Many teenagers in the
United States use dangerous equipment or work long hours during the school week, according to a
University of
North Carolina at
Chapel Hill study.
A survey of workers 14-18 years old showed 52 percent of males and 43 percent of females use dangerous equipment such as box crushers and slicers, or serve and sell alcohol despite federal child-labor laws prohibiting these practices. Many teens younger than 16 years old reported working after 7 p.m. on school nights, which is illegal.
“Though there are benefits to work, not enough attention has been paid to safety,” said Carol Runyan, director of UNC’s
InjuryPreventionResearchCenter. “Federal and state child labor laws are designed to restrict the working environments, tasks and hours that teens work. However, the data we collected suggest there are gaps in how well businesses are complying.”
About one-third of the teens surveyed said they had not received safety training. Others who were trained did not receive instruction in some critical areas, such as what to do in case of robbery or how to deal with arguments or fights among co-workers.
“Greater supervision and training in difficult situations that arise in retail and service sector jobs would really benefit these teens,” Runyan said.
For more: University of
North CarolinaInjuryPreventionResearchCenter, (919) 966-2251; www.iprc.unc.edu.
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