Adolescent Workers: Prevention of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses

Young Worker Injury Statistics

• Approximately 2 million teens, ages 15–17, in the United States work.¹
• Surveys suggest that 80% of teens have worked by the time they finish high school.
• In 2015, the incidence rate for non-fatal injuries for workers, ages 15–19, was 3.78 per 100 full-time employees (FTE) and 2.99 per 100 FTE for workers, ages 20–24.²
• In 2016, 30 workers under 18, and an additional 353 workers between the ages of 18 – 24, died from work-related injuries.³
• On average, each year 22,000 workers, ages 15–17, are sent to the ER for job-related injuries, but the actual number of injuries occurring at work is much higher.⁴
• In 2015, the rate of work-related injuries treated in the ER for workers, ages 15–19, was 2.28 times greater than the rate for workers 25 years of age and older. ⁴
• In the same year, the rate of work-related injuries treated in the ER for workers, ages 20–24, was 1.80 times greater than the rate for workers 25 years of age and older.⁴

Part One: Page 4 of 9

1. NIOSH (2017). Selected charts on young worker employment, injuries and illnesses. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/youth/chtpkgfig3.html
2.  NIOSH (2017). The Work-Related Injury Statistics Query System (Work-RISQS) 
3. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2016). Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) External
4. NIOSH (2017). The Work-Related Injury Statistics Query System (Work-RISQS)