Teens at Work: Work-Related Injuries to Teens in Massachusetts, 2000-2004

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts. Department of Public Health. Occupational Health Surveillance Program
• Description:
  This surveillance update provides an overview of work-related injuries to youth under age 18 that occurred in Massachusetts from January 2000 through December 2004. It begins with information on fatal occupational injuries collected by the FACE (Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation) project. The second section provides an overview of non-fatal injuries to teens using the available statewide emergency department data (2002-2004) and data on workers' compensation claims for injuries resulting in five or more lost work days. In the final section, findings based on interviews with injured teens are highlighted. For this report, injuries in the ED database are defined as ED visits with a primary ICD-9 diagnostic code between 800-999. Follow-up visits are not included unless the original injury was not already in the database. Injuries in the workers' compensation claims database are defined as claims with Occupational Injuries and Illnesses Classification System Nature of Injury codes between 0000-0990. The rates presented in this report are defined as the average annual number of injuries (ED visits or WC claims filed) per 100 full-time workers. Information on the number of teens employed was obtained from the 2000 Census. Rates are computed only for workers 16- and 17-years-old because employment statistics exclude those younger than age 16. The ED and WC cases are not mutually exclusive. Some of the cases treated in EDs may have also filed workers' compensation claims for lost wages. Data Highlights: 1) From 2000 through 2004, six teenagers under age 18 were fatally injured while working in Massachusetts. Three of these teens were doing tasks or jobs prohibited by the child labor laws at the time of injury. 2) From 2002 through 2004, there were 3,012 emergency department visits for work-related injuries to teens. 3) From 2000 through 2004, there were 1,410 workers' compensation lost wage claims filed by teens in Massachusetts. 4) The majority of injuries were to 16- and 17-year-olds, and males had higher rates of injuries than females based on both emergency department visits and workers' compensation claims. 5) The largest numbers of non-fatal injuries to young workers from 2000 through 2004 occurred in restaurants (30%), followed by grocery stores (13%). The highest rate of injury was in nursing homes. 6) Of 798 injured teens who were interviewed since 1993, 51% reported they had received no on-the-job training about how to work safely and avoid injury, 34% reported they had no work permits for their jobs at the time they were injured, and 17% reported one or more anticipated permanent effects from their injuries. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Adolescent
  • Age Factors
  • Emergency Responders
  • Food Handling
  • Food Industry
  • Manufacturing and Industrial Facilities
  • Mortality
  • Occupational Health
  • Public Health
  • Risk Assessment
  More +
• Keywords:
  • Injuries
  • Injury-prevention
  • Adolescents
  • Surveillance-programs
  • Employee-health
  • Occupations
  • Information-systems
  • Health-care
  • Mortality-data
  • Emergency-care
  More +
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042874
• Citation:
  Boston, MA: Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2007 Dec; :1-8
• Contact Point Address:
  Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Occupational Health Surveillance Program, Teens at Work: Injury Surveillance and Prevention Project, 250 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2008
• NORA Priority Area:
  Healthcare and Social Assistance
• Performing Organization:
  Massachusetts State Department of Public Health - Boston
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Teens at work: work-related injuries to teens in Massachusetts, 2000-2004
• End Date:
  20260630
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228680/cdc_228680_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 87.13 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:40a617c311a117e252f4f35a36131b375c85c64e4656b252dc24c6c6aec22a2ae1fa42eaa95d58d6b46c2548a3ad511505da254437d694f51a74cffde9b87174