12 to 14 Year Olds Getting Hurt at Work, Too
Submitted by heather on Wed, 11/05/2008 - 00:13.
Six percent of 12 to 14 year-olds in Ontario are injured at work, according to a new study conducted at the Institute for Work & Health.
The organization also surveyed youth in British Columbia, where they found 3.5 percent of tweens and early teens get hurt at work.
The rate of work-related injuries in this age group is comparable to that of 15- to 24-year-olds, the study showed. Work injuries were reported by six per cent of youth surveyed in Ontario and 3.5 per cent in B.C.
Wow! We've written about the very young being at risk for getting hurt shoveling snow, cutting lawns, babysitting or having a paper route - but these numbers are startling... and disturbing.
Even volunteering can be dangerous - and more kids are getting into that all the time, especially in places like Ontario where graduation from high school requires a certain minimum of volunteer hours.
How to Make the Immature Care about Safety?
The unacceptable reality of workplace injury is spreading - as young people in Canada aged 12 to 14 are working in greater numbers than most would suppose. Nearly 53 per cent of youth in Ontario and 42 per cent in British Columbia reported working during the school year.
How to reach such a large (and, let's face it, generally immature) population about the very serious, grown-up issue of being proactive about safety and health at work? Who is supervising their work? Are they getting any training at all?
If you're a 12 to 14 year old - or the parent of one - we want to hear from you. What are YOU doing to keep safe while working?
