A Kent-based insurer has warned about the potential hidden costs of work experience if employers do not stick to health and safety regulations.

As thousands of young people embark on summer work placements, Peter Castle, of insurer Bluefin Insurance Services, which has offices in Ashford, Dartford and Gravesend, urged organisations to take suitable steps to ensure their safety or risk a hefty insurance claim in the event of an accident.

He said providing valuable work experience, which can help students prepare for the world of work and offer additional support for businesses, could backfire as a result of poor awareness of unpaid workers' rights.

He said: "Giving young people the chance to gain valuable work experience is commendable and can be beneficial to the organisation as well as the individual. However employers must not take their responsibilities lightly.

"If an organisation, in addition to its unpaid workers, has at least one paid employee, it places a duty on them to ensure the unpaid workers have the same rights as their full-time employee, and therefore the same health and safety responsibilities apply.

"Businesses introducing work experience students into their workforce should deliver the same health and safety briefings and induction which they would give a new member of staff.

"Similarly, organisations whose workforce is comprised mainly of unpaid workers should ensure the correct health and safety signs are displayed and training delivered even if there is just one paid employee working in the same office.

"Although work experience students may not be considered employees as such, they are still workers and all reasonable steps must be taken to ensure they have adequate information, instruction and training to prevent injury and ill-health.

"It is worth mentioning that unpaid workers are also protected against discrimination and harassment, so businesses need to ensure they treat work experience students fairly or they may be subject to an employment tribunal claim."

The warning came as the Health and Safety Executive said complying with health and safety regulations was often used as a 'convenient excuse' for organisations to justify unnecessary decisions.

The executive has published a list of what it says were the 10 most 'bizarre bans' on health and safety grounds over the past year.

They include bans on kite flying on a beach, sack races for children and pins used to secure commemorative poppies.

Other examples on its list were a school's decision to ban football games unless the ball was made of sponge, and a ban on street parties to mark the royal wedding in April.