Small businesses

Understanding work health and safety duties and workers’ compensation obligations can be challenging for small businesses.

To assist small businesses in meeting their duties when employing young workers, WorkSafe ACT has created this Small Business component to the Young Workers section of our website.

Whether your business is big or small, the Work Health and Safety Act (2011) still applies to your workplace.

Here is some information for small businesses on keeping young workers safe.

Benefits of small business

Small businesses have a lot to offer young workers and can allow more scope for workers to demonstrate their initiative.

As an employer in a small business, you can introduce initiatives and strategies that are meaningful to your staff and see the outcome more directly. You can develop ongoing, meaningful relationships with your workers, and you can respond quickly to hazardous situations.

When employing young workers:

• make sure you have a good understanding of your work health and safety duties
• train and check that young workers are aware of their role and expectations
• celebrate young people’s differences and the worth they bring to your small business
• act with honesty, consistency and integrity- and model this to young employees
• listen to feedback from young employees, and
• acknowledge and reward young workers for their contributions.

Planning for success

There are many ways you can make employing young workers successful within a small business. Involving young workers in the management of health and safety, including consultation for risk management and control measures, can help increase your worker’s commitment to safety.

Developing a psychosocial plan to identify and manage psychological hazards that might affect the mental health of your young workers may help avoid psychological injuries and help keep workers safe.

If you have limited staff and a supervisor is away, ensure you have a plan for who will step in to cover a supervisor’s role to ensure supervision of your young workers is consistent.

Inductions and training

Providing effective inductions is essential for setting young workers up for success in your business. Taking your workers on a safety tour of you work to discuss hazards, controls, procedures and emergency exits, could improve young worker safety outcomes.

Making new workers feel comfortable from the first day should improve their engagement and improve your ability to retain skilled workers. Creating clear lines of communication early on could assist with young workers raising safety concerns.

Young workers may be coming to your business with limited experience of the workplace, which means that they will need more information, training and supervision than an experienced worker.

You must provide training to your young workers that covers the risks, hazards, controls at your workplace, including on personal protective equipment (PPE) and emergency procedures.

Effectively training and inducting workers could lead to lower rates of workplace accidents, which could lead to lower Workers’ Compensation premiums for your business.

See the training, supervision and induction section on the Employers page for more information.

Contact WorkSafe ACT

Call WorkSafe ACT on 13 22 81 Monday to Friday, 8am to 6 pm, and on weekends or public holidays from 9am-5pm.

International callers please use +61 2 6207 5111. International call rates apply.

After hours, for emergencies, call us on 0419 120 028.

Email WorkSafe ACT at worksafe@worksafe.act.gov.au.