Insurance and Work Experience

Under health and safety law, work experience students are your employees. You treat them no differently to other young people you employ.

Your existing employers' liability insurance policy will cover work placements provided your insurer is a member of the Association of British Insurers link to external website, or Lloyds link to external website, so there is no need for you to obtain any additional employer’s liability insurance if you take on work experience students. The ABI website link to external website confirms this.

What you need to do:

Simply use your existing arrangements for assessments and management of risks to young people
if you have fewer than five employees you are not required to have a written risk assessment
Avoid repeating your assessment of the risks if a new student is of a broadly similar level of maturity and understanding, and has no particular or additional needs (the organiser or parent should tell you if they have)
if you do not currently employ a young person, have not done so in the last few years or are taking on a work experience student for the first time, or one with particular needs, review your risk assessment before they start
discuss the placement in advance with organisers and take account of what they and the parents or carers tell you of the student’s physical and psychological capacity and of any particular needs, for example due to any health conditions or learning difficulties
keep any additional work in proportion to the environment:
for placements in low-risk environments, such as offices or shops, with everyday risks that will mostly be familiar to the student, your existing arrangements for other employees should suffice
for environments with risks less familiar to the student (eg in light assembly or packing facilities), you will need to make arrangements to manage the risks. This will need to include induction, supervision, site familiarisation, and any protective equipment needed
for a placement in a higher-risk environment such as construction, agriculture and manufacturing you will need to:
consider what work the student will be doing or observing, the risks involved and how these are managed
satisfy yourself that the instruction, training and supervisory arrangements have been properly thought through and that they work in practice
you may, in particular for higher-risk environments, need to consider specific factors that must be managed for young people, including exposure to radiation, noise and vibration, toxic substances, or extreme temperatures. Where these specific factors exist in your workplace, you should already have control measures in place. This will also apply to legally required age limits on the use of some equipment and machinery (eg forklift trucks and some woodworking machinery). Consider whether you need to do anything further to control the risks to young people
explain to parents/carers of children what the significant risks are and what has been done to control them. This can be done in whatever way is simplest and suitable, including verbally, and is very often done via the school or college
when you induct students, explain the risks and how they are controlled, checking that they understand what they have been told
check that students know how to raise health and safety concerns

More information about managing risks is available from the HSE in Health and safety made simple.

Download Health and Safety Made Simple from HSE