In turn, several of these school administrators have disseminated the summary to students and their families in innovative ways in time for the busy summer employment season. Earlier this month, a document containing practical recommendations for preventing work-related injuries among adolescents was sent to every high school principal in the U.S. NIOSH has conducted some of the first national studies of fatal and nonfatal injuries among adolescent workers and has distributed these findings to young workers, educators, parents and employers. Although federal child labor laws prohibit employment of 14 and 15 year olds in cooking and baking, one-third of the injured and ill 14 and 15 year olds in the study were identified as cooks.Д®mployers should observe routine precautions that are applicable to all workers (such as providing appropriate shoes for preventing slips and falls, a frequent cause of injury) as well as taking additional precautions specific to young workers (such as limiting weights they may be required to lift).Д®mployers should provide training that recognizes the relative inexperience of young workers, and accounts for differences in maturity and developmental level that affect young peopleвЂ™s learning styles, judgment, and behavior.

For example:Д®mployers should know and comply with child labor laws, and those laws also should be familiar to school guidance counselors and physicians who sign work permits for children. The study, published in the Centers for Disease Control and PreventionвЂ™s Morbidity and Mortality weekly Report, said that employers, parents, educators, and others should be aware of some simple precautions to protect young workers. A 1982 study using emergency department data found that workers under 18 years of age had higher injury rates than adult workers. The study noted NIOSH findings that an estimated 64,000 youths and children were treated in emergency departments for work-related injuries in 1992, and that 67 youths and children died from work injuries in 1994, according to BLS Data. Also, the data do not include work-related deaths, or injuries and illnesses that do not result in lost work time. NIOSH noted that the data undercount injuries and illnesses in working youths and children because the BLS survey does not include self-employed workers, farmers with fewer than 11 employees, private households, and government employees. The study, based on NIOSH analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, found that work-related injuries most commonly resulted from falls on the same level (such as falls to floors and falls onto and against objects), followed by overexertion, striking against objects, contact with hot objects or substances, being struck by falling objects, and being struck by a slipping hand-held object. вЂњBut with the right precautions, we all can help ensure that work is productive and rewarding - not risky - for youthful employees.вЂќ вЂњEspecially at this time of year, as the school season ends and summer employment begins, it is important to recognize that young people can be hurt on the job, often seriously, вЂњsaid NIOSH Director Linda Rosenstock, M.D., M.P.H. Sprains and strains, cuts and lacerations, contusions and abrasions, heat burns, and fractures and dislocations were the most common types of injuries and illness. NIOSH found that work-related disorders occurred more frequently among 16 and 17 year olds than any other child age group, most often by mob category among young workers in food preparation and service occupations, and most often by workplace category in eating and drinking establishments. The study examined data from 1993 and estimated that, as a conservative figure, working youths sustained 21,620 injuries and illnesses serious enough to result in one or more lost work days. Occupational injuries and illnesses among working adolescents and children under 18 years of age are pervasive but preventable, according to a new study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

Employers, educators, parents, and others can take simple, practical steps to protect working adolescents and children from job-related injuries and illnesses.

Pervasive дё­ж–‡

Pervasive дёж–‡