A safe experience for young people

It’s that time of year again…… Work Experience. Whilst work experience can be an exciting time for young people, it is also a time where they can face hazards and risks in unfamiliar surroundings. Since employers hold the same health, safety and welfare responsibilities for work experience students as they do for their entire workforce, it is vital that you are fully prepared.

Employers have a legal duty to pay additional attention to risk assessment when employing staff under the age of 18. Since work experience students are likely to fall into this category and, since they are likely to be inexperienced, unaware of health and safety risks and physically or mentally immature, it is vital that you look at the workplace from a young person’s viewpoint and carry out a risk assessment accordingly. By understanding that young people may not be fully-grown and could find their workplace awkward and the tools too big, you will gain a better perspective of potential risks to young people working on your premises.

To help you prepare for a safe and successful work experience placement, we suggest you follow these 10 simple steps:

  1. Meet the young person before the work placement starts. Determine whether the young person has any specific requirements.
  2. Discuss objectives and expectations.
  3. Agree suitable work tasks to give an understanding of your organisation.
  4. Prepare a risk assessment appropriate to the age and work to be done.
  5. Ensure significant risks are communicated to the school and parents if the young person is of school age.
  6. Check with your insurers that they agree to the work placement.
  7. Plan an induction programme that includes health, safety and conditions of work.
  8. Identify a supervisor and mentor.
  9. Review progress during the work placement.
  10. Provide feedback to the young person and the school and expect some in return.

Having a work experience placement is an ideal opportunity to review your current systems and remind all of your staff of the importance of health and safety practices. Of course, if you need help with any of this then you can contact us.

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People Make Processes

Pic - Man with flowchartIt is a truth universally acknowledged that two heads are better than one; a particularly pertinent truth when it comes to producing and improving your processes.  This should not be a lonely job for a fevered scribe in a darkened office.   It’s time to tap into the creativity and specific knowledge of the people who do the work – the team!

A well designed process takes account of every aspect, input and output, so it makes sense to consult all the people involved.  One of the best ways to do this is to gather all relevant people together for a facilitated brainstorming session.  Brainstorming should be an informal and creative way of generating ideas, and can also be great fun.

For any brainstorming session it’s important to set a clear objective.  When looking at processes the objective will be very clear from the outset, whether it’s to clarify an existing, but unwritten procedure; to create a new one; to solve an issue that has arisen (such as a customer complaint); to identify the root cause of a problem or to make improvements and reduce costs, etc.

It is vital that everyone feels that they have equal input and a good mix of experience and knowledge is essential. Whilst more experienced people may have a better understanding of the problem, new staff may have a different perspective or experience of a similar issue from a previous job. Senior people may seem imposing to more junior staff, but it’s important that the people who are carrying out the day-to-day work have a chance to put forward their thoughts on how to improve the procedure.

Facilitated brainstorming can highlight areas of duplication, iron out issues between different teams or departments, provide a greater understanding to staff of how the business works, identify the root cause of problems and encourage everyone’s commitment to getting it right. Ultimately it’s about improving the business and ensuring that staff have an opportunity to be involved.

A suggestion box is another good way of getting people involved. It may elicit a list of preferred biscuits for visitors, but it also creates an opportunity for less confident staff to make a suggestion that could dramatically improve the business.

This is a dynamic way to engage your team in the workings of the business. Communication is, as always, key.  It is important to show people the fruits of their labour and show them how their ideas are being implemented. Not only will they feel ownership of the process, but you will also get the best picture of what actually works.

To download our fact sheet ‘How to Draft a Flow Chart’ click here.

 

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