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The Job Market for Young Workers and OH&S16 June 1998 By Professor Michael Quinlan, University of New South Wales Changes in labour markets and job structures over the past 20 years have had profound implications for types of work-setting young workers typically encounter. The disintegration of labour markets based on relatively secure full-time employment has significant implications for occupational health and safety (OHS). Since younger workers are disproportionately concentrated in contingent or precarious forms of employment they bear an inordinate burden from the OHS risks associated with these types of work. There is an urgent need for more research because many young workers are found in industries or sectors (such as retail, hospitality, rural occupations) where OHS risks have not been the subject of much research. Further, this neglect also applies to research into the OHS implications of the growth of contingent forms of employment. Nevertheless, available evidence indicates that younger workers are often found in jobs with significant but largely unrecognised OHS risks. Governments, employers and unions need to give this issue urgent attention. This paper identifies labour market changes that are impacting on the types of jobs undertaken by younger workers. It then reviews available evidence on the OHS effects of these changes. Casual/Temporary WorkOne of the most important labour market changes affecting younger workers has been a dramatic expansion in casualised employment. The growth in temporary waged work has been commensurate with a decline in permanent full-time employment A recent OECD study found growth had occurred in 11 of the 18 industrialised countries surveyed, and especially Spain, Ireland France, the Netherlands and Australia (see Table 1).Table 1: Incidence of Temporary Employment by Age and Gender, 1983 and 1994 Percentages Total Men Women Aged 16-19 years Aged 20-24 years Aged 25 years 1983 1994 1983 1994 1983 1994 1983 1994 1983 1994 1983 1994 Australia 15.6 23.5 9.0 17.9 26.2 30.6 29.8 58.7 14.0 26.1 14.0 19.5 Belgium 5.4 5.1 3.8 3.5 8.5 7.5 29.2 38.6 12.9 16.0 3.2 3.6 Canada 7.5 8.8 6.9 9.2 8.2 8.5 13.6 16.7 .. .. 6.0 7.3 Denmark 12.5 12.0 12.2 11.1 12.7 12.9 40.1 28.6 25.7 33.1 6.6 7.6 Finland 11.3 13.5 9.3 12.3 13.3 14.7 .. .. .. .. .. .. France 3.3 11.0 3.3 9.7 3.4 12.4 36.5 80.8 5.9 35.0 1.4 7.6 Germany 10.0 10.3 9.0 9.8 11.5 11.0 62.3 74.0 16.9 23.2 3.5 5.9 Greece 16.2 10.3 16.6 10.2 15.4 10.5 33.8 29.6 25.9 20.3 14.0 8.8 Ireland 6.1 9.4 4.7 7.4 8.8 12.1 18.4 32.8 7.2 14.3 3.9 6.8 Italy 6.6 7.3 5.2 6.1 9.4 9.3 15.1 24.0 10.2 14.5 5.6 5.9 Japan 10.3 10.4 5.3 5.4 19.5 18.3 17.0 31.7 8.5 11.8 10.2 9.4 Luxembourg 3.2 2.9 2.2 2.0 5.5 4.4 17.1 28.5 3.5 7.0 1.6 1.7 Netherlands 5.8 10.9 4.1 7.9 9.3 15.0 19.0 40.5 9.9 20.7 4.3 7.4 Portugal 14.4 9.4 13.5 8.5 15.9 10.5 39.8 27.2 28.3 22.7 9.3 6.4 Spain 15.6 33.7 14.4 31.4 18.4 37.9 48.2 87.5 31.6 70.6 11.0 26.5 Sweden 12.0 13.5 9.7 12.3 13.9 14.6 57.0 61.1 26.5 39.5 6.9 9.6 United Kingdom 5.5 6.5 4.2 5.55. 7.3 7.5 20.4 15.7 5.7 10.1 3.9 5.4 United States .. 2.2 .. 2.0 .. 2.4 .. 8.1 .. 5.1 .. 1.4 Source: Campbell and Burgess, 1997.In Australia the number of casual employees rose from less than 700,000 (or around 13% of employees) in 1982 to 1.6 million (or around 23.5% of employees in 1995. As of July 1996 the figure had climbed to more than 1.8 million and over 26% of total employees (Campbell and Burgess, 1997:7). The level of temporary employment exceeded all EU members except Spain (33.7%). As can be seen from Table 1 the expansion of temporary work amongst 16-19 year olds in Australia has outstripped all other age groups. In 1983 29.8% of these younger workers held temporary jobs but by 1994 the proportion in temporary jobs had almost doubled to 58.7%. In Australia, casual employees are concentrated in smaller establishments. In 1994 casuals amounted to 38.6% of the workforce in workplaces with fewer than 10 employees and these workplaces employed 43.7% of all casuals (ABS 6325.0.40.001, August 1994 cited in Campbell and Burgess, 1997:24).
