Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Finland (Ratification: 1976)

Articles 3 and 6 of the Convention. Hazardous work and apprenticeships. The Committee notes the Government’s indication, in its report, that amendments to Government Decree on Work Especially Harmful and Hazardous to Young Workers (475/2006), laying down the conditions under which young workers may be engaged in hazardous work, was amended on 1 October 2021. Among the changes, the Government indicates that the work carried out by a young worker in vocational training under the guidance and supervision of a teacher, as well as the work for which the young worker has completed a vocational qualification or an application qualification unit, shall only be subject to section 5. Section 5 provides that young workers carrying out hazardous work shall: (1) be instructed and familiarized with the work and hazards related to it; (2) be able to follow occupational safety instructions; (3) during the work, special attention must be paid to the guidance and supervision of the young worker; and (4) for the duration of each operation, the young worker must be placed under the guidance and supervision of an experience and qualified person. In this regard, the Committee notes that, while section 5 specifies that adequate specific instructions and supervision need to be in place for young persons to engage in hazardous work in the context of vocational training, it does not explicitly specify a minimum age of 16 years for such work.

In addition, the Committee notes that: (1) section 2(2) of the Government Decree on Work Especially Harmful and Hazardous to Young Workers allows pupils from the seventh grade of compulsory education, regardless of age, to perform hazardous work under a teacher’s guidance and supervision if needed for teaching and if it can be done safely; and (2) section 3 allows young workers, without specifying a minimum age of 16 years, to engage in certain hazardous activities (listed in section 3(1) to (9)) in the course of an apprenticeship, under the continuous supervision of an experienced and skilled person.

In this regard, the Committee recalls that the requirements of Article 3 of the Convention, regarding protection from hazardous work, apply to all children and young persons, including those engaged in vocational training or apprenticeships (see the General Survey of 2012 on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 385). The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that: (i) trainees under the age of 18 years are not engaged in hazardous types of work; and (ii) if trainees do engage in certain types of hazardous work in the course of their apprenticeship or vocational training, that the performance of these hazardous tasks only be authorized under the conditions prescribed by Article 3(3) of the Convention, namely that the trainee be at least 16 years of age and that their health, safety and morals are fully protected and that they receive adequate, specific instruction or training in the relevant branch of activity.