Adolescent Workers: Prevention of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses

Why Educate Pediatric Healthcare Providers?

• The Institute of Medicine report cites a survey in Massachusetts indicating that <25% of physicians were knowledgeable about child labor laws.⁹
• Healthcare providers have a unique and optimal role during clinical encounters to help youth transition safely into the work field.⁸
• Counseling for unintentional injury prevention is encouraged by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).10 However, this counseling needs to extend beyond current recommendations to include adolescent worker health and safety.
• Healthcare providers can provide information, promote safe work practices, and encourage young people to know their rights and speak up when a problem is present.¹¹

Part One: Page 9 of 9

9. Institute of Medicine. 1998. Protecting Youth at Work: Health, Safety, and Development of Working Children and Adolescents in the United States. Washington, DC: Natl. Acad. Press. 318 pp.
10. H. Garry Gardner and the Committee on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention (2007). Office-Based Counseling for Unintentional Injury Prevention. Pediatrics, 119(1), 202-206.
11. Pollack, S. H. (2001). Adolescent occupational exposures and pediatric adolescent take home exposures. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 48(5), 1267-1289.