Table 2 : Australia: Casual Employees as Percentage of Total Employees by Gender Year b) Male Female casual '000 Casual % casual '000 Casual % 1984 303.5 9.4 544.8 25.7 1985 308.9 9.4 578.3 26.1 1986 na Na na na 1987 389.5 11.5 674.7 27.9 1988 415.7 11.7 737.2 28.8 1989 c) 455.9 12.2 754.7 27.3 1990 476.1 12.7 795.6 28.2 1991 479.0 13.5 801.0 29.0 1992 550.4 15.6 864.6 30.9 1993 578.0 16.4 857.1 30.6 1994 655.1 18.1 894.0 30.8 1995 698.1 18.5 955.2 30.8 1996 829.0 21.2 1012.3 32.0In all countries younger workers are far more likely to occupy temporary jobs and in a number of countries this tendency has become even more accentuated since 1984 (See Table 2 and OECD, 1996:6). In France, Germany and Spain over 70% of employed teenagers held such jobs compared to 58.7% of 16-19 year olds in Australia (See Table 2 and Campbell and Burgess, 1997:25). Workers aged 15 to 24 also constituted a disproportionate number (over 40%) of casual part-time workers, with the majority of these being secondary or tertiary students (Campbell and Burgess, 1997:26). The youth component of casual workers in Australia and some other countries has been increased by backpacker tourists arriving with working visas or working illegally during their stay. In 1994, for example, 217,200 international backpackers visited Australia (most from Europe and North America), with the most common length of stay being around 12 months. While working visas were issued for less than a quarter of these arrivals (even by 1996-7 the number of working visas issued annually had only been increased to 50,000, Commonwealth of Australia Joint Standing Committee on Migration, 1996) the overwhelming majority undertake some paid work during their stay. Backpackers generally undertake casual unskilled or semi skilled work in agriculture, hospitality and other human services, clerical, construction and factories. A recent Australian government inquiry found that 42.8% were employed in labouring jobs (mainly in fruit-picking, factory hands, kitchenhands, storepersons, cleaners and builders' labourers), almost 25% were employed in retailing/sales and another 20% in clerical work (Commonwealth of Australia Joint Standing Committee on Migration, 1997:24). With the partial exception of the factory work, employment regulation and union presence is relatively weak in all these areas and available evidence indicates that backpackers have limited knowledge of their obligations and entitlements (Commonwealth of Australia Joint Standing Committee on Migration, 1997:117). During the inquiry a number of submissions noted the tendency of backpackers to be exploited or to work below award rates on a cash-in-the-hand basis which avoided tax and because they had no access to social security benefits (Commonwealth of Australia Joint Standing Committee on Migration, 1996:S382,405-410,414-7,449).
Growth in Part-time WorkThe shift to more younger workers being found in casual jobs is matched by a shift towards part-time jobs. From the 1970s onwards there was a significant expansion in part-time employment across many OECD countries. It can be noted that by 1995 the proportion of part-time workers exceeded 20% in Australia, Denmark, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the UK (OECD, 1991:46). Women made up over 70% of part-time workers in all countries apart from France, Greece, Ireland, Italy and the USA. The growth of part-time work has continued into the 1990s.
