shadow-shift-plan

---
name: shadow-shift-plan
description: Builds the shadowed-shift plan for a new starter's first weeks, sized to HSE's own finding that a worker is as likely to have an accident in their first six months as in the rest of their career, and to its six-step framework for protecting new starters. It works out how many shadowed shifts a role actually needs before solo working, raises supervision for under-18s specifically, and checks understanding was confirmed rather than assumed. Use before a new starter is put on a solo shift, and before "they seem to have got it" replaces an actual check.
---

# The shift plan sized to the risk, checked before anyone is left alone with it

You give this the starter's age, role, and the hazards their section carries (hot equipment, knives, cellar work, cash handling, alcohol service). You get back a shadowed-shift plan with a named supervisor for each shift, a check-understanding step before solo working, and heightened supervision flagged automatically for anyone under 18.

## What it does

1. **Size the plan to HSE's own evidence of when the risk actually sits.** HSE states that workers are "as likely to have an accident in their first 6 months at work" as during the whole of the rest of their working life, attributing this to inexperience, unfamiliarity with the job, reluctance to raise concerns, and eagerness to impress. The plan treats the first weeks as the highest-risk period it will manage, not as a formality to get through before the "real" job starts.
2. **Follow HSE's own six-step sequence for a new starter, not a shortened version of it.** The sequence is: assess the new starter's capabilities, considering "literacy, numeracy, health, and relevant experience"; provide an induction that walks them around the site and points out main hazards; make sure control measures are up to date and used; provide "relevant information, instruction and training about the risks new workers may be exposed to"; provide adequate supervision; and confirm understanding, "especially in the first days and weeks." A shadow-shift plan missing the capability assessment or the final understanding check is not following the sequence, it is following part of it.
3. **Build supervision as a named person on a named shift, not a general promise to "keep an eye".** HSE's guidance states supervisors "should be aware that workers may find it difficult to raise concerns because of unfamiliarity and inexperience", and that workers should know how to raise a concern. The plan names who is supervising each shadowed shift and confirms that person knows they carry that responsibility, rather than assuming whoever happens to be on shift will notice.
4. **Raise supervision specifically for under-18s, because the standard is explicitly higher.** HSE's young workers guidance says employers must "give them clear and sufficient instruction, training and supervision" and states directly that "Young people are likely to need more supervision than adults." It also notes that "It's often appropriate to put age limits on the use of some equipment and machinery." The plan checks age against every piece of equipment and task assigned, not just against the legal minimum working age.
5. **Scale the number of shadowed shifts to the risk, not to a fixed number copied from another role.** HSE's guidance says training "should be proportionate to the risk", so a starter shadowing front-of-house service needs a different number of shifts before going solo than one learning to use a deep fryer or work a cellar drop. The plan records the reasoning for the number of shifts set, tied to the specific hazards of that section.
6. **Confirm understanding before signing off solo working, not after an incident shows it was missing.** HSE's own final step is to "confirm workers understand their training and are acting on it", and its young worker guidance adds that "regularly checking a young person's progress will help identify where any additional adjustments may be needed." The move to solo shifts only happens once that check has a date and a name against it.

## Then it checks

1. Every starter has a capability assessment on file before their first shadowed shift, not written up afterwards.
2. Every shadowed shift has a named supervisor, and that person is recorded as aware of the role.
3. Every under-18 starter has supervision explicitly marked as heightened, and every age-restricted task or piece of equipment they are assigned is checked against their age first.
4. The number of shadowed shifts set for each starter is tied to a stated hazard, not copied from a different role without a reason given.
5. A dated understanding check exists before any starter moves to a solo shift, with the name of who confirmed it.
6. No starter under 18 is recorded on any task carrying an age restriction without that restriction being checked and cleared first.

Any check fails: name it, redo that step once. Failed twice: say what is wrong and stop.

## Rules
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.
- Never approve a move to solo working without a dated understanding check on file.
- Never treat an under-18 starter's supervision as the same as an adult's by default.
- Never set a shadow-shift count with no stated hazard reason behind it.

## Built from
- Health and Safety Executive, "New to the job: health and safety", https://www.hse.gov.uk/vulnerable-workers/new-to-the-job.htm, last updated 1 November 2024, read 4 November 2026: the six-step framework and the first-six-months accident finding behind steps 1, 2, 3 and 6.
- Health and Safety Executive, "Training and supervision" for young workers, https://www.hse.gov.uk/young-workers/employer/training.htm, read 4 November 2026: the heightened supervision standard, the proportionate-to-risk training rule, and the age-limited equipment point behind steps 4 and 5.

# shadow-shift-plan

## You are given
The starter's name, age, role and section. A capability note (literacy, numeracy, health considerations, relevant prior experience) where the owner has recorded one. The hazards of the section (named equipment, tasks, substances) and which carry an age restriction. The number of shadowed shifts set for this starter and the stated reason. The shift rota with a named supervisor per shadowed shift. Whether and when an understanding check was carried out and by whom, before any move to a solo shift.

## Produce
Write into a `./shadow-shift-plan-output/` folder:

1. `starter-plan.csv` with columns: `staff_name`, `age`, `role`, `section`, `capability_assessment_on_file`, `capability_assessment_date`, `shadow_shifts_planned`, `shadow_shift_reason`, `understanding_check_date`, `understanding_check_by`, `solo_shift_approved`, `solo_shift_date`. `capability_assessment_on_file` and `solo_shift_approved` are `yes` or `no`.
2. `shift-supervision.csv` with columns: `staff_name`, `shift_date`, `supervisor_name`, `supervisor_aware_of_role`, `shift_number_of_total`. `supervisor_aware_of_role` is `yes` or `no`.
3. `age-restriction-check.csv` with columns: `staff_name`, `age`, `task_or_equipment`, `has_age_restriction`, `minimum_age_required`, `cleared_for_task`. `has_age_restriction` and `cleared_for_task` are `yes` or `no`. Any row where `age` is under `minimum_age_required` must have `cleared_for_task` as `no`.
4. `gaps.md` - a numbered list of: any starter with `capability_assessment_on_file` of `no`; any shadowed shift with `supervisor_aware_of_role` of `no`; any starter under 18 whose `shadow_shifts_planned` has no stated `shadow_shift_reason`; any `solo_shift_approved` of `yes` with a blank `understanding_check_date`; and any `age-restriction-check.csv` row where age is under the minimum but `cleared_for_task` is `yes`.

## Rules
- Codex counts, checks and records. It never decides how many shadowed shifts a role needs, never writes training content, and never clears an age-restricted task on its own judgement; it only checks the age given against the restriction given.
- Never mark `solo_shift_approved` as `yes` without a matching `understanding_check_date` and `understanding_check_by` both present.
- Never clear an under-age worker for a restricted task regardless of any other field; age-restriction rows are a hard stop, not a flag to override.
- Use British English, GBP and DD Month YYYY dates. No em dashes in any file you write.
- Every file ends with this line: this is a working document prepared for the owner to check against their own rota, risk assessment and age-verification records, and for their health and safety adviser to check any disputed supervision or age question. It is not health and safety advice.

## Return
The absolute path of each file written and the row count of each CSV. The number of starters with no capability assessment, named individually. The number of shadowed shifts with an unaware supervisor. The number of under-18 starters and whether each has a stated shadow-shift reason. Any under-age clearance found, named individually as a hard stop. The `gaps.md` item count.