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

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.

EU-OSHA activities Campaign on young workers: Safe start http://osha.europa.eu/en/campaigns/ew2006 Visual materials for awareness raising video competition E-cards Animated films: NAPO http://osha.europa.eu/sub/napo/en/napos-films 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)

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

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

Occupational accidents Non-fatal accidents in the EU (2003) 4,7% 18-24 years, 3,3% all workers Comparing 18-24 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

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

Main employment sectors for young workers Percentage of workers being 15-24 years old %

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 25-49 (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)

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

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 2005-2006

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