Table 3: OECD Countries: Size and Composition of Part-Time Employment 1973-1995 Percentages Total employment Women's share in part-time employment 1973 1983 1990 1995 1973 1983 1990 Australia 11.4 17.5 21.3 24.8 79.6 78.0 78.1 Austria 6.4 8.4 8.8a 13.3d 85.8 88.4 88.8a Belgium 2.8 8.1 10.2a 15.4 d 89.8 84.0 89.6a Canada 10.6 15.4 15.4 18.6 69.5 71.3 71.0 Denmark 17.0 23.8 23.7b 22.5 d 93.4 84.7 79.4b Finland 3.9 8.3 7.2b 11.0 d 81.0 71.7 67.8 France 5.1 9.7 12.0c 16.2 d 82.1 84.4 83.1 Germany 7.7 12.6 13.2b 16.4 d 92.4 91.9 90.5b Greece -- 6.5 5.5b 3.9 d -- 61.2 65.7b Ireland 4.0 6.6 8.1b 13.3 d 67.5 71.6 68.2b Italy 3.9 4.6 5.7a 6.1 d 55.4 64.8 64.7a Japan 7.9 16.2 17.6a 20.1 60.9 72.9 73.0a Luxembourg 4.5 6.3 6.5b 8.0 d 83.3 88.9 80.0b Netherlands 4.4 21.4 33.2 37.4 d 80.4 77.3 70.4 New Zealand 10.8 15.3 20.1 -- 71.3 79.8 76.1 Norway 23.5 29.0 26.6 26.5 d 77.0 83.7 81.8 Portugal -- -- 5.9a 4.4 d -- -- 69.8a Spain -- -- 4.8a 7.1 d -- -- 77.2a Sweden 18.0 24.8 23.2 26.4 d 88.0 86.6 83.7 United Kingdom 15.3 19.4 21.8a 24.5 d 92.1 89.8 87.0a United States 13.9 18.4 16.9 18.6 68.4 66.8 67.6 Source: OECD Employment Outlook July 1996:8An important feature of the decline in full-time employment and growth of part-time work has been a transformation of the youth labour market which has been occurring over the past 20 to 25 years in many OECD countries. Campbell and Burgess (1997:27) observe: 'The youth labour market appears increasingly split between a shrinking sector of full-time permanent jobs and a rapidly growing sector of part-time casual jobs The incidence of casual employment - almost entirely part-time - amongst young workers increased very sharply between 1984 and 1994: from 29.8 to 58.7% for the 15 to 19 year group and from 14 to 26.1% for the 20 to 24 year group'. This change has been brought about by a combination of an increase in the period spent in education, a change in job types/entry ports and qualifications (including credentialling) and changes in the employment practices of especially large organisations in particular industries. This can be illustrated by reference to two industries. First, in retailing, large retailers have replaced full-time employees in supermarkets and even department stores with young casual part-timers - a process accelerated in some instances by the extension of trading hours. Second, the labour needs of, often rapidly expanding, fast food chains (including franchises) like McDonalds, Pizza Hut etc have been overwhelmingly met by school and university students, employed on a casual and part-time basis. In both Australia and Europe women and younger workers predominate in part-time casual employment (Campbell and Burgess, 1997:28). Research in Europe and Australia (see Delsen, 1995:116-21; and Maier, 1994 cited in Campbell and Burgess, 1997:36-9) indicates that, like casual employment, part-time employment is associated with a lower level of protection in terms of social security (health and unemployment insurance, pension, sickness and maternity entitlements etc) and employment regulation (leave and promotion entitlements, unfair dismissal protection).
