A hazard is anything that has the potential to cause harm.
Physical hazards in the workplace involve equipment and activities that can cause harm or injury.
In creative workplaces, physical hazards often arise for children and young people from:
- manual handling — e.g. moving equipment that’s too big or heavy for a child or young person
- equipment use — e.g. back and neck strain from working at a writing desk set at the wrong height for a young person
- repetitive activities — e.g. a wrist injury from repeated cello lessons, practice and rehearsals that have not been altered to account for a child’s physical development.
Children and young people are particularly vulnerable in a creative workplace, and some hazards can disproportionately impact children and young people.
They can be exposed to a combination of hazards in their creative work or when making art, and they may not have the knowledge or confidence to identify and raise risks.
High risk for children and young people in the workplace includes environments or activities where:
- where there are hazards to health and safety for children or young people and
- where additional precautions or safeguards may be necessary.
What is ‘high risk’ for a child or young person may be broader than what is high risk work for adults. Organisations should conduct risk assessments to understand the level of risk associated with activities.
It is also important to understand psychosocial safety hazards for children and young people.
Physical hazards that impact children and young people
Physical hazards that are particularly relevant to children and young people in creative practices include:
- high decibel sound exposure from live performances
- hazards on sets — e.g. tripping over props
- performance-related hazards — e.g. injuries from dance routines or circus acts
- travelling to new environments that may not meet safety standards
- exposure to sharp tools — e.g. when sculpting
- stress and burnout— e.g. from highly demanding creative work or high expectations from others
- fatigue — e.g. from balancing creative work with study
- repetitive movements — e.g. from dance or playing an instrument.
Managing physical hazards
Identifying hazards and taking proactive steps to manage risks creates safer work environments, prevents injuries and helps workplaces meet their legal obligations. It is crucial for every creative workplace.
Managing hazards and risks generally involves:
- Identifying hazards
- Assessing the risk of harm
- Eliminating or controlling the risks
- Evaluating the risks and any controls you put in place
In some places, there are also requirements for organisations to consult with workers and to document how they will prevent and respond to hazards. Work health and safety laws in different states and territories have particular requirements for each step.
Learn more about:
- managing workplace hazards and risks and
- identifying, assessing and controlling physical hazards in the workplace
Talk about safety
A big part of identifying hazards is consultation. Children and young people should be part of discussions about safety at every step.
Consult them on matters that affect them.
Organisations may need to adapt consultation processes so that they work for children and young people. They may be nervous about raising safety concerns, or not experienced enough to understand what issues they can and should raise. Make sure your processes help them to talk to you about safety. For example:
- adults may need to initiate conversations about safety rather than expecting a child or young person to do so
- organisations could have a particular person who has experience with children or young people, or develop a modified or simpler process, for children or young people to ask questions or raise concerns.
Learn more about WHS consultation: talking about safety.
Remember: Not all children and young people are the same. Make sure consultation also works for children and young people from diverse backgrounds and who have diverse needs. For example:
- having structured check-ins with children with disability to understand if they are disproportionately impacted by any hazards
- considering whether a different approach should be taken to gather feedback from children from a particular cultural group.
Be proactive about managing physical hazards
Creative workplaces can, and should, take proactive steps to managing physical hazards. These include:
- Inspect any environment that a child or young person will be using and identify and document any physical hazards. For example, this might include slippery surfaces in a performance area or an unfinished stage area. It could also include identifying risks around scheduling that may increase fatigue for children and young people.
- Evaluate the likelihood of harm to a child or young person and the severity of that harm. For example, if there are rehearsals scheduled every day after school this may disproportionately affect children and young people and contribute to fatigue and risk of physical injuries.
- Consider ways to eliminate hazards. If elimination isn’t possible, minimise risks as much as is reasonably practicable. For example:
- Spread out rehearsals to reduce the risk of fatigue
- Ensure appropriate supervision of children and young people at all times
- Monitor children and young people to understand whether they are engaging in activities such as dance, or circus movements safely, where repetitive movement may arise
- Providing personal protective equipment
- Providing adaptations to physical environments.
- Review past incidents or near misses. Consider how things could be done differently in future. For example, increased supervision, or a different approach to stage or rehearsal environments that promote physical safety.
In practice:
Case study: Physical safety at the children's choir
You run a children’s choir. The choir is performing a Christmas Carols concert. Your soloist, Ritu, will be suspended above the choir to sing her part.
One rehearsal close to the performance, the choreographer asks Ritu to rehearse using the aerial equipment. She hasn’t been trained to use the equipment yet, but she’s intimidated by the choreographer and agrees.
You identify a number of risks to Ritu’s physical safety, including that:
- She has not been trained on the equipment or safety precautions
- She may not know how, or feel comfortable, asking for training or raising concerns.
- She will be several metres above ground, which you have already assessed as being high risk
- She may not understand the safety risks, which means she cannot make an informed decision about taking part, and may not understand when she can and should ask for additional training.
What to do
You step in. You explain to both Ritu and the choreographer that, before Ritu can use the equipment, she must be properly trained to use the equipment, including on safety precautions and what to do if something goes wrong.
