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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Priscah Mujuru, DrPH MPH RN and Ekta Choudhary, MPH. Department of Community Medicine, West Virginia University, 3852 Health Sciences South, P.O.Box 9190, Morgantown, WV 26506, 304-293-1447, pmujuru@hsc.wvu.edu

Occupational injuries sustained by teenage workers in the United States are a growing public health concern. Most of the teenagers work low paying jobs and their employment pattern is mainly seasonal. There are very few studies available to date that specifically evaluated the rate, cost, and burden of occupational injuries sustained by young workers. The main objective of this study is to evaluate and compare the rates and cost of occupational injuries sustained by teenagers to other age groups using West Virginia Worker's Compensation (WVWC) data from Jan 1, 1996 to Dec 31, 2005. Our results showed that there were more than 70 fatalities that occurred between the age group of 15 and 24 years over the ten-year study period and five of these deaths were among teenagers less than 17 years old. Six percent of total injuries over the last ten years were sustained by young males as compared to 3% among females. Most common types of injuries observed in the young workers group were laceration and sprain. Our results are in accordance with National Electronic Injury Surveillance System Alert Report 2003 which indicated that in young workers most of the occupational injuries occur among teenagers under the age of 18. While the evaluation of the trend of the injuries among the teenagers has been sporadic, this study indicates that substantial number of young workers sustained fatal and non-fatal injuries. This study strongly suggests that specific emphasis should be placed on reducing these injuries among young workers.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Understand the nature and extent of most of the work-related injures sustained by young workers.
• 2. Understand the benefits and limitations of using Worker’s Compensation data to describe occupational injury trends
• 3. Know the cost and burden of teenage occupational injuries as compared to adult workers.

Keywords: Occupational Injury and Death, Workers' Compensation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation