Child Labor in 1990: Prevalence and Health Hazards

OBJECTIVES. The purpose of the study was to provide descriptive data and incidence data on adolescent work-related injuries and to determine whether such injuries are underreported to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. METHODS. The study consisted of a 1-year survey of 534 adolescent work-related injuries reported to the Department of Labor and Industry and a cross-sectional survey of 3312 public high school students from throughout Minnesota. The high school survey used an abbreviated questionnaire with a subset of items from the Department of Labor and Industry survey. RESULTS. Ninety-six percent of the injuries were strains and sprains, cuts and lacerations, burns, bruises and contusions, and fractures. There were 11 hospitalizations; 4 were for burns that occurred during work in restaurants. Eighty workers (15%) reported permanent impairment as a result of their injuries. It was estimated that there were 2268 reportable injuries to working adolescents in Minnesota during the study year. CONCLUSIONS. The most common serious injuries were injuries to the lower back and burns. The demographic characteristics of adolescents whose injuries were reported to the Department of Labor and Industry were similar to those of injured adolescent workers identified through the high school survey. The results suggest that there is substantial underreporting of adolescent work injuries.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of adolescent work injuries reported to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.

Parker¹,

Carl²,

French³

et al. 1994

“…Because of the serious nature ofmany ofthese claims, this population should receive special attention by regulatory and health agencies. 8 We were able to identify relatively few pesticide related claims. This may be due to a lower than anticipated risk or to inaccurate or underreporting.…”

Section: Duiscsionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occupational injuries and illnesses among Washington State agricultural workers.

Demers

Rosenstock²

1991

In Washington state 29,451 workers' compensation claims were filed by farm workers between 1982 and 1986. Five percent of claimants were under 18 years of age, including 1.3% under the age of 16. Agricultural workers were found to be at higher risk than other workers in the state for fatal injury (relative risk [RR] = 2.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.7-3.7), sprains and strains (RR = 1.4, CI = 1.3-1.4), fractures (RR = 2.3, CI = 2.2-2.4), dislocations (RR = 1.9, CI = 1.7-2.2), concussions (RR = 1.9, CI = 1.6-2.3), amputations (RR = 2.5, CI = 2.0-3.1), dermatitis (RR = 4.3, CI = 4.0-4.7), systemic poisoning (RR = 3.4, CI = 3.1-3.7), respiratory disease (RR = 1.7, CI = 1.0-2.9), and tendonitis (RR = 1.2, CI = 1.1-1.4).

“…Fearing judicial invalidation of such intervention on constitutional grounds, the committee maintained that Congress had the authority to regulate interstate commerce in the interest of public health and that, to a significant degree, child labor was a health issue. The constitutionality of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act had set an encouraging precedent for such an approach.56 President Wilson used this rationale when he signed the Keating-Owen bill into law on September 1,1916: "I know how long the struggle has been to secure legislation of this sort and what it is going to mean to the health and the vigor of the country." This reasoning did not, however, impress the Supreme Court, which found the law unconstitutional on June 3, 1918.57 Throughout the 1910s, Progressives also looked to the federal government for modest, clearly constitutional forms of assistance beyond the clearinghouse activities of the Children's Bureau.…”

Section: Defenuers Ofchild Labormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this endeavor, new scientific evidence will be most effective only when combined bothwith an interpretation ofits meaning in terms that are ultimately moral and with anecdotal reports that provide insight for the general public into the human dimensions of the problem. [1 …”

Section: Conclsionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making human junk: child labor as a health issue in the Progressive Era.

Derickson

1992

The adverse health effects of work on approximately 2 million employed children troubled many in the United States during the early 20th century. Advocates of reform initially built a rationale for protective legislation primarily from informal, lay observations of the broad developmental outcomes of premature employment. In this endeavor, they projected a dismal scenario of impending national deterioration. This argument received strong criticism for the inadequacy of its corroborating evidence. In response, Progressive reformers emphasized the specific, measurable consequences of particular occupations. Increasingly, liberal advocates of the exclusion of boys and girls from the work force drew upon statistical compilations of occupational injuries and illnesses diagnosed by physicians. Despite their turn toward scientism, Progressives remained somewhat ambivalent about the sufficiency of quantitative data alone to achieve their aims.