NIOSH Publication No. 2004-146

Worker Health Chartbook 2004

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1 Figure 2-155 Incidence rates of pesticide-related illness by age and industry, 1998-1999. Among industry sectors, agriculture accounted for the highest incidence rates of pesticide-related illness, ranging from 5 to 27 cases per 100,000 full-time workers. Rates were highest among younger workers, peaking among those aged 20-24, and decreasing with increasing age. (Sources: NIOSH [2002d]; Calvert [2002].)

2 Figure 5-1 Number and rate of fatal occupational injuries by age of worker, 2002. Workers aged 25-54 accounted for 3,672 or 66.5% of the 5,524 fatal occupational injuries in 2002. Fatality rates ranged from 1.1 per 100,000 among workers aged 16-17 to 11.5 per 100,000 among workers aged 65 and older. Fatalities among workers aged 65 and older accounted for 9% (494 fatalities) of all fatal occupational injuries. (Note: Labor force data are unavailable for youths aged 15 and younger. This precludes estimating rates for these workers.) (Source: BLS [2003a].)

3 Figure 5-2 Number and distribution of nonfatal injuries and illnesses involving days away from work in private industry by age of worker, 2001. Younger workers accounted for 45,443 cases or 3.0% of the 1.5 million injury and illness cases involving days away from work for which age was reported. Workers aged 55 and older accounted for 160,231 cases or 10.5%. Age was not reported for 16,930 cases. (Source: BLS [2003b,c].)

4 Figure 5-3 Median days away from work due to occupational injury or illness in private industry by age, 2001. Median days away from work due to injury or illness increased with age. In 2001, workers aged 14-15 and 16-19 had median work losses of 2 and 4 days, respectively. Workers aged 55-64 and 65 and older had median work losses of 10 and 14 days, respectively. (Sources: BLS [2003b,c].)

5 Figure 5-5 Numbers and rates of fatal occupational injuries among workers aged 16-17 and 18-19, 1993-2002. Fatal occupational injury rates declined during this 10-year period from 2 to 1.1 per 100,000 employed workers aged 16-17 and from 3 to 2.2 per 100,000 employed workers aged 18-19. Fatal injury rates were higher each year for workers aged 18-19 compared with workers aged 16-17. The number of fatal injuries ranged from 32 in 1998 to 46 in 1999 for workers aged 16-17, and from 92 in 2002 to 137 in 1998 for workers aged 18-19. (Note: BLS rounded rates to whole numbers for 1993-1995.) (Source: BLS [2003d].)

6 Figure 5-6 Number and distribution of fatal occupational injuries by age among young workers, 1992-2002. Fatal occupational injuries among workers aged 16 and 17 accounted for 158 and 270 fatalities, respectively, or 60.5% of all fatal occupational injuries among workers aged 17 and younger for the period 1992-2002. A significant number of deaths (94 or 13.3% of the total) occurred among youths aged 12 and younger. (Source: BLS [2003d].)

7 Figure 5-7 Number of fatal occupational injuries among workers aged 17 and younger by sex of worker, 1992-2002. For this period, the total number of fatal occupational injuries for workers aged 17 and younger ranged from 41 in 2002 to 73 in 2000. Deaths among male workers predominated, accounting for 89% of the worker deaths reported in this age group during 1992-2002. (Note: Dash in parentheses indicates that no data were reported or that data do not meet BLS publication criteria.) (Source: BLS [2003d].)

8 Figure 5-8 Number and distribution of fatal occupational injuries among workers aged 17 and younger by race/ethnicity, 1992-2002. White, non-Hispanic youths accounted for 520 or 73.6% of fatal occupational injuries among workers aged 17 and younger during 1992-2002. In contrast, 39 fatal occupational injuries (5.5%) were reported for black, non-Hispanic youths, and 114 (16.1%) were reported for Hispanic youths during the 11-year period. (Source: BLS [2003d].)

9 Figure 5-9 Distribution and number of fatal occupational injuries among workers aged 17 and younger by occupation, 1992-2002. Work in farming, forestry, and fishing accounted for 289 or 42.3% of all fatal occupational injuries among youths aged 17 and younger during 1992-2002. Youths employed as operators, fabricators, and laborers accounted for 195 or 28.6% of the fatal injuries. (Source: BLS [2003d].)

10 Figure 5-10 Distribution and number of fatal occupational injuries among workers aged 17 and younger by industry, 1992-2002. During 1992-2002, young workers in agriculture, forestry, and fishing accounted for 287 or 43.3% of all fatal occupational injuries among workers aged 17 or younger. Workers in retail trade and construction had the next largest numbers of fatal injuries among young workers (127 fatal injuries [or 19.2%] and 107 fatal injuries [or 16.1%], respectively). (Note: Dash in parentheses indicates that no data were reported or that data do not meet BLS publication criteria.) (Source: BLS [2003d].)

