The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is calling on the Government to help stop RSI by introducing typing and keyboard skills into schools.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “Millions of children are missing out on a life skill that could help protect the workforce of tomorrow from this painful and chronic illness.”
For more information, see the TUC website
MPs are calling for a Parliamentary debate and government action over the number of deaths and injuries of young people in the workplace.
Tony Blair voiced his support during Prime Minister’s Question Time, and echoing his concerns 89 MPs across all parties have signed up to Early Day Motion 254, Protecting Young People in the Workplace, that calls on the Government to make the workplace hazard awareness course for year 10 pupils a mandatory part of every curriculum.
More information can be found here
From October 2007, more than a million workers will benefit from a rise in the National Minimum Wage from £5.35 to £5.52 an hour.
This will also mean increases from £4.45 to £4.60 for 18-21 year olds, and from £3.30 to £3.40 for 16-17 year olds.
For full details see the Government News Network website
The Government has set out detailed proposals so that from 2015 all young people will remain in some form of education or training until their 18th birthday.
Research by the Department for Education and Skills found nine in ten people are in favour of young people being made to continue in academic or vocational education until 18, with support strongest among parents and grandparents.
For more information on the proposals, click here
Employers have been warned to exercise greater care when it comes to the safety of youngsters on work experience, following a spate of horrific incidents involving school children.
Incidents involving pupils as young as 14 have prompted warnings to organisations to do more to fulfil their duty of care to young people they take on.
To read more, click here
US youngsters aged 14 to 18 who work at retail and service jobs during the school year put in an average of 16 hours a week, often at jobs that are dangerous and unsupervised, research published in March has found.
The report from the University of North Carolina said some of the working conditions, found in interviews with a representative national sample of 928 teenage workers, violated federal law.
Find out more here
The information on accidents and prosecutions featured in this section comes from a number of different sources including the Health and Safety Executive and regional and national newspapers.
“Young people at the beginning of their working lives, through lack of life experience and health and safety training are particularly vulnerable to workplace hazards. Protecting the vulnerable is an essential mark of a civilised society.”
Michael Clapham MP, Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Safety and Health
