Hi all I have a work experience lad coming to our site in one week time (nothing like lots of notice), As I don’t want him to just end up making the tea, there are a number of activities I would like him to have a go at (all 100% supervised). One activity is a go on the fork lift truck not as part of our undertaking, but a cordoned off area of the yard where he can not come in contact or even be near anything else we are doing. Pick up empty pallets etc and move it about. Again this will be 100% supervised. I will obviously do a risk assessment for everything and send it to the school, but is there anything out there that would prevent me letting a 15 year old trying this activity with the above conditions. ie just too young so no. I’m happy this can be done in a controlled way, with the only thing at risk is a wooden pallet. Anything that would stop me? Please I don’t have time in this instance to go read reams of paperwork as I need to get the RA to the school ASAP. Thanks Chris

Hmmm a tricky one, becasue the reality is this should be fine in a controlled manner as you describe. If I were giving professional advice I'd still have the nagging issue of the acop: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l117.pdf Which states that children under 16 should never operate forklifts (para 49).

Sorry forgot to add thanks for the reply Jake and Dave. Chris

Yes it was only training I was thinking about, no actual work (for him). Bah humbug indeed, everything else in the world is on your shoulders after you have done your risk assessment, except this. Looks like I have no choice but to be the bad guy again. I still think we could have done it safely, but "Never" is absolute. thanks anyway Ian Chris

all clear now! https://www.gov.uk/gover...fety-confusion?eban=rss-

Para 49 is not ACoP it is guidance? Look at the coloured bar right beside it. Document is titled ACoP and Guidance? Absolute duties are contained within the legislation not ACoP nor Guidance. For ACoP you should be able to demonstrate that you met it in some other way or that your management system was better... Para 32 if this was absolute it would read "....shall not....."

Before entangling yourself with this any further I'd check two things - will the local authority/school and if your insurance company would permit this. I've dealt with various school work placements and apprenticeship placements and neither the local authority/managing agents or our insurance companies would permit what you are suggesting under any circumstances. Pat on the back however for trying to give the young person a valid work experience placement rather than making them sweep floor and make tea.

Thanks for the replies. The links to the gov web site and HSE web site do very little if anything to help, but thanks for them worth checking. As far as I can see they say you don't need to specifically do a risk assessment for young people, providing your assessment already covers them. You also don't need to do a specific assessment for an individual unless that individual has something about them that requires a specific assessment, which you will only know when going through the process. Their view of radical reduction is not the same as mine. As noted above I see these statements as little more than hot air and do not fundamentally change anything. They seem to mix up work experience for young people with that for those classed as children, so much for clarity. There may be a reduced burden on schools etc, but on the employer, I can't see it (unless you do a lot of it). It was good to note the fact that it was in the guidance section, not the ACOP (I missed that), but due to the short time scale I have conceded this time. I have asked for more notice next time, so if it comes up again I may have chance to put it by Insurance / school (something it appears the Gov are saying is not required - mmmm) Thanks everyone Chris