Teen Workers : Real Jobs, Real Risks

Summary

Highlights

• Teen worker Mallorie's tragic injury underscores safety issues. ☠️
• 80% of teens work before high school graduation. 🎓
• Many teen jobs have safety restrictions due to risks. 🛑
• Annually, at least 230K teens are injured at work in the U.S. 🥼
• Teens often hesitant to ask for help, risking safety. 🤷‍♀️
• Teens urged to know rights and ask questions. 📚

Key Takeaways

• Teen work can provide valuable experience but comes with risks. 🚦
• Lack of experience and training can lead to injuries. ⚠️
• Teen workers have specific rights and protections. 🛡️
• It's crucial to ask questions and know workplace safety protocols. ❓
• Employers must ensure a safe work environment for teens. 👷‍♂️
• Teen injury cases highlight the need for proper safety measures. 🚑

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Teen Work Statistics The chapter 'Introduction and Teen Work Statistics' begins with an exploration of various jobs that teenagers often hold, including roles in fast food, agriculture, and grocery stores. The discussion highlights the prevalence of teen employment, noting that an estimated 80% of teenagers engage in work before completing high school.
• 01:00 - 03:00: Personal Story of Mallerie The chapter titled 'Personal Story of Mallerie' discusses the perspective of a teenager named Mallerie on working while attending school. Mallerie explains that her primary motivation for working was to save up for a car, and she has been successful in saving a few thousand dollars. After purchasing the car, she is uncertain whether she will continue saving for future desires or spend her earnings on clothing and food. The narrative highlights that while many teenagers find working to be a beneficial experience, the outcome can differ for others.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Impact of the Accident The chapter titled 'Impact of the Accident' recounts an event from five years ago when Mallerie, a 14-year-old, spent part of her summer with a friend's family. During this time, the two girls worked at the family's ice packing business to earn money for church camp. On the evening of August 7th, while bagging ice, Mallerie made a mistake with the measurements, leading to discrepancies in the amounts of ice in the bags. This incident is a focal point in the narrative, possibly leading to further developments or revelations about its impact.
• 04:00 - 05:20: Dangers and Injuries in Teen Workplaces The chapter narrates a personal incident of a teenager's workplace accident, where the individual gets both arms stuck in an augur after attempting to retrieve a fallen bag. The person was trapped for 55 minutes until paramedics managed to free them and airlift them for further medical attention.
• 05:20 - 07:00: Challenges Faced by Teen Workers The chapter focuses on the tribulations faced by teenage workers, illustrated through the story of Mallerie, who suffered a serious workplace accident. Her arm was severely injured, leading to muscle damage and lasting physical impacts. Post-hospitalization, Mallerie describes a drastically altered life, emphasizing her loss of independence and the challenges in adjusting to her new reality.
• 07:00 - 10:00: Rights and Protections for Teen Workers The chapter titled 'Rights and Protections for Teen Workers' discusses the challenges and hardships faced by a family due to a physical ailment or injury experienced by a young girl named Mallerie. The narrative details how Mallerie's condition led to significant changes in her family dynamics, with her sister helping in daily tasks and her mother needing to stay home from work to provide care. The focus of the chapter seems to be on the impact of her surgeries, recovery, and the physical and emotional toll on the family, while also potentially touching upon broader issues of workers' rights and protections, particularly in the context of young or vulnerable individuals.
• 10:00 - 12:00: Employer Responsibilities and Safety Measures This chapter discusses the impact of changes on an individual's physical abilities and activities following an incident or condition. It highlights the emotional and physical challenges faced by a person who can no longer engage in activities they were previously passionate about, such as playing the flute, painting, and participating in sports like jet skiing and swimming. The narrative reflects on the frustration and acceptance of new physical limitations.
• 12:00 - 15:00: Filing for Workers' Compensation and Safety Procedures The chapter discusses workers' compensation and safety procedures, focusing on the experiences of individuals like Mallerie who suffered workplace injuries. It highlights the severe and lasting impacts of such injuries, including permanent physical limitations. The transcript emphasizes the importance of safety regulations, especially for younger workers, noting that jobs deemed too dangerous should not be performed by minors. It also points out that a significant number of teens, at least 230,000, are injured in the workplace annually.
• 15:00 - 18:30: Mallerie's Advice and Conclusion Mallerie concludes her advice by highlighting alarming statistics regarding workplace injuries in the United States, with 70,000 incidents severe enough to require emergency room visits annually. Common injuries include burns, cuts, sprains, and more severe issues such as broken bones, concussions, and amputations. She identifies unsafe equipment, stressful conditions, and insufficient safety training as primary contributing factors to these incidents, emphasizing the vulnerability of teens in the workplace.
• 18:30 - 19:30: Contact Information for Queries The chapter discusses common work-related injuries, with a focus on scalding and burns, particularly in environments dealing with hot water, such as delis. It highlights the risk of slipping or falling on the floor as another typical cause of injuries in such settings.

