Teen workers' exposures to occupational hazards and use of personal protective equipment

Abstract

Teens working in the retail and service sectors experience a variety of chemical, thermal, biologic and noise exposures. Efforts to eradicate such exposures need to be complemented by increased provision of PPE and appropriate training in their use by employers.

Assessment of occupational health and safety hazard exposures among working college students

“…Such findings on the limited use of PPE among adolescents suggested giving more attention to availability of PPE in the workplace and adequate supervision and training on the proper PPE use [Runyan et al, 2008]. On the contrary, based on a few studies on the use of PPE by adolescents at work, a small number of teenage employees who reported hazardous exposures indicated the use of PPE, but those who have been trained reported higher PPE usage.…”

Waiting for safety: Responses by young Canadian workers to unsafe work

“…Frontline entry-level jobs expose workers to injuries such as cuts and burns, to name but a few (e.g., Rauscher, 2008;Runyan, Vladutiu, Rauscher, & Schulman, 2008;Tannock, 2001). Both international (e.g., Salminen, 2004) and Canadian research (e.g., Breslin & Smith, 2005) show that young workers are at greater risk of injury than older workers.…”

Occupational injuries in Canadian youth: an analysis of 22 years of surveillance data collected from the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program

“…We observed a particularly high PIR for burns in older adolescent food and beverage workers; given that only 26.1% of teen workers exposed to burn hazards report using burn protection (e.g. oven mitts), 28 strategies to reduce barriers to protective equipment use may be valuable in reducing a primary cause of injury in young people in these common occupations.…”