EDC Feature Articles: New Guide Promotes Workplace Safety for Teens

January 2000

New Guide Promotes Workplace Safety for Teens

"The welfare of our youth is a community issue. Interest in their occupational health and safety extends well beyond the confines of their workplaces."*

— Linda Rosenstock, Director, National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety

Facts About Teen Workers

Most teens in the U.S. work

An estimated 80% of youths are employed at some point before they leave high school. They typically work at part-time, temporary, or low-paying jobs, often after putting in a full day of work at school.

Thousands of U.S. teens are injured or killed on the job every year.

Approximately 200,000 teens aged 14 to 17 are injured on the job every year. Approximately 70 teens died as a result of occupational injuries each year between 1980 and 1989.

Work related injuries can have long-term consequences.

Common occupational injuries such as burns, back sprains, and eye damage can cause permanent disability. Other workplace hazards such as chemical exposure, noise, extreme temperatures, and repetitive motions can pose long-term health risks for teens.

Teens are injured doing legal jobs as well as jobs that are prohibited by child labor laws.

Federal labor laws restrict the types of jobs teens can do and the hours they can work. Working at illegal jobs puts youth at particular risk for injury.

Working too many hours is associated with social and academic problems.

Teens who work more than 20 hours per week are at risk for increased drug and alcohol use and decreased academic performance.

But injuries to young workers can be prevented. With the help of community and youth-serving groups, young workers and employers can significantly increase their awareness of the unique occupational risks that teens face, as well as their knowledge of the legal protections guaranteed to young workers.

Promoting Safe Work for Young Workers, a new guide published by National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH), outlines the steps to take in developing a community-based health education project focused on young worker safety. The guide grows out of the work of three community-based health education projects funded by NIOSH and carried out in diverse urban communities: by EDC in Brockton, MA; the Labor Occupational Health Program in Berkeley, CA; and the Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program in Los Angeles, CA.

In these demonstration projects, health educators worked successfully for three years to integrate occupational safety information into a variety of community settings including schools, job training programs, parent associations, and youth-serving organizations.

Promoting Safe Work for Young Workers offers clear advice for others interested in promoting teen health and safety at the community level. It includes the lessons learned from the three federally-funded projects, as well as:

summaries of the young worker project activities
facts about young worker health and safety
steps involved in coordinating a young worker project
strategies for developing community partnerships
materials and resources

The guide is free of charge and available from NIOSH Publications
4676 Columbia Parkway
Cincinnati, Ohio 45226-1998
1-800-356-4674
Fax: (513) 533-8573
e-mail: pubstaft@cdc.govwww.cdc.gov/niosh

*Story adapted from Promoting Safe Work for Young Workers published by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, 1999.

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For more information on the project in Brockton: