The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) estimates that 200,000 adolescents are injured in the workplace every year and 70 are killed on the job. According to NIOSH, more than 64,000 working teenagers sustained injuries serious enough to seek treatment in hospital emergency rooms in 1992. Another NIOSH study showed that 670 16- and 17-year-olds died from workplace injuries from 1980-89.

Where Youth Are Being Injured

Fifty-four percent of teen occupational injuries occur in the retail industry, followed by the service industry (20 percent), agriculture (7 percent), and manufacturing (4 percent). Some tasks and tools associated with a large number of injuries include:

• Driving a car

• Operating heavy equipment, especially tractors

• Using power tools, especially meat slicers

According to NIOSH, teens are killed at work, most often while driving or traveling as passengers in motor vehicles. Machine-related accidents, electrocution, homicide and falls also account for many deaths.

Young workers enter the workforce with no education on their rights and protections as employees. Health and safety issues are not emphasized in the majority of employment sites. In a North Carolina study of 122 teens working in retail establishments (1996):

• Only 54 percent had been trained to avoid injury.
• Only 40 percent had been taught how to deal with a robbery, though one in seven teens works alone after dark.
• 20 percent reported having received training on sexual harassment and 40 percent on dealing with angry customers.

(Source: The University of N.C., Injury Prevention Research Center)

In studies in Massachusetts, California, and Pennsylvania, similar lapses in training were noted: Most teens have been trained in how to do their jobs, but training on robbery, dealing with angry customers, and avoiding injury is much less common.

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