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American Morning

How Do We Keep Our Kids Safe on the Job?

Aired July 15, 2002 - 08:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: It happens every summer, million of American teenagers are hard at work from the shopping malls to the fast food restaurants to the beaches. And while the seasonal jobs can be rewarding, they can also be downright dangerous, even deadly. So how do we know, and keep our kids safe on the job and out of harm's way? Well, joining us this morning, Joel Shufro of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health. And joining us this morning from Boston Maggie Carey, whose son Adam died in a work- related accident almost two years ago.

Good to have both of you with us this morning.

Maggie, describe what happened to your son.

MAGGIE CAREY, MOTHER OF WORK-RELATED ACCIDENT VICTIM: On a Saturday morning, he went to a country club to work as a bagroom attendant. and as part of his job, he was operating a golf cart. And apparently, no one witnessed the accident, supposedly, but he had gotten on to the cart, which was about 10 feet away from a deck on an incline. And they believe that when he went to put the cart into gear, it lurched forward and hit the deck. And when he hit the deck, his chest was crushed and he died shortly thereafter.

ZAHN: Oh, my goodness.

Were you even aware that driving a golf cart was part of his job description?

CAREY: It was not listed as part of his job description. I did know that, indeed, he was driving the carts, but I assume that was an OK thing and that he had had proper training.

ZAHN: Isn't it true that it's illegal in your state to drive a golf cart under the age of 17?

CAREY: Under the age of 18, and I've learned that since that time, since the day of the accident.

ZAHN: And since then, you've gotten very involved in groups that try to prevent similar kinds of accidents from happening from other teenagers our there. What's your greatest concern these days?

CAREY: Well, my greatest concern is that employers are not watching out for children, and are not obeying the child labor laws, as we have found out. In Massachusetts, it's a criminal offense to allow children to do things that are covered by the law. In my son's case, OSHA investigated the accident, and didn't find them for breaking the law. And the attorney general's office decided not to prosecute, because it was a first offense, although kids have been operating these golf carts for many years.

It just so happens that this particular time, they got caught, and unfortunately, it cost my son his life.

ZAHN: I see Joel shaking his head, no, no, no, as he's listening to this, because unfortunately, these are the kinds of stories you hear over and over again. Let's look at the latest statistic, showing that basically 70,000 teens get hurt badly enough that they go to a hospital emergency room every year, and that 70 teens die every year from work-related injuries. How can this be? And why are teenagers so prone to these accidents?

JOEL SHUFRO, N.Y. CMTE. FOR OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH: Actually, the number is three times greater. There are 230,000 teenagers that end up in hospitals as a result of work-related injuries each year.

ZAHN: Our statistics came from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, but everybody has compiled the statistics, but the bottom line is, too many kids are getting hurt.

SHUFRO: Too many kids are getting hurt, and they're getting hurt at a rate that is higher than workers on the job generally. So even though they are prohibited from doing the most dangerous work, so we have a situation where teenagers who end up in hospitals at rates of about three times that of the workers in the general workforce.

Now, what we find is that employers are not providing training for the workers, for workers generally, but for teenage workers in particular, this is often the first time that they're on the job. They are not supervised appropriately. They are given inappropriate work, and the consequences, that we have this totally preventable situation of workers, of young workers going to the hospital, being injured, often permanently.

ZAHN: That's terrible. Can you run through the most dangerous jobs there are out there, so parents and teenagers out there can be alerted to some of these problems? Because we actually have some graphics that will reinforce what you're saying here.

SHUFRO: Most young workers are injured on the job through driving accidents. They are prohibited from driving under the age of 18; 17, they're allowed to drive on an occasional basis. But that is the largest number of -- way in which workers are injured, young workers are injured. We have a large number of workers who are -- young workers who are hurt as a result of violence on the job. Working late at night in -- where they're alone, where money is being exchanged.

We have -- the third level is retail and restaurant work, where large numbers of workers who -- young workers who work in chains, where they are not trained to work with grease and hot cooking equipment suffer burns, and bruises and falls, slips.

ZAHN: So, Maggie, when we hear Joel basically paint a dire picture here, is there anything else that parents need to be alerted to so what happened to you won't happen to them?

SHUFRO: I think that parents and teenagers need to look into the child labor laws to make sure that, indeed, what they're doing is safe work, that they have the proper training, and if a parent realizes that a child has gone to a job, and it;s not an appropriate one, they need to report this, and the government needs to begin to enforce some of these laws and increase the fines.

And in Massachusetts, we need to make it a civil offense instead of a criminal offense, so that some type of prosecution can be done.

ZAHN: You're very courageous to talk about this, while you're wounds are still so fresh. Maggie Carey, thank you for sharing your personal story with us, and Joel Shufro, thank you for dropping by as well. Apreciate your time.

SHUFRO: Thank you.

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