Objective Fatal work-related injuries among children and adolescents cause outrage and reveal the failure in the protection of these vulnerable groups. This study estimates the work-related injuries mortality rate among Brazilian workers aged 10 to 24 years between 2000 and 2014.

Methods This is a mortality study carried out with data from the Mortality Information System, SIM, and census data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE. Cases were identified using data on the work-related nature of the injury, compulsory in death certificates for external causes.Estimates are separated by age ranges for which distinct protectives norms are applicable.

Results n total, there were 7484 fatal work-related injuries during the study time. Of these, 2.8% (n=208) among children from 10 to 14 years old, 9.2% (n=691) in the group aged 15 to 17 years, and the majority (88%) were 18 years of age or older. In each age group, work-related mortality rates (per 100,000) were 1.5, 3.3 and 4.8 among males, and for girls 1.1, 0.3 and 0.3, respectively. The most common circumstance related to the injury involved transport. Farming predominates (89%) among occupations in the youngest group, falling to 48% and 18% in the older age ranges, respectively.

Conclusions Our findings reflect an unacceptable reality in Brazil, the 7^th largest world economy. The agriculture industry needs to be targeted for actions to eliminating child labour and to enhancing compliance with protective standards against the worst forms and most hazardous occupations in the group of young workers