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The statistics are clear: young workers get hurt on the job every day. Sometimes, they get killed. In a typical year, 200,000 American teens suffer workplace injuries, of which nearly a third require emergency room treatment. 70 teen workers die each year. In Maine, workers under 18 were injured seriously enough to file 829 lost-time workers' compensation claims from 1993-99.
The vast majority of workplace injuries to teens (83%) happen within the first year on the job-and 25% of these in just the first month! Why? Because teens don't have the experience or training to do the job as safely as possible. So their risk of getting injured is high.