Young workers' training ignored

The TUC has called on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to run inspection blitzes around workplaces to protect young people at work, after a poll showed that over a third of young people are not getting health and safety training.

The poll of 355 workers aged 15-24 year olds, part of the TUC's Play safe at work campaign, showed that 37% of them had not had any health and safety training, even though employers are legally required to provide it.

The campaign, which was launched on International Workers Memorial Day on 28 April, aims to make young people aware of their health and safety rights. Young workers can order a free advice guide from the TUC's know your rights line, and the guide is also being promoted by the students' union NUS and careers advisers in secondary schools.

The TUC has called on the HSE to target areas such as construction, fast food restaurants and motorcycle riders where young people are likely to be especially at risk. It has also called for the Health and Safety Commission to make protecting young people at work a strategic aim.

The know your rights line on 0870 600 4882 is open every day from 8am-10pm and calls are charged at the national rate.