As some of you are aware we here at SOS are very passionate regarding the welfare of young and inexperienced workers in the workplace. We identify a young/inexperienced worker as anyone under 25 years of age or less than 2 years in the workplace.
So, it saddens us when we hear or see there has been a death in the workplace of a young individual. Within the past 12 months you will have seen in the news (around Australia) that there has been numerous workplace incidents regarding workers resulting sadly in their deaths (with several being young/inexperience workers as young as 16 years old). All these people had their life in front of them taken away. We believe one workplace death is too many!
We constantly hear/read in all these cases (once the information is available):
- Lack of supervision,
- Lack of training,
- Lack of Personal protection equipment,
- Lack of barriers, guarding or delineation etc.
We have legal / regulatory obligations with regards to workplace health and safety. It is even more critical when it comes to managing any young or inexperienced workers in the workplace. Numerous organisations and industries already have processes in place i.e. apprenticeships, traineeships, training programs, log book systems, mentoring/coaching programs etc. Most are well documents however, several are not. Even in some cases, there is nothing in place for these limited knowledge workers.
The tragic death of any workers (especially the young) should remind everyone of the importance of not only having safe systems of work in place to prevent accidents from occurring but that they are put in place.
We never hear or see the full scale of the enormous amount of trauma these deaths causes to the workmates, family and friends.
If you are reading this article what are your thoughts on the matter?
- Do you know how many young or inexperienced workers currently are in your organisation or workplace?
- Do you think sufficient controls are in place for these people?
If you would like a frank, independent and transparent assessment of current workplace and practices get in contact with us. We are passionate about saving lives as “we walk it and talk it”
https://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/worksafe/new-and-young-workers
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/national-safe-work-month-2021-infographic-young-workers
https://www.ilo.org/infostories/en-GB/Stories/safety-health/youth
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/doc/key-work-health-and-safety-statistics-australia-2022
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-06/john-hunter-hospital-site-shut-after-worker-dies/102570106