Occupational injury proneness in young workers: a survey in stone quarries

Workplace injuries are of concern in adolescent and child workers. The factors of such injuries are important for injury prevention. This study explored the predictors of injury in such workers.

This study was carried out in stone quarries and included 147 children and adolescent workers (81 males and 66 females). The mean age of the subjects was 11.3 years. An interviewer-administered questionnaire survey was performed to collect personal, occupational, morbidity and injury details. Descriptive analysis followed by logistic regression was undertaken to obtain the contribution of different factors on workplace injury occurrence.

Age (OR: 0.73 95% CI: 0.53-0.99), nature of work (OR: 29.4 95% CI: 2.5-340.7), work hours per day (OR: 1.77 95% CI: 1.3-2.3), musculoskeletal complaint (OR: 15.8 95% CI: 4.8-52.2) and education (OR: 0.24 95% CI: 0.08-0.7) showed significant effects on workplace injuries. However, duration of employment and body mass index had no significant contribution.

This study stresses the need to strictly stop employment of child labor in such occupations in accordance with the national law. It shows that apart from nature of job, age of worker, work hours/day, musculoskeletal morbidity and education are significant predictors of occupational injuries and that training of such workers with regard to safe practices, provision for education, alleviation of musculoskeletal morbidity, suitable restriction of work hours/day and awareness generation among parents regarding the imminent danger of such labor in their children will ensure a positive impact in protecting young and child workers from occupational injuries.