11 Figure 5-11 Distribution and number of fatal occupational injuries among workers aged 17 and younger by event or exposure, 1992-2002. Transportation incidents accounted for 45.4% (320) of fatal occupational injuries among youths. These incidents are further described by the smaller pie chart, which shows incidents on highways, farms, and industrial premises accounting for more than 74% of all transportation incidents among youths. Overall, assaults and violent acts accounted for 126 or 17.8% of all fatal occupational injuries among youths. (Source: BLS [2003d].)

12 Figure 5-12 Number of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses among workers under age 14 involving days away from work in private industry, 1992-2001. Reported cases of nonfatal occupational injury and illness involving days away from work are very rare among workers younger than 14. No cases are reported by BLS for 1997-2001, and relatively few cases are reported for 1992-1996. The highest estimated count of 91 cases was reported in 1992 (compared with an estimated 2.3 million for all age groups). (Note: Dash in parentheses indicates that no data were reported or that data do not meet BLS publication criteria.) (Sources: BLS [2003b,c].)

13 Figure 5-13 Number of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses involving days away from work among workers aged 14-15 in private industry, 1992-2001. Among workers aged 14-15, reported cases of nonfatal occupational injury and illness involving days away from work ranged from 1,476 in 1996 to 276 in 1998. (Sources: BLS [2003b,c].)

14 Figure 5-14 Number of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses involving days away from work among workers aged 16-19 in private industry, 1992-2001. Among workers aged 16-19, reported cases of nonfatal occupational injury and illness involving days away from work ranged from 97,262 in 1994 to 44,535 in 2001. Overall, this age group accounts for 2.9% of all reported cases of nonfatal occupational injury and illness. Data for 1992-2001 show a consistently decreasing trend in reported cases. (Sources: BLS [2003b,c].)

15 Figure 5-15 Distribution of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses involving days away from work among workers aged 14-15 and 16-19 in private industry by number of days away from work, 2001. Young workers tended to experience more short-term than long-term work loss. For workers aged 14-15, 62.3% of the cases had a work loss of 1 or 2 days. For workers aged 16-19, 60.1% of the cases involved work loss of 5 days or less. Workers aged 14-15 had a median loss of 2 days, and workers aged 16-19 had a median loss of 4 days. Overall, private sector workers had a median of 6 days away from work. (Sources: BLS [2003b,c].)

16 Figure 5-16 Distribution and number of occupational injuries and illnesses involving days away from work among workers aged 16-19 in private industry by occupation, 2001. BLS estimates that 44,249 cases of occupational injury and illness involving days away from work occurred among workers aged 16-19 during 2001. The highest proportions of these cases occurred in operators, fabricators, and laborers (37.4% or 16,566 cases) and service (30.8% or 13,640). (Sources: BLS [2003b,c].)

17 Figure 5-17 Distribution and number of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses involving days away from work among workers aged 16-19 in private industry by industry, 2001. Wholesale and retail trade and services accounted for the highest percentages (45.6% and 21.2%, respectively) of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses among workers aged 16-19. (Sources: BLS [2003b,c].)

18 Figure 5-18 Occupational injuries among young workers in Massachusetts by data source, 1993-1999. Cases are identified from two sources-workers' compensation claims resulting in 5 or more lost workdays and reports from emergency departments. Of the 3,389 cases identified, 2,391 were identified solely from workers' compensation claims. (Source: Davis [2002].)

19 Figure 5-19 Occupational injuries among young workers in Massachusetts by age and sex, 1993-1999. Workers aged 16 accounted for 30.0% of occupational injuries among adolescents, and workers aged 17 accounted for 58.3%. Male workers accounted for 62.5% of the adolescents injured. (Source: Davis [2002].)

20 Figure 5-20 Occupational injuries among young workers aged 14-17 in Massachusetts by injury type and data source, 1993-1999. Of the 945 cases of occupational injury among young workers in Massachusetts who were identified through emergency department reports, the majority involved cuts, lacerations, and punctures (46.8%), followed by heat burns and scalds (14.0%). These data contrast with the data for workers' compensation claims, which report that most cases involved strains and sprains (35.5%), followed by cuts, lacerations, and punctures (23.8%). (Source: Davis [2002].)

21 Figure 5-21 Occupational injuries identified by workers' compensation data among young workers aged 14-17 in Massachusetts by selected industry, 1993-1999. The largest numbers of occupational injury cases identified among young workers in Massachusetts through workers' compensation claims occurred in restaurants (25.6%), grocery stores (15.0%), retail bakeries (6.7%), and nursing homes (5.8%). (Source: Davis [2002].)

22 Table 5-1 Number and distribution of employed workers in major industry groups by age, 2001. Young workers aged 16-19 accounted for 6.9 million or 5.1% of all employed workers, and those aged 55 and older accounted for 18.3 million or 13.6%. Of the young workers aged 16-19, 54.2% were employed in wholesale and retail trade, and 27.5% in services. Of the employed workers aged 55 and older, 40.0% were employed in services, and 17.5% in wholesale and retail trade. (Source: BLS [2001].)