Foreword
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Annual workplace injury, illness, and fatality rates for all workers, reported to the Bureau of Labor (BLS), are at an all-time low and have been dropping for the past several years. In 2003, the most recent year for which data is available, there were 5,559 reported job injury–related fatalities, 60,000 occupational disease–related fatalities, and 4.3 million injuries that required more than first aid (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi. pdf). Some say this proves that health and safety conditions are improving for US workers. However, a recent study estimates that the BLS reports miss as much as 69% of all injuries. Workplace health and safety professionals are skeptical too. They know that there are many disincentives for employers and employees to report injuries and illnesses, although fatalities are generally accurate because it is hard to hide a death. Furthermore, it is clear that there are certain groups that are more at risk than others. Two of these more vulnerable populations are immigrant and adolescent workers. More specifically, increasing attention is being focused on Hispanics because they are the largest immigrant group in the United States and are a population that continues to grow. The US Census Bureau predicts that by the year 2050 Hispanics will represent 1 of every 4 persons in the United States, up from about 1 in 8 in 2000. The rate of on-the-job deaths for Hispanics has been higher than for Whites and Blacks since 2000, and this group also is at a higher risk for nonfatal injuries and illnesses. The United States has the highest proportion of working teens of any developed country, with about 80% having worked by the time they graduate from high school. Working teens experience 2 times the rate of injuries as working adults, with estimates that annually about 60,000 teens are admitted to emergency rooms because of such injuries and approximately 200,000 experience a job-related injury. In 2002 there were 41 adolescents who died from injuries sustained on the job. The reasons why these 2 populations are particularly vulnerable are many and, in some cases, similar. Both tend to be part of the “marginal” workforce, working in low-paid,
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[2] Charles Levenstein,et al. Occupational injury and illness surveillance: conceptual filters explain underreporting. , 2002, American journal of public health.