Abstract
Objectives
To examine the risk of work injuries among young workers out of school compared to those working while still in school.
Methods
The 12,506 fifteen to twenty-four year old workers were part of a national survey that used a multi-staged, stratified sampling procedure. Respondents were divided into four groups based on current school activity (i.e., out of school vs. in school) and educational level (i.e., not having completed high school vs. completed high school). A multivariate logistic regression was conducted using a weighted bootstrap method for variance estimation on occurrence of a work injury that was medically attended.
Results
Those young workers out of school and not having completed high school (8.2 per 1 00 full-time equivalents [FTEs]) and those out of school with a high school degree (5.1 per 100 FTEs) had higher unadjusted rates of work injuries compared to those workers in school not having completed high school (3.1 per 100 FTEs) or those in school with a high school degree (2.7 per 100 FTEs). These differences persisted in a multivariate regression with demographic and work-related covariates included. In addition, young people out of school reported a different work environment as evidenced by decreased social support at work.
Conclusions
The elevated injury risk of young workers out of school suggests that school-based work safety education programs need to be supplemented with other prevention strategies that improve the fit between these young workers’ experience and capabilities and the work environment.
Key words: Adolescent, education, occupational group, wounds and injuries
Résumé
Objectif
Examiner le risque d’accidents du travail chez les jeunes travailleurs ne fréquentant plus ‘école comparativement à ceux qui travaillent pendant leurs études.
Méthode
Les 12 506 travailleurs de15à24ans choisis pour cette étude faisaient partie d’une enquête nationale utilisant une méthode d’échantillonnage stratifié à plusieurs degrés. Les répondants ont été divisés en quatre groupes selon leur situation scolaire actuelle (ne fréquentant plus l’école ou allant à l’école) et leur niveau d’instruction (études secondaires terminées ou non). Nous avons mené une analyse de régression logistique multivariée selon une méthode d’autogénération mutuelle pondérée pour obtenir la variance estimée de la fréquence des accidents du travail ayant nécessité des soins médicaux.
Résultats
Les jeunes travailleurs ne fréquentant plus l’école et n’ayant pas terminé leurs études secondaires (8,2 p. 1 00 équivalents temps pleins [ETP]) et ceux ne fréquentant plus l’école, mais ayant un diplôme d’études secondaires (5,1 p. 1 00 ETP) présentaient des taux accidents du travai plus élevés (données avant ajustement) que les travailleurs qui allaient encore à l’école et n’avaient pas terminé leurs études secondaires (3,1 p. 1 00 ETP) ou que les diplômés du secondaire qui faisaient des études supérieures (2,7 p. 1 00 ETP). Ces écarts ont persisté avec une analyse de régression multivariée incluant des covariables démographiques et liées au travail. De plus, les jeunes ne fréquentant plus l’école évoluaient dans un milieu de travail différent du fait qu’ils recevaient moins de soutien social au travail.
Conclusion
Le risque de blessures accru chez les jeunes travailleurs ne fréquentant plus l’école semble indiquer que les programmes de sensibilisation à la sécurité enseignés dans les écoles gagneraient à être complétés par d’autres stratégies de prévention visant à réduire les écarts entre l’expérience et les capacités de ces jeunes travailleurs et la réalité de leur milieu de travail.
Mots clés: adolescent, enseignement, groupe professionnel, plaies et blessures
Footnotes
Acknowledgements: The author thanks Sue Boychuk and Peter Smith for their contribution of ideas in this paper.
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