§ 135. Mr. Ernie RossTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what assessment he has made of the relative risk in terms of health and safety at work for younger employees.
§ Mr. NichollsI am aware of the results of research into the relationship between age and accidents at work summarised recently by the Health and Safety Executive in its report "Health and Safety Statistics 1984–85". This report indicates that the work-injury ratio for male employees in the 16–24 years age group is higher than for any other age group. The research suggests that the type of employment and the immaturity and inexperience of young employees play some part in explaining the higher ratio. The research results will be taken into account when deciding what action to take following the recent document on "Restriction on the employment of young people and the removal of sex discrimination in legislation".