged underneath. He was riding on the outside of the vehicle because there was not enough room in the cab for him and three other workers, all of whom were agency-supplied. Safety procedures existed but the system to ensure that they were applied was inadequate: lack of supervision and training were a particular problem.

A 19-year-old on a 10-month course got a job with an electric company, and had been working as a labourer for just two months when he was transferred to a lighting crew. At his employer's instruction, he was working on 120-volt fluorescent lighting ballasts that were "hot" (with the power still running through them) without safety mats, wire testers, safety gloves, instructions or a blueprint of the wiring plan. He was killed instantly when 347 volts of electricity went through his body.

Just two years after starting her job, a 20-year-old graphic designer was awarded substantial damages for severe and disabling repetitive strain injury (RSI) from using a computer mouse. She claimed successfully that she was never shown how to use the mouse correctly.

A young bakery worker in a large supermarket lost the top of his finger after trying to remove dough stuck in a dough-making machine. A guard, which should have prevented him from putting his hands into the machine, had been removed. Investigators drew attention to a culture of carelessness at the bakery: there were training procedures, but these were not implemented adequately or effectively, putting the safety of staff at risk. A logbook, which was supposed to be completed following daily safety checks, had regular omissions.

A 16-year-old died of suffocation after falling into a bin holding supplies of flour. She was cleaning the surface of the bins for the first time, and had not been shown how to do so safely. The collapsible part of one bin opened: their lids were found to be badly designed, and there were no clear procedures for working around them.

A 23-year-old man suffered extensive burns from coming into contact with a flammable substance used to wash out spray-painting guns. Bad practices at the company included a lack of safe procedures for handling and storing dangerous chemicals, and lack of training and supervision. One particularly dangerous practice involved carrying the hazardous gun wash in unlabelled, open-topped buckets.

A 14-year-old boy was killed when the all terrain vehicle (ATV, or quad bike) he was riding overturned and crushed him while he was feeding pheasants for a shooting party. The boy had been allowed to use the ATVs without adequate training and supervision, with inappropriately configured and inadequately maintained vehicles, and without appropriate safety equipment

A 16-year-old trainee, on a work experience placement, fractured both elbows and wrists when he fell from the roof of a garage that he was helping to replace. His employer was found not to have taken any precautions to prevent falls from height, and there was no safe system of work. All the roof coverings were removed in one go and the trainee worked straddling the rafters, with one foot on a beam and one foot on the front fascia board, while knocking home the nails that kept the old boards in place. He fell from the roof onto a concrete drive when the fascia board fell.

A 16-year-old, who was working in a roadside restaurant, was seriously burned by hot fat while preparing a customer’s fried breakfast. He put some bread in a deep-fat fryer; the fryer fell from its support without warning and a wave of scalding oil poured over the young worker’s leg and foot. The trainee had not completed his training, but the local management decided that he was competent to use the fryer. An investigation found that there had been a previous incident involving hot oil burns to a young worker, when the trainee was transferring hot fat from on receptacle to another. The company has since brought in a rule that nobody under the age of 18 is allowed to work with hot fat.

A 16-year-old trainee lost part of his right index finger while working with a metal coil-slitting machine. The trainee had been with the company for only three days, when he trapped the tip of his index finger while trying to adjust moving parts of the machinery. There were no safety devices or guards in place. Investigators emphasised the extra health and safety precautions that companies need to take when employing young people, including a suitable young person’s risk assessment, followed by adequate training, supervision, information provision and instruction.