Age, working hours and creating safe working environments for young workers in Queensland

On 1 July 2006 the Child Employment Act 2006 (Qld) came into operation. The purpose of the Act is to safeguard children working in Queensland through legislative provisions which seek to ensure that work does not interfere with children’s schooling and by preventing children performing work that may be harmful to their health and safety or physical, mental moral or social development. This paper looks at the legislative provisions relating to children’s working hours and the creation of occupationally safe working environments for children. The paper examines and comments upon the risk management approach suggested by the Queensland Government as appropriate for creating safe working environments for children.