Health and Human Development Programs

Protecting the Teen Worker

Challenge: Although child labor laws prevent teenagers from working in the most dangerous occupations, they are injured on the job more often than adults. Too often, employers don't offer training on health and safety issues to young workers. Different agencies, covering labor, education, and health, are responsible for addressing various aspects of the problem, making collaboration difficult.

Strategy: HHD responded to this challenge by teaming up with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Occupational Health Surveillance Program to identify the patterns and rates of injuries. We then provided the information to policy makers and the public. We also developed "Protecting Working Teens: A Public Health Resource Guide" for public health professionals, produced a video with and for teens, and created a curriculum, "Safe Work/Safe Workers."

Result: Teen worker health and safety are now being integrated into existing and new initiatives by federal agencies, such as the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Our unique community needs assessment data was used by the Institute of Medicine committee studying child labor. Two resource centers devoted to protecting teen workers have been established, in Los Angeles and at our offices in Newton, Massachusetts. HHD helped develop a national resource guide for communities, which will be disseminated by NIOSH.