From Suburbs to Farms, Work Injuries Fall Hardest on Teens in Growing Economy

Working in the summer or after school is part of growing up as a middle-class kid in America. Unknown to most teen workers and their parents, so is getting injured--or killed--on the job.

With unemployment at a historic low, the work force is expanding--including at the bottom of the age ladder. And a mixture of inexperience, inadequate training and eagerness to please makes young workers the nation’s most injury-prone.

The risk is not confined to Dickensian sweatshops and huge farms employing the vulnerable children of illegal migrants. Government figures show that most teenagers injured on the job get hurt in the fast-food joints and retail stores common to the suburbs. Family farms, where dangers lurk in great variety, are also high on the list.

The trend in recent years has been to loosen limits on the work that teenagers are allowed to do--such tasks as loading paper balers and trash compactors. A bill in Congress would withdraw some restrictions on driving by young workers, another risky activity.

But safety experts said that added responsibility carries a risk society often fails to recognize. Typically, it’s not recklessness that gets kids hurt but the mix of inexperience and eagerness to tackle new tasks.

Michael Doherty, a 17-year-old mechanic from Yarmouth, Mass., almost lost a finger last month trying to figure out why a lawn mower’s motor was surging. The mower was secured on a work bench, motor running and blades whirling, at the Cape Cod lawn equipment shop where he worked. He had carefully checked the carburetor and found no problem.

“I was sort of frustrated but more curious,” Doherty said. Suddenly, the lawn mower started rattling and seemed about to come loose from the bench. Doherty grabbed the housing covering the blades, but his right hand got caught.

The tip of his middle finger dangling by a piece of flesh, Doherty passed out from shock and loss of blood. Surgeons reconnected his finger, but he has yet to regain full feeling.

About 200,000 workers younger than 18 are hurt on the job each year. Most injuries occur at workplaces that comply fully with child labor laws. About 70 young workers are killed each year.

Even the most careful parents--those who enforce curfews and set strict rules about driving--usually do not have a clue about the hazards that their children may face at work.

“If 100% is perfect awareness, employers get 5%, kids get 3% and parents get 1%,” said David Parker, director of occupational health for the Minnesota health department.

In part, these young workers reflect one of the downsides of a booming economy: Jobs that might better be handled by adults with well-developed skills and mature judgment sometimes are filled by teenagers who have neither. The instinct to protect kids is in direct conflict with the demand for their labor.

Local, state and federal safety experts believe that many injuries suffered by teen workers are preventable. They are pressing schools and employers to improve safety training. Ideas for teaching teens how to work safely are being tested in federal pilot programs in Los Angeles and Oakland, as well as in Massachusetts.

In a society in which work is valued and idleness borders on delinquency, American teens are more likely to have jobs than youths in other industrial nations. Summer employment is up 20% in the last six years, according to government statistics. Child labor laws aim to keep those under 18 from working too many hours or in highly dangerous jobs such as truck driving. But statistics suggest that laws alone do not make much difference.

For the three leading causes of workplace deaths--motor vehicle accidents, murder and machinery accidents--the death rate for teens is higher than for workers in their 20s, 30s and 40s.

“Given that we have child labor laws that are supposed to keep [teens] out of most dangerous jobs, you would expect to have lower rates,” said epidemiologist Dawn Castillo, who compiled the numbers for the government’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Males ages 16 and 17 have the third-highest rates of on-the-job injury, surpassed only by men in the 18-19 and 20-24 groups. Among females, 16- and 17-year-olds are second only to those 18 and 19.

Of the estimated 200,000 teens under 18 who will be hurt on the job this year, 64,000 will require emergency room treatment and 21,600 will miss at least one day of work. The most common injuries involve burns (particularly in fast-food restaurants), sprains (often in grocery stores) and falls.

Among the states, Massachusetts and Minnesota are trying to analyze teen worker injuries and educate employers, teachers, doctors, parents and teenagers about prevention. California strengthened its child labor law in the mid-’90s to restrict the hours during which teenagers can work.

UCLA is using a federal grant to train students at Los Angeles’ Jefferson High School to teach other young workers about safety and employee rights. The program soon will be expanded to Fremont High School. Director Marianne Brown said that she wants to see more employers and high schools offer regular safety training.

Jefferson High is in South-Central Los Angeles, and many of its students work in the garment district. But problems can arise anywhere.

“In fast-food restaurants, burns and slips and falls are big,” Brown said. “In retail stores, you get strains and back injuries. Teens are a target for crime on the job because sometimes they are left to be the person in charge of the store.”

Brown’s daughter, Delia, now in her 20s, was severely scalded on her hand and arm as a teenager working at a coffee shop. A poorly designed coffee maker and the bustle of the shop made for a dangerous combination. Her daughter was embarrassed and did not complain or seek worker’s compensation.

But what most surprised Brown was that she herself, an occupational safety expert, had not thought to ask about her daughter’s workplace. “It’s in our neighborhood, and my husband and I would go there on weekends. It felt safe.”

If parents and teens do not ask, an employer may not notice and there is little chance that a state or federal inspector will spot a problem before tragedy occurs. There are millions of workplaces but only about 1,000 federal Labor Department inspectors charged with enforcing child labor laws.

“What we are trying to do is get the word out to parents that they should educate themselves about what kinds of jobs their kids are doing,” said Bernard Anderson, assistant Labor secretary for employment standards. “I know a number of parents who are so elated their kids have jobs that they just ask: ‘Are you being paid a decent wage?’ ”

The Labor Department mounted a “Work Safe This Summer” educational campaign, but its effect is likely to fade as school resumes, even though about one-third of high school students work during the academic year.

Teen worker safety will be an issue this fall in Congress, where Rep. Larry Combest (R-Texas) has proposed a bill to overturn a Labor Department regulation limiting how much 16- and 17-year-old workers can drive.

Auto dealers complained to Congress that the regulation meant that they no longer could use teens to drive cars across the street from one lot to another, even though many of the same teens drove to work.

Combest’s bill lets teenagers drive as much as two hours and 40 minutes in an eight-hour day and eight hours in a 40-hour week. Driving trucks and vans would remain prohibited, as would driving at night.

Critics argue that the current rules are justified by the high accident rates of 16- and 17-year-olds. “It’s not sound sense if you care about the kids,” said Colleen Baker, Missouri’s director of labor standards. The American Automobile Assn. also opposes the bill, saying that it is out of step with efforts by states to restrict teen driving. For example, a California law took effect July 1 that restricts the hours teenagers can drive and limits the passengers.

An aide said that Combest is trying to work out a compromise that would prohibit 16-year-olds from driving on the job and apply the more liberal standards only to 17-year-olds, provided that they stay within 30 miles of their employer’s place of business.

Mary Miller, an occupational health nurse at the Washington state labor department, said that parents and teenagers should not assume that either employers or the government can guarantee a safe workplace. She recalled a case last year in which a 17-year-old boy working without adult supervision was held up in a store.

“The police came, but no one ever notified his parents,” Miller said. “His shift manager thought he should just finish working his shift.”