Teens face workplace hazards without protection

By Joene Hendry

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A high proportion of US teenage workers appear to face thermal, chemical, and noise hazards at work, and few of them use equipment to protect themselves from such hazards, study findings indicate.

"Work done by adolescents contains many potential hazards," Dr. Carol W. Runyan told Reuters Health. Even in retail settings, generally perceived as safe, workplace hazards exist, she said.

Runyan, from the University of North Carolina's Injury Prevention Research Center, in Chapel Hill, and colleagues assessed occupational hazards faced by 866 teenagers who had worked for at least 2 of the previous 12 months.

Two-thirds of the teens had worked in retail and one-third in service jobs, when they were 14 to 17 years old, the investigators report in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine.

Overall, 55 percent of the teens reported the risk of burns while working with hot liquids, grease, or near hot surfaces.

Another 54 percent reported chemical exposures from fumes, foul odors, or smoke; flammable or explosive substances such as gasoline; or pesticides, herbicides, or weed killers.

A total of 67 percent said their job involved "continuous, very loud noise," the researchers report.

Further, 8 percent said they were exposed to biologic hazards such as needles, blood products, or medical waste.

Few of the teens said they used personal equipment to protect against such hazards, with rates of use ranging from 17 percent for hearing protection to 35 percent for protection against chemical exposures.

"Parents should encourage teens to make inquiries about hazards and potential use of protective equipment, and should hold employers accountable for providing their adolescents with the necessary protections," Runyan said.

Employers must ensure youth workers have access to personal protective equipment and use it properly, Runyan concluded.

SOURCE: American Journal of Industrial Medicine, October 2008