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Assessing occupational health and safety of young workers who use youth employment centers
Author(s) -
Breslin F. Curtis,
Morassaei Sara,
Wood Matt,
Mustard Cameron A.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.20937
Subject(s) - medicine , occupational safety and health , work (physics) , young adult , injury prevention , suicide prevention , environmental health , human factors and ergonomics , occupational injury , youth work , poison control , sample (material) , gerontology , mechanical engineering , chemistry , pathology , chromatography , engineering , economics , economic growth
Background Adolescents and young adults who are out of school are at elevated risk for a work injury. Methods To obtain more information on this “high risk” group of young workers, young people at youth employment centers across Ontario were asked through an online survey about training, unsafe work conditions, work injuries and safety knowledge. Results The 1,886 youth who completed the survey reported a medically attended work injury rate of 14.45 per 100 FTEs. Also, the most common unsafe work conditions were dust/particles, trip hazards and heavy lifting. In addition, many young workers reported using much of their income for living essentials (e.g., rent). Conclusions Though not a representative sample, it appears that youth using employment centers experience many unsafe work conditions and work injuries. While many report safety training, the nature and effectiveness of this training remains to be determined. The large portion of young workers out of school and working for living essentials included in this sample suggest that youth employment centers should be considered in future prevention efforts targeting this vulnerable subgroup of workers. Am. J. Ind. Med. 54:325–337, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.