What special health and safety arrangements should employers of children make?

Here the provisions are clear and unambiguous. They are to be found in the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, Reg. 19:

"Every employer shall ensure that all persons aged under 18 employed are protected at work from any risks to their health or safety which are a consequence of their lack of experience, or absence of awareness of existing or potential risks or the fact that young persons have not yet fully matured."

No employer must employ a person under 18 for work which:

• is beyond his or her physical or psychological capacity
• involves harmful exposure to radiation or agents which are toxic or carcinogenic, cause heritable genetic damage or in any other way chronically affect health
• involves the risk of accidents which it can reasonably be assumed cannot be recognised or avoided by young persons owing to their insufficient attention to safety or lack of experience or training
• there is a risk to health from; extreme cold or heat, noise, or vibration.

The only exemptions to this rule are;

• where it is necessary for training
• where the young person will be supervised by a competent person
• and where any risk will be reduced to the lowest level that is reasonably practicable.

Employers are required to inform employees of risks to their health and safety also requires employers of children (but not of young persons over school leaving age) to provide parents with ‘comprehensible and relevant information’ on the risks to the child, and any preventative and protective measures in place.