Incidence of work injuries amongst Danish adolescents and their association with work environment factors.
BACKGROUND
The objective was to examine the incidence of work accidents that required medical attention among Danish adolescents and to identify possible work environment factors associated with such accidents.


METHODS
We collected information in two questionnaire rounds (2004 and 2007) from a birth cohort comprising all adolescents born in 1989 (n = 3,687) living in Ringkjøbing County, Denmark. The questionnaire contained items on self-reported number of accidents and number of working hours in both rounds and on work environment factors in the second round.


RESULTS
Approximately 5% of the adolescents who held a job, experienced a work injury at the age of 17. This equals an incidence of 65 accidents per million working hours. Most adolescents had decent working conditions, although nearly half reported that their work was heavy, monotonous or psychologically demanding. Heavy work, high psychological demands and low social support increased the risk of experiencing work injuries after adjustment for a number of factors.


CONCLUSIONS
The incidence of work injuries among adolescents appears to be higher than the incidence among their older colleagues. Lack of social support from management significantly raised adolescents' risk of experiencing a work injury. This suggests that more direct supervision may be a good way of preventing accidents in this age group.
Department of Occupational Medicine, Danish Ramazzini Centre, Regional Hospital Herning, Denmark. Kurt.Rasmussen@vest.rm.dk
Kurt
K
Rasmussen
Claus D
CD
Hansen
Kent J
KJ
Nielsen
Johan H
JH
Andersen
D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008019:Life Style; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace / Q000706:statistics & numerical data