According to official employment statistics, more than one third of 16 and 17 year olds in Massachusetts - over 50,000 teens - are employed, on average, at any given time. Thousands of younger teens in Massachusetts also work. Although work can provide many important benefits for teens, it can also pose health and safety risks. Each year in the US hundreds of thousands of working teens are injured, thousands are hospitalized and approximately 70 are killed. Since 1993, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Teens at Work Injury Surveillance and Intervention Project (TAW) has tracked work-related injuries to teens less than 18 years of age in Massachusetts using workers' compensation claims and data from a sample of nine emergency departments. Between 1993 and 2003, TAW identified more than 5,500 work-related injuries to teens. Ten teens were fatally injured at work during this period. Findings have been used to promote a variety of prevention activities including, development and dissemination of educational materials on health and safety and the child labor laws for teens, parents, employers and health care providers; health and safety training for teens; and industry steps to reduce hazardsOn the website, educational material, contests, reports and publications can be found, as well as additional material on the topic.
Level of Education: Initial vocational education and training
Lead Organisation: Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS)