Homework and TeleworkHomework is a form of outsourcing which involves both self-employed workers and employees. In Australia periodic surveys undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) indicate that the number of home-based workers grew by 29% to 343,000 or 4% of the employed workforce between 1989 and 1995 (Lafferty et al, 1997:145). The 1995 ABS survey indicated that finance and business services employed most homeworkers (18.3% of women and 21.9% of all persons) followed by wholesale and retail (14.5% of women and 15.4% of persons) and manufacturing (11.7% of women and 12.6% of persons. Lafferty et al, 1997:151). However, in at least one manufacturing industry - garment making - available evidence suggests the number of homeworkers has at least doubled over the past 15 years in response to cost pressures from retailers and tariff policy changes (see Peck, 1996:163-7; and Mayhew and Quinlan, 1998).The expansion of homework in industrialised countries has also been associated with a re-emergence of child labour. It is difficult to know the precise extent of child labour in Australia because even where child labour is not associated with homework it is generally concentrated in informal areas of the economy where official employment statistics are unreliable. In some countries like the USA child labour remains a conspicuous feature of family groups - often recent immigrants - involved in seasonal fruit-picking and vegetable harvesting, especially in the southern states. Available data indicates that 4.1 million children aged 12 to 17 years were employed in the USA in 1996. Recent research has uncovered disturbing trends in relation to the level of illegal employment. A study by Kruse (1997. See also Foster and Farrell, 1997) based on federal population census, employment and Department of Labor violations data found that a long term decline in the number of illegal child workers since the 1970s had stalled and gone into reverse since 1994. He estimated that 292,200 children of 15 years or younger were employed unlawfully in 1996, including 4,900 in agriculture and 13,100 in garment sweatshops (no estimate was made of child employment in home-based garment production). Wages of children employed illegally averaged $US5 per hour. Children employed in jobs prescribed as too hazardous for their age were paid on average $US1.38 an hour below the rate applicable to workers old enough to be legally employed in the same jobs (Kruse, 1997). Occupational risks included exposure to pesticides and other chemicals in agriculture over-exertion in garment making and the combination of lack of training/inexperience with dangerous machinery or work processes (Crenson, 1997 and Sullivan, 1997). In Italy, the CGIL has argued that there are almost 300,000 child workers, with the largest concentration around Naples earning around $60 a week. This estimate has not been challenged by either government or employers (Hooper, 1998:23). The growth of home-based work presents major regulatory difficulties - just as it did 100 years ago when it was a focus for debate over the sweating of labour - because of its invisibility to factory inspectorates and other government agencies and its association with illegal practices in some industries (now often linked to a combination of exploitation, tax evasion and illegal immigrants in some countries). Many homeworkers operate in cramped conditions in a setting not designed for work, under tight production schedules and at low rates of pay (exacerbated by delayed payment in the case of garment workers - something designed to maintained their dependency on a particular 'middleman' Mayhew and Quinlan, 1997d). Even where homeworkers and teleworkers are employees, many are paid on a piecework basis which makes the regulation of minimum wages and other conditions difficult (Felstead, 1996; Menzies, 1997; Boris and Prugl, 1996). The Growth of Small Business and Declining Workplace Size In a number of countries factors including labour shedding by large employers and the growth of outsourcing has resulted in a growth in the number and employment share of small business (including self-employed/independent operators). In Australia by 1989/90 small business counted for 96% of non agricultural private enterprises, employed 48% of the employed labour force and accounted for a more than proportional share of employment growth (Burgess, 1992:132-3). The shift of employment to the small business sector has a number of consequences. First, and most obviously, there is a much higher rate of volatility (formation, sale and closure) amongst small business (Small Business Research Program, 1996:xvi). On average, workers in small business have less job security and on-the-job experience. Hence growth in the small business sector will be associated with increases in insecurity and inexperience within the workforce. Second, since unionisation rates and effective regulatory coverage are lower in relation to small business, the shift means an increasing number of employees are likely to operate in a non-union workplace where regulated standards, if not formally lower (and they may well be in relation to wages and other working conditions depending on the particular regulatory system) will be of less practical effect. A longitudinal survey of 9,000 Australian businesses