Irwin Horwitz, PhD, School of Public Health, University of Texas, 1200 Herman Pressler, Suite W310, Houston, TX 77089, 713-500-9194, ihorwitz@sph.uth.tmc.edu and Brian McCall, PhD, Industrial Relations Center, University of Minnesota, 3-251 Carlson School of Management, 321-19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455.

Occupational injury among teenage workers has been found to be a widespread and serious public health problem in the United States. This presentation will begin with an overview past research on teenage worker injury that has been found through the examination of workers’ compensation data. Following the overview, findings will be presented using Oregon workers’ compensation data for the period to examine teenage worker injuries that occurred in the state over the eight-year period of 1990-1997. Because Oregon contains a wealth of data on variables not collected by states used in the previous workers’ compensation analyses of teenage worker injury, this study will make a significant contribution to the public health literature. Injury data will be presented examining the age, gender, occupation, job tenure, body part injured, and number of hours worked of injured teenage employees. Additional information will assess injury severity using duration and indemnity information, as well as subdivide injury according to shift. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Current Population Survey will be used to establish denominators by which rates will be estimated, and in doing so, a risk analysis will be preformed in which the relative importance of variables in predicting injury will be compared, and most dangerous occupations and conditions identified. The findings of this study will be compared and contrasted to previous studies of teenage worker injury and implications for interventions will be discussed. The study’s limitations will also be presented, and in doing so, directions for future research will be suggested.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• Articulate past findings of workers' compsnsation studies of teenage occupational injuries.
• Define new factors that have been found to contribute to teenage injury in the workplace.
• Describe the severity of injuries typically affecting teenage workers with respect to indemnity duration and cost.
• Assess the relative risks associated with various occupations and risk of teenager injury.
• Prioritize areas where interventions are necessitated for future injury prevention among young workers.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.