Non-agricultural work injuries among youth: a systematic review

To systematically review the quantitative literature on factors associated with youth non-agricultural work injury.

Seven electronic databases were searched for studies published between 1980 and 2005. In addition, reference lists from each potentially eligible study were checked and experts in the field contacted for additional studies. Studies had to meet relevance and quality appraisal criteria.

Nine cross-sectional studies using multivariate analyses met the inclusion and quality appraisal criteria. This best evidence synthesis found that work injury varied significantly with job and workplace factors such as hazard exposure and perceived work overload. Visible minority status was also associated with likelihood of a work injury. The lack of youth work injury studies assessing the following factors was also identified: physical and cognitive development, safety training, supervision, social environment of the workplace, and intervention studies.

This review has potential implications for prevention of work injuries. First, interventions need to target modifiable risk factors. This systematic review pointed to two job/workplace factors that are potentially modifiable: hazard exposure and work pace pressure. Second, the multiple determinants of work injury highlight the need to develop interventions and policies that focus on multiple factors rather than one-dimensional approaches that target a specific factor.