found that well over 80% of small businesses were union free compared to less than 12.5% of businesses with 500 or more employees (Industry Commission/Department of Industry, Science and Tourism, 1997:64). While awards still dominated employment regulation within large firms - despite the shift to enterprise agreements - individual contracts or agreements were the norm in small business (Small Business Research Program, 1996:xvii). Third, the growth of small business may well have implications for the use of unpaid and child labour with the same survey indicating that 61% of firms employing 5 to 9 employees are family owned (Small Business Research Program, 1996:xvi). Employment within the small business sector of many countries has a number of other distinguishing characteristics to employment within larger organisations. Small businesses employs proportionally more women and part-time workers (Small Business Research Program, 1996:xvii). All the changes just mentioned could have profound implications for OHS. This paper will confine itself to discussing several. The OHS implications of an expanding small business sector The shift in employment from large organisations to small organisations is likely to have twofold consequences for OHS. First, it may have an effect on the health and well-bring of employees who remain within large organisations that downsize, delayer, devolve etc. Second, the progressive shift of employees to smaller employment units will have effects associated with any systemic difference in the incidence, regulation and treatment of OHS that may apply to small business. For example, the 1991-2 EU work environment survey (Paoli:1995:76) found that work speed, deadlines and repetitive work were more pressing OHS concerns amongst workers in larger companies. On the other hand, the same survey (Paoli:1995:36,40) found that workers in small business were more likely to report painful or tiring postures and the need to lift heavy loads at work. There are also implications in terms of provision of occupational health services and workplace health promotion which are usually confined to large organisations (Daykin, 1997). A study by Daykin (1997:106) found that organisational change caused lower paid and insecure workers to view health promotion as a burden and to avoid using health services for fear that the health information thereby obtained would be used in redeployment and redundancy decisions. These findings are suggestive and may mask significant inter-industry differences. From the perspective of younger workers the effects associated with the growth of small business are almost certainly more important than those associated with labour shedding etc in larger organisations. With regard to OHS within small business a number of points can be made. As Nichols (1997:161) observes there is considerable debate as to whether there is a high risk of injury and disease in small business or whether medium sized firms have a record inferior to both large and small firms. Nevertheless, both he (1989, 1997) and Tombs (1988) have challenged any presumption that larger workplaces are more hazardous. Both have argued a case that small firms may be more dangerous in terms of the risk of serious injury, with Nichols (1997:161-9) in particular providing evidence to support his case. Reviewing previous research Salminen et al (1993:352) found that the majority of studies (9 out of 12) indicated that 'accident' frequency 'was several times higher in small companies than in big ones'. This was the conclusion also reached by their own study of serious occupational 'accidents' in southern Finland. Detailed research carried out by the Queensland Division of Workplace Health and Safety found that the OHS record of small firms was in no way superior to large firms. Given that this research - and some other studies for that matter - relied on workers' compensation claims data and there is known bias against injured workers making claims in smaller firms, a better performance record would be expected from smaller firms unless their workplaces were indeed more dangerous. Another problem with any attempt to measure performance is the tendency of researchers to conflate the notions of small business with small workplaces. Small workplaces may be found within medium to large organisations as well small firms and there is also the potential for multi-employer workplaces (especially where subcontracting is involved). Whether devolution by a large employer into small operational units will have much the same effect as a number of unrelated small enterprises will depend on the level of strategic control retained over employment and OHS in the former case. Even so, there can be little doubt that both will tend to fragment the management of OHS. Irrespective of any debate over OHS statistics, recent research across a number of countries (see Tuskes and Key, 1988; Eakin, 1992; Lamm, 1995; Hassle and Limborg, 1997; Mayhew et al, 1997 and Mayhew in Mayhew and Peterson, forthcoming) has identified a number of common problems in relation to OHS and OHS regulation within small business, including:
