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Executive Summary
Pages 1-16

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From page 1...
... Each year, tens of thousands of young people are seen in hospital emergency departments for workrelated injuries; hundreds of them require hospitalization; and more than 70 die of work-related injuries. Long work hours during the school year are also associated with problem behaviors, including substance abuse and minor deviance, and with insufficient sleep and exercise.
From page 2...
... The government estimates do not include children younger than 16 who may work, although the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health found that about 40 percent of 7th and 8th graders were employed during the school year. Children of any age may work in familyowned businesses and on family farms.
From page 3...
... Working has been shown to be associated with both positive and negative consequences for adolescents. Working may increase responsibility, self-esteem, and independence and may help children and adolescents learn valuable work skills.
From page 4...
... The most common causes of work-related deaths among 16- and 17year-olds involve motor vehicles, electrocutions, and homicides. Many of the industries that employ large numbers of children and adolescents have higher than average injury rates for workers of all ages, but young workers do not receive adequate health and safety training at work training that has been linked with reduced injuries and acute illnesses when provided to adult workers who are young or inexperienced.
From page 5...
... The standards are much less restrictive for children and adolescents working in agriculture than for those employed in nonagricultural jobs, reflecting the social norms of six decades ago. Each state also has its own child labor standards, which vary widely, with some states permitting 50 or more hours of work per week during the school year for youths under the age of 18.
From page 6...
... Businesses that employ young workers assume a higher level of social obligation, which should be reflected in the expectations of society as well as in explicit public policy. Guiding Principle 4: Everyone under 18 years of age has the right to be protected from hazardous work, excessive work hours, and unsafe or unhealthy work environments, regardless of the size of the enterprise in which he or she is employed, his or her
From page 7...
... Likewise, information on the adverse health consequences associated with youth employment is limited. The occupational injuries, illnesses, and hazardous exposures to which working youth are subjected can be prevented by proper public health actions.
From page 8...
... Recommendation: The Bureau of Labor Statistics should `develop methods to generate reliable estimates of youth employment at the state level. Many agencies including the National Center for Health Statistics, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the National Center for Education Statistics, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration collect much information on children and adolescents.
From page 9...
... The lack of specific attention to the need for data regarding issues related to the protection of young workers as a special population has often meant that even data on relevant age groups are not available to the public. Recommendation: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, in collaboration with the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other relevant fe`deral and state agencies, should `develop and implement a comprehensive plan for monitoring work-relate`d injuries and illnesses sustained by workers under the age of 18 and for monitoring hazards to which these young workers are exposed.
From page 10...
... An evaluation of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act is under way, but it is unclear if that evaluation will adequately assess the presence and effectiveness of health and safety training or the safety of workplacements under the act. Recommendation: The Departments of Education and Labor, in their evaluation of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, should make certain that the evaluation includes comprehensive assessment of the success of `different programs in conveying appropriate and effective workplace health and safety information and training.
From page 11...
... has been associated with unhealthy and problem behaviors, including substance use and minor deviance, insufficient sleep and exercise, and limited time spent with families, and it is associated with decreased eventual educational attainment. Care will have to be taken in setting an upper limit in number of work hours for 16- and 17-year-olds.
From page 12...
... Changes to the hazardous orders should be based on periodic reviews by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of current workplace hazards and the adequacy of existing hazardous orders to address them. Minimum Levels of Protection State regulations vary widely on the maximum weekly hours minors under the age of 16 may work.
From page 13...
... Activities that are hazardous for those under the age of 18 in nonagricultural settings are equally hazardous in agricultural settings, yet current regulations do not protect 16- and 17-year-ofUs on farms from performing hazardous tasks, nor do they protect youths of any age on their parents' farms. The only appropriate justification for a lower minimum age for performing hazardous work would be demonstrably lower risks in the industry.
From page 14...
... Recommendation: To ensure the equal protection of children and adolescents from health and safety hazards in agriculture, Congress should undertake an examination of the effects and feasibility of extending all relevant Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations to agricultural workers, inclu`ding subjecting small farms to the same level of OSHA enforcement as that applied to other small businesses. Other Regulations and Enforcement The committee makes a number of other recommendations pertaining to regulations and enforcement, including: · That the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, in consultation with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, report on the extent to which existing occupational health and safety and pesticide standards take into account special risks to children and adolescents; That the Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children, which was created by the President's Executive Order Number 13045, should ensure that its definition of children include older children and adolescents and include exposures to children and adolescents at work.
From page 15...
... These topics include: · Longitudinal studies of how individuals who have worked in their youth function as adolescents and adults and how various outcomes are associated with the quality of the work experiences. · Research to determine whether the developmental characteristics of children and adolescents put them at increased risk from factors in the work environment, including chemical, physical, ergonomic, and psychosocial conditions (such as stress or type of super .


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