Teenagers commonly hurt on the job

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A substantial number of teenagers with part-time jobs suffer workplace injuries, even when they receive safety training, a study suggests.

Researchers found that of nearly 3,600 high school students who worked during the school year, 15 percent said they had been cut, burned or otherwise injured on the job. More than one-quarter of these injuries were serious enough to sideline them from daily activities for at least a few days -- including broken bones, serious burns and cuts requiring stitches.

Jobs in lumber mills, manufacturing, gas stations, farms and construction -- some of which might have been illegal for these minors -- were among the most dangerous. Up to half of teenagers in these workplaces said they'd been injured.

And in one of the most important findings, teens who said they'd received safety training at work were no less likely to be injured, study co-author Dr. Kristina M. Zierold told Reuters Health.

"We must begin to ask ourselves what types of training teens are receiving and if it is effective," said Zierold, an assistant professor of family and community medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

She and colleague Dr. Henry A. Anderson report the findings in the American Journal of Health Behavior.

The results are based on a survey of 6,810 students at Wisconsin high schools. Just over half said they worked during the school year, most commonly at fast-food restaurants, at other people's homes doing yard work or babysitting, or for their family's business.

But teens also worked in a range of other workplaces, from lumber mills to retail stores to hospitals.

The researchers found that certain factors served as red flags that a teenager might suffer an on-the-job injury. For example, those who'd had previous "near-miss" incidents at work were nine times more likely to suffer a serious injury than other teens were. Similarly, the risk was greater among teenagers whose co-workers had ever been injured, and those who worked late at night.

And although nearly two-thirds of employed students said they'd received safety training, it didn't seem to make a difference in their injury risk, Zierold and Anderson found.

It's not clear why this is, but past studies have found that young workers usually receive little more than basic job training, which is often given by another employee and may not emphasize safety issues enough.

Zierold recommended that parents ask their children about the specific tasks they're performing at work, and whether they feel comfortable doing them.

"Parents need to help empower their teens to be able to talk with their supervisors about tasks they feel uncomfortable about," she said.

Parents should also find out about child labor laws, Zierold added, so they know what types of jobs and hours teenagers can work, and what types of tasks they can perform. Besides federal laws, states have their own child labor regulations, and even employers are not always aware of what the laws are, she noted.

SOURCE: American Journal of Health Behavior, September/October 2006.