These characteristics may combine with other labour market factors described in this paper. For example, younger workers are more likely to be found in small workplaces and in casualised industries. This can be a lethal combination. A US study of workplace fatalities amongst young building workers found that fatal injuries were far more likely in small and non-union firms (Suruda and Dean, 1996:58). In many industries knowledge of the OHS risks encountered by young workers employed in small firms is fragmentary or confined to reported prosecutions. At the very least, the latter often suggest a lack of adequate supervision or training as in a Victorian case where a 13 year old casual employee in a butcher shop lost four fingers and had his forearm crushed trying to clean an unguarded meat mincer while it was in operation. There is sufficient evidence pertaining to OHS in small business to indicate that growth in employment within the small business sector warrants serious investigation by policymakers. At the very least, such a development has significant regulatory implications, especially in context where OHS agency resources are stagnant or declining in many countries (Walters, 1997:267). According to Wiatrowski (1994:34) in the USA establishments with 10 or fewer employees are not covered by OHS laws so they are not required to keep records and are not subject to inspections. Even in countries with no formal exemption in practice inspectorates have tended to concentrate on larger workplaces. To cope with an expansion of small workplaces will require additional inspectoral resources. This trend will also reduce the number of workers able to utilize the participatory mechanisms entailed in OHS legislation (see below). The OHS implications of casualisation and part-time work The shift to casual and part-time labour can affect OHS in a number of ways. First, such workers are less likely to have received training including training in OHS. In Australia, for example, there is clear evidence of a negative link between reliance on casuals and training expenditure (Denniss, 1997). Further, in the US, Australia and other countries it appears that most skill-related safety training is done informally with employers failing to differentiate initial and routine training. Moreover, a more volatile labour market will diminish the value of what training is already occurring. The 1991-2 EU work environment survey (Paoli:1995:xiv-v) identified lack of training as a major concern for younger workers (along with exposure to hazardous substances, part-time work and time pressures). International evidence indicates that young workers have an above average risk of suffering injury at work (see Eurofocus, 11/97 17-24 March 1997) and it would seem plausible to suggest that their concentration in contingent jobs is one factor in this. Second, partly as a result of the last point but also because of their more transient employment, temporary workers are more likely to lack job specific knowledge and experience, or to be aware of the OHS consequences of both their behaviour and that of other workers. Dwyer (1994:6) refers to this problem as underqualification and refers to a number French studies which identified a higher incidence of injuries amongst workers who had been transferred to another job or were employed under temporary contracts. Similarly, Beaumont and Harris (1996 and 1997) cite a number of studies which have found above average 'accident' rates amongst young workers and workers employed for a short period of time. As with subcontractors, the presence of temporary workers can contribute to disorganisation in the workplace and make the implementation of OHS management systems more difficult. Morale problems can also arise if, as often occurs, temporary workers are assigned to the least desirable jobs or shifts. These and other sources of disorganisation may also apply to part-time workers (see Meulders et al, 1996:594). Finally, in situations with increasing job turnover the association between age and knowledge of work processes will be weakened. This may help explain Beaumont and Harris' (1997:43) finding that age '...negatively impacts on illness/injury for part-time workers.' Of course, job turnover will also make it less likely that occupational health problems will be identified/treated, lead to workers' compensation claims and statistical recording. Third, the increasing use of temporary workers will require attention and additional resources on the part of OHS agencies to ensure their use is not compromising OHS standards and management have modified their OHS practices. As yet there is little evidence that this is occurring. Where temporary workers are supplied by a labour agency there is a potential for confusion over the respective legal responsibilities of the host firm and the agency even where the relevant OHS legislation specifies that both have a responsibility (see below). Fourth, many temporary employees, especially those without scarce skills, will occupy a relatively powerless situation at the workplace, circumscribing their ability to protect themselves. As Dwyer (1994:2) has observed recognition of the OHS risks associated with the combination of temporary work regimes and powerless employees can be traced back to British government inquiries into children's employment in the 1840s. Dwyer (1994:8-10) argues that the introduction of temporary employees can cause a deterioration in OHS by leading to a disintegration of workgroups and the vital communication