Keeping teens safe on the job

When teenagers go off to work--sometimes for the first time in their lives--parents want to know they will be safe. The American Industrial Hygiene Association, Fairfax, Va., recommends that teens and their families be aware of common hazards, how to create a safer work environment, and labor laws relating to youngsters.

Consider these statistics from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health:

* On average, 45% of American teens are employed each year--more than any other developed country.

* Over 3,000,000 U.S. teens enter the workforce every summer and thousands of these are admitted to emergency rooms due to work-related injuries.

* Nearly 200,000 adolescents suffer injuries on the job and approximately 70 die from these injuries each year.

* Teens have the highest rate of nonfatal work-related injuries, even though they encounter the same potential on-the-job hazards as adults.

* The reasons for teen work-related accidents include lack of experience, gaps in current laws and enforcement, inexperienced supervisors, working in industries that generally do not hire professionals trained in industrial hygiene or safety, physical limitations due to lack of size and strength, and simple lack of maturity ("goofing off" on the job).

* The majority of deaths and injuries occur in retail stores and restaurants.

* Common potential hazards include automobile and machinery operation (for teens old enough for such tasks) and working in high-homicide industries such as retail, near electrical or hot equipment, jobs with fall hazards, and positions requiring manual lifting.

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