Sikkert arbejde for unge: Afslutningsrapport til Arbejdsmiljøforskningsfonden

Denne rapport sammenfatter resultaterne af et tre- årige forskningsprojekt 'Sikkert Arbejde For Unge' (SAFU). Projektet har haft til formål at etablere viden om baggrunden for unges overhyppighed af arbejdsulykker i metalindustri, på social og sundhedsområdet (SoSu) samt i detailhandlen, hvor der samlet set er mange unge ansat.

Med denne rapport håber vi, at projektets resultater kan understøtte myndigheder, organisationer og arbejdsmiljøprofessionelle i arbejdet med at forebygge unges arbejdsskader samt bidrage til realiseringen af 2020 handlingsplanen for arbejdsmiljøet, som har fokus på unge og nyansatte.

Projektet er gennemført i samarbejde med Det Nationale Forskningscenter for Arbejdsmiljø og Arbejdsmedicinsk Klinik, Regionshospitalet i Herning.

I rapporten peger vi på, at unge arbejdstagere er en meget differentieret gruppe, hvor alder ikke er præcis nok til at definere og undersøge risiko og ulykker. Unge praktiserer langt fra sikkerhed og arbejdsmiljø på samme måde. Deres måder at gøre risiko og arbejdsmiljø afhænger af de positioner de har i organisationen, samt de betingelser de er beskæftigede under. Et afgørende resultat i projektet er i den forbindelse konstruktionen af seks kategorier af unge: 'Faglærte', 'Elever/lærlinge', 'Sabbatår ungarbejdere', 'Studerende i arbejde', 'Uddannelsesdropouts' samt 'Vikarer. Formålet med de nye ungdomskategorier er at målrette forebyggelse af arbejdsulykker blandt unge mere direkte end det tidligere har været muligt."

ENGLISH:
Young workers aged 18-24 years have an increased risk of accidents/injuries at work compared to workers over 24 years of age. The research project ‘Safe work for young workers’ (SAFU – Danish acronym) examines factors that may have an impact on young workers’ excess risk of accidents/injuries at work, and the underlying mechanisms necessary to address the prevention of the accidents/injuries for young workers.
The project focuses on three selected industries with three different working cultures,namely retail (supermarkets: a mix of women and men), nursing aides in nursing homes (primarily women) and the metal industry (primarily men). A mixed-methods design was used involving interviews with 66 young workers, as well as workplace observations and questionnaires with 274 young workers and 855 older employees in 18 companies.
Young retail and metal industry workers were found to have an increased risk of injury compared to their older colleagues. Questionnaire results across all three sectors reveal that young workers take risks to a greater degree than older workers, and that they do this in order to do a job better or faster, and that they to a lesser extent than older workers consider their safety when they begin a task. There are no conclusive results across the three sectors in terms of safety culture and safety communication, although there is a tendency that young workers to a lesser degree than their older colleagues are encouraged
to work safely, and that safety is something that is rarely talked about at their workplace.
Compared to the other two sectors, a large proportion (57%) of young workers in retail work part-time, and 61% of the young workers primarily work after 3 pm on weekdays and on weekends. This is in light of the fact that 60-70% of the customers and sales in retail are after 3 pm on weekdays and on weekends. There is virtually no part-time work in the metal sector, and there are no differences between young and older workers working part-time as nurses’ aides in nursing homes. Part-time work is a young worker phenomenon, particularly in the retail industry. Part-time workers have a relatively weaker attachment to their workplace. Such detaching applies also to temporary workers working as nurses’ aides in nursing homes. This may also lead to a disconnection to a company's occupational health and safety (OSH) work, and it is supported by the project's
results, which show that young part-time workers, who work 30 hours or less per week, have more than twice the risk of accidents compared to young full-time workers, who work more than 30 hours a week. Quantitative and qualitative data from all three sectors reveal that safety introduction, training and continuous follow-up are given in various ways: In the retail sector, young workers introduce each other to safety, whereas managers and more experienced employees do not seem to be key persons in the development of the young workers’
safety behaviour. In comparison young nurses’ aides in nursing homes and young workers in the metal industry are involved in a more formal learning process, including an integrated introduction to safety. Yet a large portion of the introduction to safety is through an informal job training process, where students and apprentices learn about safety through work practice by following and being coached by an older and more experienced worker. However, the dominant norms and practices in the workplace are essential to how young workers practice safety. The results of the study are unclear regarding the implications of safety training, instruction and continuous follow-up on the
safety of young workers.
The qualitative data show that young workers’ ways of ‘doing’ risk and OSH do not derive from a particular desire for risk oriented work. The concept of 'doing' risk and OSH in this context refers to a sustained and situated practice in which young workers actively strive to become part of a community (group) and their ways of practicing safety.
Risk behaviour may be a way to adapt and demonstrate mastery of the dominant
normalised safety and risk practices in their workplaces. Young workers perceive that working fast and efficiently may be a way to be recognised as a good and competent young employee, even if it involves a certain degree of accident/injury risk at work. Young workers’ ways of doing risk and OSH in practice must therefore be seen as an organisational practice that gives them access to demonstrate mastery of and adaptation to the safety culture, routines and practices that already exist in their workplaces.
Historically, young people are seen as a relatively homogeneous group. However, results from the SAFU project identify young workers as a very diverse group where chronological age is not precise enough to define and examine risk and accidents. Young workers do not practice OSH in the same ways, and their ways of doing risk and OSH depend on the positions they have in an organisation, and the conditions they are employed under. A main outcome of the SAFU project is the construction of six categories of young workers: ‘Skilled workers’, ‘Students/apprentices’, ‘Sabbatical workers’, ‘Students at work’, ‘Education drop-outs’ and ‘Temporary workers’. These are
compared in terms of their working hours, career perspectives, types of work, risk
management, self-perception in relation to risk and safety, and position in the
organisation. E.g. ‘Students at work’ may have a short-term career perspective in the present work, whereas others, such as apprentices, may have a long-term career perspective in their work, which may play a role in young workers’ approach to safety and subsequently the organisation of injury prevention measures. In conclusion, there is a need for a differentiation of the ‘youth’ category in the prevention of accidents and injuries among young worker. Accident prevention and campaigns targeted towards young workers need to take into account the different positions and conditions young workers have in their workplace. It is important in this context to examine how training, instruction and continuous follow-up can be adapted to the various categories of young people in order to reduce their risk of accidents/injury at work. Strategies must be based on both structural conditions and the more specific
organisational conditions that influence the safety of young workers. Failure to do so may perpetuate the risk of putting too much emphasis on the individual young worker’s attentiveness and cognitive abilities, rather than on efforts aimed at workplace structure, hierarchy and relationships.