Epidemiology and prevention of injuries among adolescent workers in the United States

In the United States, most adolescents are employed at some time during their teen years. Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the nation's child labor law, address some of the risks of adolescent employment; however, > 70 teenage workers are estimated to die from work-related injuries each year, with greater risk among males, whites, and older adolescents. Furthermore, the nonfatal work-related injuries of the > or = 64,000 teens who receive emergency department care each year are believed to significantly undercount actual injuries. Many of these nonfatal injuries are severe, with 15%-45% leading to work restriction or permanent disabilities. Significant methodological issues limit the ability of existing surveillance systems to monitor youth worker injury. Risk factor and intervention research is very limited, but does suggest the role of some worker characteristics, management practices, and training issues. However, these factors need more careful study. This review considers existing information about occupational injuries among adolescents and identifies needs for research and policy attention.