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The Institute for Work & Health, an organization based in Toronto, recently issued a report which gather published research evidence on the risk factors for work injuries among youth.
The authors of the publication tried to answer the question: "What individual, job, and workplace factors are associated with work injuries and illness among young people 12 to 24 years of age?
Data and methodological information were extracted from 46 studies focusing on occupational injury.
The conclusion of this review is that when it comes to injury risk, the type of job or workplace mattered more than the nature of young workers themselves. Specifically, there was consistent evidence that number of work hazards and perceived work overload were associated with injury risk. A potential exception to the pre-eminence of job/workplace factors in work injury risk was that teenagers of visible minority groups showed an elevated injury risk even after job/workplace factors were controlled.
According to the authors, work-related factors should be a priority of workplace parties (employers, relevant government agencies, organized labour, prevention/compensation system). Future interventions, programs and policies aimed at reducing youth injury must target these factors.
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