Soon after you arrange safety training for Ritu with an experienced aerial instructor who closely supervises her each time she uses the equipment. Ritu is also taught what to do to keep herself safe if something goes wrong and has been given the opportunity to ask any questions.
Before the first all-choir rehearsal with Ritu using the equipment, you communicate to all the performers and crew how important physical safety is. You share instructions on what behaviours are expected of them around the equipment and any time Ritu is in the harness. You remind them how to raise safety concerns and encourage them to do so.
Case study: Keeping young performers safe on tour
You run a youth orchestra aimed at offering performance opportunities for university students and new graduates. Most of your performers are between 18 and 25.
Ash is in her first year at the conservatorium. She’s the youngest in the orchestra at 17, having skipped ahead a year at school.
You have a regional tour coming up. You are unsure about bringing someone under 18 on tour. There may not be consistent supervision, some performances are at licensed venues, and tours can be physically taxing. But she is an excellent performer and it seems a shame to deny her the opportunity to tour, particularly as you’ll be performing movements from Tchaikovsky’s fifth with its famous horn solo.
What to do
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Identify the hazards — This could include limited supervision, unfamiliar environments where others could take advantage of her, and long days with limited breaks or rest time. Even though she is only a year younger than some of her fellow musicians, Ash may be disproportionately impacted because of her limited exposure to these environments. Our Dos and Don’ts for safety on tour can help you identify things to look out for and actions to take.
You should also ask Ash if there is anything she is worried about. Learn more about talking about safety.
Keep a record of the hazards you identify and your conversations or emails with Ash. Learn more about keeping safety records.
- Assess the risks — You may be comfortable that the environments Ash will perform in will be physically safe as they are all established venues but you note that your schedule has limited scope for breaks. It’s also not clear what supervision will be available for Ash.
- Eliminate or control the risk — You and Ash decide to invite an adult member of Ash’s family to come on tour with you. You might also explore alternative accommodation if that is Ash’s preference or adjust the schedule so that she has breaks between performances, and you make sure she can be supported in environments where alcohol is present.
- Evaluate the risks and controls — After the tour, spend some time thinking about how well these strategies worked. Were they effective? Did having a family member along introduce, unanticipated issues? Ask Ash how she felt it worked, and involve her in future conversations to get her opinion and suggestions for future tours.
Dos and don'ts for managing physical hazards
- Talk to children and young people about safety. This helps make safety conversations feel normal. Call out hazards when you identify them and talk about what you’re doing to control them. Encourage children and young people to ask questions and raise their own concerns.
- Give children and young people a safety induction.
- Give them training on how to use equipment safely.
- Tell them what to do in an emergency, including what to do if first aid is needed.
- Make sure they have appropriate supervision. There are no set ratios — it will depend on what their needs are and what activity they’re doing. The aim is to keep them safe — consider this aim when working out what 'appropriate supervision' is for your circumstances.
- Don’t assume children and young people have safety knowledge without you telling them.
- Don’t dismiss their safety concerns because they are young or haven’t articulated themselves clearly.
- Never leave them unsupervised when performing high risk activities.
- Allow children and young people or other workers to work without appropriate personal protective equipment.
It is never ok to accept or allow physical hazards because of cost or a lack of resources.
Tips for creative organisations
Remember:
- Children and young people may have limited knowledge of work health and safety and what is expected of them.
- They may not understand what behaviours are appropriate and inappropriate in a workplace.
- They may follow the actions of others without understanding the risks.
- The role a child or young person has with in your creative organisation may be their first experience in a workplace.
- They may lack training and support on workplace health and safety.
- They may not report hazards or safety risks because they don’t know how or don’t think it is serious enough.
- They may not feel confident to speak up, even if they do identify a risk or feel unsafe.
- Children and young people may be eager to please and impress supervisors, and they may put their own safety or the safety of others at risk in the process. This may be particularly true if they are competing with others — for roles, prizes, places or acknowledgment.
- Power imbalance between children and young people and adults can heighten certain risks.
- Creative work that happens outside regular business hours, or in unfamiliar environments, can heighten certain risks.
- Children and young people are often balancing study with their creative work. This can make them more susceptible to fatigue.
Work health and safety laws
Creative businesses and organisation need to understand their duties under work health and safety laws for everyone in the workplace.
Learn more about:
- managing workplace hazards and risks and
- identifying, assessing and controlling physical hazards in the workplace.
In all states and territories
Every state and territory has workplace health and safety laws. These laws apply to children and young people who are:
- working — e.g. employees under 18, and children and young people working as independent contractors.
- participating or learning — e.g. in an art class or music lesson
- visiting — e.g. as audience members.
In Victoria
In Victoria, there are also occupational health and safety laws for owners and occupiers of a premise. This means that private tutors providing lessons to children or young people in their homes also need to take steps to ensure their physical safety to comply with these laws
For more about occupational health and safety obligations for children and young people in Victoria, visit WorkSafe Victoria’s guidance on Young workers.