role such groups carry out, by weakening union representation/encouraging more authoritarianism, and by encouraging workers to inculcate risks as a natural and unavoidable part of the job. Fifth, casualisation, the introduction of part-time/fractional work and even job-sharing can entail both hidden or relatively explicit workload increases or other forms of work intensification affecting not only the casuals/part-timers but residual permanent full-time staff (including middle managers) who must fill gaps or co-ordinate more complex work processes (see Wright and Lund, 1996 and Branine, 1997:22). While relatively crude forms of work intensification may occur in fragmented and disorganised work settings like small businesses or subcontractors using casualised labour in larger workplaces. Work intensification may occur as a consequence of outsourcing activities to small business or subcontractors using casual/temporary or part-time workers. However, it also appears that some larger workplaces are adjusting production schedules based on an explicit or implicit calculation that individual workers will not sustain these effort levels over a prolonged period. In their international study of grocery warehousing, Wright and Lund (1998:6) found that work rates had increased by 30% or more after the introduction of engineered standards - levels which significantly increased the risk of manual handling injuries and which two NIOSH studies found could not be sustained. They quote one of these reports as concluding: '...the job of order selector at this work site will place even a highly selected workforce at substantial risk of developing low back injuries. Moreover, in general, we believe that the existing performance standards encourage and contribute to these excessive levels of exertion' (NIOSH, 1995 cited in Wright and Lunn, 1998:6). Sixth, temporary and part-time work may both result in incompatibilities between work and family commitments which can in turn adversely affect OHS (for a discussion of this in relation to women's OHS see Quinlan, 1996). While it is often asserted that part-time work in particular provides more opportunity to mesh work and family demands this cannot be presumed to be the case in all occupations or industries. A French study (Bue and Chrislofari, 1986 cited in Meulders et al, 1996:593-4) found that part-time work can involve long working days (especially when it entails split shifts), longer working weeks (including weekends), a greater likelihood that employers will alter timetables and less employee access to flexi-time. A study of public sector employees undertaking part-time work in Denmark, France and the UK (Branine 1997:22) also identified employee concerns with poor shift arrangements. The additional risks associated with casualised employment can be compounded where corporate devolution, outsourcing or franchise arrangements undermine an existing OHS management system or even preclude its development in the first place. As already implied, vulnerable groups of workers such as the very young are often involved. A number of studies (see for example a study of Swedish auto assembly workers by Laflamme,1997) indicate that even in large industrial workplaces with a well-established OHS management system young workers (of both genders) experience a significantly higher rate of workplace injury than their older counterparts. There has been little research on OHS problems in service industries employing a significant number of young casual and part-time workers (such as retailing, hospitality and fast food). However, it seems reasonable to suggest that the combination of a young casualised workforce and weak or absent OHS management will exacerbate risks in what may be generally viewed as not especially dangerous working environments. A number of recent Australian prosecutions arising from incidents in large multinational fast food chains highlight the points just raised and indicate the need for more detailed research. In one case a young casual worker was given the task of cleaning a cream gun/dispenser without any prior training. He re-assembled the gun incorrectly, resulting in a piece flying up into his face and destroying one of his eyes. The company was fined by the WorkCover authority and the worker returned to his job where he was given the task of cleaning behind the ovens with caustic soda - again without any real training or eye-protection. A splash of soda hit the worker in the eye but fortunately for him it was his (now) glass eye not his one remaining undamaged eye. The WorkCover investigation revealed not only a lack of employee OHS training and an established code of safe operating procedures but - and this is more telling - a complete absence of management training in OHS. In other words, store managers were being recruited and promoted on their sales performance without any reference to supplying them with the skills necessary to manage OHS. Another fast food chain was fined $20,000 after a 15 years old part-time female employee received second and third degree burns to her torso and thighs when she tripped and fell into an unguarded machine filled with boiling oil (Safety News, November 1997). Yet another fast food chain was prosecuted after the electrocution of a young worker cleaning behind an oven (electrocution risks to such