Aviva , Britain’s second-biggest insurer, said it planned to shed 384 jobs in Bristol from next year following the expiry of a life and savings joint venture with Royal Bank of Scotland.

The job cuts, to be phased in over a year starting in the second half of 2012, reflect the closure of the joint venture’s dedicated administration centre at Bristol, Aviva spokesman Steve Colton said.

The move comes less than a month after Aviva almost halved its Irish workforce with 950 job losses, the biggest round of redundancies by a single company in Ireland in two years.

“This announcement takes the total number of jobs cut by Aviva in the UK and Ireland in the last month to 1,500, and is unacceptable,” the Unite trade union said in a statement.

The bulk of its Bristol operation is to be moved to Sheffield, Norwich and York and the company has promised to do everything in its power to help staff.

The company added that around 60 specialist underwriters and claims assessors based in Bristol will keep their jobs. Another 80 staff who work for other parts of the Aviva business in Bristol will also not be affected.

The Aviva spokesman said: “Our priority is to give employees as much support as possible throughout this difficult period, engaging with them as early and openly as possible and we will, of course, do everything we can to redeploy those people impacted by these changes.”

Businesses in Bristol are being warned about the potential hidden costs of work experience if they do not adhere to health and safety regulations, as thousands of young people embark on summer work placements.

The act of 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 according to Bluefin Insurance Services.

Around 85% of businesses in the region will take on at least one work experience placement student over the summer. However, many employers are completely unaware that unpaid workers usually have the same rights as paid employees.

Andy Parsons, HR Director at Bluefin, is urging organisations to take suitable steps to ensure their safety or risk a hefty insurance claim in the event of an accident.

“Giving young people the chance to gain valuable work experience is commendable and can be beneficial to the organisation as well as the individual,” he said.

“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.”

As the Government’s ‘Big Society’ initiative gets underway, transferring responsibility for some public services to the voluntary and charity sectors, it is even more important that health and safety responsibilities to unpaid workers are fully understood.

“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,” Mr Parson added.

“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.”