Discover Safe Start
What is the campaign about?
The Safe Start campaign is dedicated to young people to make sure you have a safe and healthy start in your working life, and that risk awareness and risk prevention are promoted in workplaces, schools and colleges, and the wider education community. The campaign has two distinct parts:
- In the workplace: preventing risks to young workers by promoting risk awareness and what to do when young people start work
- In schools, colleges, universities and training establishments: promoting risk awareness and risk prevention
Why is it important?
Health and safety is not just about rules and regulations; it’s about keeping you safe and healthy now, and protecting your future health so you can enjoy life to the full. You should not have to risk life and limb at work.
In addition to being safe yourself, you need to know how to work without putting colleagues at risk. Think of how you would feel if something tragic happened to a work colleague because of something you did or something you didn’t do, even if it was not your fault.
So, it is important to know about health and safety at work, what your employer should be doing to protect you and what you should do yourself, and you need to know about your rights and responsibilities too!
It could happen to you
As a young person starting work, you are more at risk than your older colleagues. New to the job and new to the workplace, you lack experience and knowledge of the health and safety risks that are present.
You have the right to safe and healthy work, including the necessary training and supervision, and the right to ask questions and report things that look unsafe to you.
If you have an accident or damage your health at work you may have to live with the consequences for the rest of your life, and that’s no joke.
According to European statistics, the work injury rate for young people aged 18-24 years is 50% higher than for any other age group of workers. Hundreds of thousands of young people in Europe suffer injury or ill health from work each year. Tragically some lose their lives and a few do not even survive their first day at work. Most of these tragedies could be prevented.
- An 18-year-old apprentice mechanic died 4 days after being engulfed in flames; he was helping his manager empty a mixture of petrol and diesel into a waste tank when the petrol exploded…
And it’s not just accident risks that could affect you, your health could be damaged too. Diseases and conditions such as cancers, bad backs or hearing loss develop slowly over time.
- A hairdressing apprentice reacted to the products she had to use; her hands came out in cuts and blisters so that she could not even grip a knife and fork and she had to give up the job…
The causes of such accidents and ill health include lack of training and supervision, unsafe equipment, poor working conditions, and the lack of proper procedures and controls.
Try the quiz!: Numbers - accidents and ill health
Extra protection if you are under-18
If you are under 18-years-old, the law bans you from doing certain hazardous jobs because of your inexperience. And, if you are under-18, you are much more likely to have an accident if you are doing work that is restricted by law. So, special protections apply, and you cannot do work that:
- Is beyond your physical or psychological capacity
- Exposes you to toxic substances
- Exposes you to harmful radiation
- Involves health risks from extreme temperatures, noise or vibrations
- Could cause an accident because you lack experience or training, or attention to safety
Unless: you are over the minimum school leaving age, and it is necessary for your vocational training, you have competent supervision and your employer can guarantee proper protection.
Who can get involved?
The Safe Start campaign is open to all organisations and individuals at local, national and European level, including:
- Schools, colleges, universities
- Individual classes and students
- Youth organisations
- Work experience and training providers
- Public and private sector bodies, including small firms
- Trades unions and safety representatives
- Managers, supervisors and workers
- Education authorities
- Safety and health institutions