workers are not new see NIOSH Alert December 1994). Devolved and franchised operations often diminish the co-ordination of OHS management, partly because any notion of this falls outside the profit centre concept on which these bodies are built. The firms in all the cases just referred to were US-based multinationals with standardised management operating procedures world-wide so it is unlikely that these deficiencies are limited to Australia. Another illustration of the potentially lethal combination of outsourcing, casual employment and young inexperienced workers can be found a case when a Sydney-based slurry and pump manufacturer was fined a total of $A480,000 for a series of six incidents where a number of workers, including backpackers supplied to the company by a large agency labour firm, suffered serious injuries to their fingers from contact with saws and sheet rolling machinery. The company had failed to maintain a safe system of work and failed to learn from the incidents (SIA Safety Today, May 1997:1). The agency labour firm was subsequently prosecuted and fined $A50,000. The NSW Industrial Relations Commission found that while the workplace was removed from the agency's direct control it had a 'special responsibility' to protect the workers it supplied and who were foreign to or unfamiliar with the workplace (Workforce, 28 November 1997:3). Following the initial incident the labour-hire firm introduced a new OHS policy which requires supervisors to regularly visit work sites. Clearly, labour-hire firms only providing a relatively narrow range of specialised and skilled labour are more likely to be able to implement an effective OHS control program than those supplying a diverse array of workers including those with little training or skill to an equally diverse array of workplaces. Yet under the momentum of outsourcing agency labour firms have expanded with virtually no recognition of such practical considerations, or the potential for unanticipated complexities (well-illustrated by another recent case where the agency-supplied worker was trained to operate one machine but was then shifted to another machine by the client firm without contacting the agency or undertaking a retraining process). Finally, the more general implications of a casualised workforce are highlighted by information which came to light in a strike involving the United Parcel Service (UPS) in 1997.With over 200,000 employees, UPS is one of the largest employers and most profitable employers in the USA and the world. Since the mid 1980s the company has increasingly relied on lower paid part-time workers (83% of all new jobs since 1993) who represent 42% of its workforce in 1986 and 60% by 1997 (as opposed to a national average of 18%. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Teamsters News Release, 26 June 1997). This shift is associated with levels of turnover amongst part-time employees which exceeded 400% per annum, with a lack of full-time job opportunities being a major factor in this. In 1996 UPS recruited and trained (?) 182,00 employees, only 40,000 of whom were still with the company at the end of the year (Teamsters News Release, 26 June 1997). Major issues in the strike included the company's substantial and increasing use of casual and part-time workers, job security, the lower pay rates and pension entitlements applying to part-time workers, safety and the use of subcontractors. Since 1990 the company had been fined over $US 3.7million by OSHA for health and safety breaches (the company received 2,786 OSHA citations between 1972 and 1995). On average an employee is killed every month and UPS was pays $1 million per day in workers' compensation costs. In 1994 the company raised the weight limit on packages from 70 to 150lbs without adequate safety measures. A year later the company was fined $5000 after a young probationary employee died of heat exhaustion while unloading trucks during one of Chicago's heat waves. The union claimed that in 1996 the company's own figures show that it experienced about 60,000 injuries or the equivalent of 33.8 injuries for every 100 workers which is 2.5 times the transport industry average (itself high by the standards of other industries, Teamsters News Release, 23 April 1997). The company had been accused of refusing to invest $US 55 for articulated mirrors at the rear of trucks unlike its competitors. Significantly, the increasing use of subcontractors and part-time workers is being pursued by UPS management in its international operations, including Italy, Spain and other European countries (Teamsters News Release, 22 May 1997).
ConclusionThis report constitutes only a brief examination of the OHS implications of changing job structures for younger workers. Nevertheless, it is clear today many young workers are entering workplaces where OHS risks are largely unrecognised; where OHS induction, training and management systems are inadequate and take no account of the special needs of inexperienced and casual workers; and where regulatory protections both in terms of eliminating hazards and access to workers' compensation do not operate effectively. Despite some useful efforts in recent years, government agencies need to give more recognition to the issue as do employers and unions.
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