Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Ratification: 2000)

Part V of the report form. Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee previously requested the Government to supply statistical data on the employment of young persons, and information on the number and nature of contraventions reported. In this regard, the Committee notes the data provided in the Government’s report concerning injuries to workers under 18 in Great Britain, disaggregated by sector, indicating that there were 671 non-fatal injuries and three fatalities in this group in 2008–09, and 520 non-fatal injuries and one fatality in 2009–10. The Government further indicates that there were no fatal injuries involving workers under 18 between 2008 and 2010 in Northern Ireland. Additionally, the Committee notes the information in the Government’s report that there were six improvement notices issued linked to an accident involving a young person in 2009–10, and one such notice issued in 2010–11. It further notes the extracts from inspection reports describing the reasons for these issuances, including a lack of supervision, injury, a failure to provide young persons adequate safety training and a failure to perform a risk assessment to cover young persons on a work site. Lastly, the Committee notes the information in the Government’s report that there were 17 prosecutions for incidents at work involving a young person between 2009 and 2010, resulting in 16 convictions and fines totalling £80,500.