Have young workers more injuries than older ones? An international literature review

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Abstract

Problem: Two questions were posed in this global literature review: Do young workers have a higher occupational injury rate? Are the injuries of young workers more often fatal than those of older workers? Method: The studies of nonfatal and fatal injuries were collected based on the following criteria: (a) published in peer-reviewed journals; (b) the young workers were under 25 years of age; (c) the injury rate or fatality rate of young workers and the overall rate was published; and (d) description of the population and the number of injuries was presented. Results: The majority of 63 nonfatal studies reported showed that young workers had a higher injury rate than older workers. Twenty-nine out of 45 studies on fatal occupational injuries indicated that young workers had a lower fatality rate than older workers. These results are clearer for men than for women. Impact on industry: The results showed that young men were a risk group for occupational injuries. However, the injuries of young workers were reported as less often fatal than those of older workers.

Introduction

The aim of this review is to find the answers to two questions: Do young workers have a higher risk of occupational injuries? Are the injuries of young workers more often fatal than those of older workers?

Previous reviews (Rhodes, 1983, Laflamme & Menckel, 1995, Salminen, 1996) have shown that injury rates tend to decrease as age increases. The reviews have also shown that the injuries of young workers are less serious than those of older workers, because the fatality rate of young workers was lower than that of older workers. Compared to these earlier reviews, the strengths of this review are the larger number of studies and that the studies are from many different countries and industries.

Section snippets

Methods

For this literature review, the studies were collected based on the following criteria:

  • (1)

    The studies were published, most of them in peer-reviewed journals.

  • (2)

    Workers under 25 years of age were classified as young workers.

  • (3)

    There was information about the injury rate or fatality rate of young workers and older workers, or the overall injury rate regardless of age.

  • (4)

    There was enough information on the population and the number of injuries on which the calculations of injury rate were based.

The studies

Results

With the abovementioned criteria, 63 studies on nonfatal injuries were found (see Table 1). The oldest one was Kossiris's study published in 1940 and the most recent one was from 2002. For 45 studies on fatalities, the time period was 21 years (1981 to 2002).

The studies on nonfatal injuries were from 18 countries (see Table 2). The three most often mentioned countries were the United States (22 studies), Sweden (9), and Canada (5). The studies on fatal injuries were from 13 countries. Most of

Discussion

Before we discuss the results of this review, we must present some caveats. In most studies, the injury rate or fatality rate is based on the number of workers assuming full-time working. However, at least in Finland, many young people worked in part-time jobs. Secondly, young workers are less experienced in work than older workers, so that increases their injury risk (Root & Hoefer, 1979, Siskind, 1982). Thirdly, young workers should work on more dangerous jobs, although, for example, in

Simo Salminen received his PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Helsinki in 1997 and was nominated as an adjunct professor to the University of Helsinki in 2000. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles on occupational accidents and the social psychology of sport. Dr. Salminen was a researcher at the University of Helsinki in 1982–1987 and has been employed at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health since 1988 and is now working as a senior researcher.

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    Simo Salminen received his PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Helsinki in 1997 and was nominated as an adjunct professor to the University of Helsinki in 2000. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles on occupational accidents and the social psychology of sport. Dr. Salminen was a researcher at the University of Helsinki in 1982–1987 and has been employed at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health since 1988 and is now working as a senior researcher.

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