Do you provide a safe workplace for young workers?

While employers generally strive to provide a safe workplace for young workers, some will be injured or killed on the job. In fact, about 70 teens die from injuries at work every year, and tens of thousands require treatment in hospital emergency rooms.

To cut down the number of injuries, employers should make special efforts to help teens and other inexperienced workers. Workers with less than one year's experience account for almost one-third of occupational injuries. While OSHA does not have any specific regulations governing minors, the Fair Labor Standards Act prohibits the employment of minors in certain hazardous occupations and sets limits on the number of hours they may work. The US Department of Labor and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have developed guidelines that employers can use to help ensure the safety of young workers, including Promoting Safe Work for Young Workers,November 1999, NIOSH Publication No. 99-141, available at www.cdc.gov/niosh/99-141.html).

Here are some work activities associated with a large number of deaths and serious injuries in young workers:

• Working in or around motor vehicles. Jobs that may be associated with motor-vehicle-related deaths and injuries include delivery of passengers or goods; services that require routine travel to provide home-based services, such as appliance repair and landscaping services; and road construction.

• Operating tractors or other heavy equipment. Besides tractors, heavy equipment that may be hazardous for young workers includes forklifts, excavating machinery, loaders and road grading machinery.

• Working near electrical hazards. Electrocution accounts for a greater proportion of work-related deaths in adolescents than in adults. Contact with an energized power line causes more than half of the electrocutions. Work that may pose an increased risk for electrocution includes using poles, pipes, and ladders near overhead power lines during construction work, painting, and pool cleaning; working on roofs; operating or contacting boomed vehicles; tree trimming; and work performed by electricians' helpers.

• Working at jobs with a high risk for homicide. Jobs that have increased risk for work-related homicide include working alone or in small numbers in businesses where money is exchanged with the public, such as in convenience stores, gas stations, restaurants and motels; and working alone in contact with large numbers of people where there may be opportunities for assaults, such as in motel housekeeping, delivery of passengers or goods and door-to-door sales.

• Working with fall hazards. Jobs associated with work-related falls include using ladders and scaffolds to work at heights, such as in construction and painting; working on structures or near openings in building construction; working on roofs; and tree trimming.

• Cooking and working around cooking appliances. Severe burns are a risk for young workers who cook at restaurants, service cooking equipment and work near cooking appliances.

• Hazardous manual lifting. While an individual's ability to safely lift objects varies, NIOSH recommends that adolescents should generally not be required to lift objects over 15 pounds more than once per minute or to lift objects over 30 pounds. Tasks involving continuous lifting should not last more than two hours. Work that may involve hazardous lifting includes working in warehouses, delivering furniture and appliances, installing or removing carpet or tile, and stocking shelves with heavy items.