Christmas Rush Increases Safety Risks For Young Workers

As many industries move towards the busy Christmas and New Year period there are growing safety concerns for the thousands of young school and university leavers entering the workforce over the next four months.

Director of WorkSafe’s legal services and investigative division Stan Krpan said that there will be a significant increase in risks amongst younger workers who are employed to cope with the busy Christmas and New Year period.

WorkSafe has voiced concerns over the lack of training and supervision that may be given to new and young workers in the hospitality, retail, construction and transport/warehousing industries during this busy period.

“Employers should be preparing to ensure these people have the training to do their job safely,” said Mr Krpan.

“Once the big rush of end-of-year parties hit the hospitality industry and the pre-Christmas retail extravaganza hits shops it will become increasingly hard to fill gaps in health and safety training.”

Mr Krpan emphasised the importance of encouraging young workers to ask questions when unsure on the job, an issue which has recently been targeted in WorkSafe’s graphic advertising campaign which shows young people suffering shocking injuries at work.

“Making sure new or young workers clearly understand how to do the job, how to do it safely and that it is ok to ask questions even if they’ve already been told what to do can be a matter of quality-of-life or death,” said Mr Krpan.

Inexperience, lack of knowledge and an unwillingness to ask questions or query employer requests are amongst some of the factors that have been attributed to the injury rate of young and new workers. Around 10% of all reported workplace injuries in Victoria involve workers under the age of 25.

Any employers hiring young employees should consult Worksafe’s Health and Safety Guide to managing young workers.

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