Health hazards to children in the service industries

The purpose of this article is to examine the persistent, yet underrecognized, problem of adolescent occupational injury. There is little appreciation for the magnitude and scope of this problem, including, particularly, the underlying causes and factors of adolescent occupational injury; this is especially so outside the occupational health field. There are many reasons why the scope of adolescent occupational injury remains unappreciated. For example, injury surveillance systems, including workers' compensation records, do not reveal the level of this problem because many injuries are not properly compensated. This paper examines health hazards to children in the service industries from various perspectives. This scrutiny will include an examination of adolescent occupational injury levels and the reasons why this problem is large and growing. In closing, we consider ways to improve public policies in order to portray this problem accurately, the first step toward meaningful injury prevention strategies.