Teen Workers : Real Jobs, Real Risks Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] there are a lot of teenagers out there working some in fast food what was that for here to go some in agriculture5 lb there you go some in grocery stores well there you go yeah no problem can I get something for you it's estimated that 80% of teens work at some point before they graduate from high
• 00:30 - 01:00 school the reason I have a job is cuz I've been saving up for a car ever since I first got the job and got a couple thousand saved up and after I get a car I know I'll probably just I either keep saving for something else I want or uh just start blowing it all on clothes and food for Most teens working is a positive experience for some however it turns out quite differently
• 01:00 - 01:30 5 years ago mallerie spent part of her summer vacation staying with a friend's family the two girls both 14 worked in the family's ice packing business to earn money for church camp it was August 7th at 7:00 at night and we were bagging ice and there's a preset amount of how much ice you get in the bag and I messed up on the bag before so it came out too much ice in that bag and then not enough
• 01:30 - 02:00 in my bag so I went around the back of the machine to fix it I was filling it up and the bag slipped out of my hands and it fell into the augur and I reached and then grabbed it and then pulled both my arms in I was stuck in there for 55 minutes while the paramedics tried to figure out how to get me out mallerie was finally released from from the machine and flown to the
• 02:00 - 02:30 regional Trauma Center it cut my tendon and it cut my whole arm open see in this back side too and it turn Twisted this one around and broke it in half and my fingers W my elbow so it made all the muscle in my arm die both of them when mallerie got out of the hospital her entire life was changed when I got home I couldn't do anything for myself I was was just like
• 02:30 - 03:00 a a newborn pretty much my sister had to dress me and helped me go to the bathroom and my mom had to stay home from work to take care of me for I think 2 months and so it was pretty much hard on the whole family since then mallerie has undergone six surgeries and skin graphs to repair bone muscle nerves and blood vessels after extensive Physical Therapy she has learned to use her hands again but
• 03:00 - 03:30 she'll never be quite the same she can no longer play the flute it's exhausting to hold a paintbrush for very long and she's not the athlete she used to be she was a very good jet skier an excellent swimmer um great at sports um and and that very much changed for her um she didn't I wouldn't say that gave up but her arms gave up for her and that was very frustrating for her because of the
• 03:30 - 04:00 things that she was able to do prior to that I can't lift a lot of weight I'm pretty handicapped in that way I'm never going to get strength back in my arms I lost all that muscle and it it won't regrow so I'm just going to be weak for the rest of my life jobs such as the one mallerie was doing are considered too dangerous and are prohibited for any minor at least 230,000 teens are injured
• 04:00 - 04:30 in the workplace every year in the United States of those 70,000 get hurt badly enough that they have to go to a hospital emergency room most of those injuries are Burns cuts and sprains other more serious injuries are broken bones concussions and amputations unsafe equipment stressful conditions and an adequate safety training are often factors in those injuries every year at at least 70 teens
• 04:30 - 05:00 will die from work-related [Music] injuries most common ways to have probably someone would get hurt is mainly burning themselves on the scolding hot water that you do um the worst thing that happened to me was just spilling hot water Americano down my arm in my job in the deli the most common way you can get injured would be slipping or falling on the floor
• 05:00 - 05:30 or even burning yourself which I've done on the hot case or um dealing with anything that's hot like the grills or something like that O It's Hot watch out for heat and sharp things teens are injured twice as often as adults partly because they're inexperienced and unfamiliar with many of the tasks required of them they're new to the world of work I'm 17 um this is my first job uh I've been working about a year and a half
• 05:30 - 06:00 now get to be at 7:00 in the morning and I've never been late which is pretty cool I've been working here for 4 weeks now and I've learned that it's pretty hard I mean it's like there's pressure like from your managers and um you have to do well stocking you have to be fast cuz products actually go pretty fast so you to keep stocking and stocking young workers are often reluctant to ask for help or to question work practices for
• 06:00 - 06:30 fear of appearing incapable or of getting fired there's an implicit trust that why would they tell me to do something if it were dangerous or if they're asking me to do something they must already think I'm supposed to know how to do it so it's a very difficult thing for an adolescent to speak up and ask questions and appear that they don't know something can I you carry this to the counter yeah the advice I'd give to teens just starting to work would be just to ask the questions even if you think they're going to be silly or your employer might think that you're weren't
• 06:30 - 07:00 listening to the instructions but just ask cuz it's better to be safe than sorry it's going to be 1825 please working is a good experience for teens as long as it's a safe experience do you want those in a bag it teaches them responsibility they earn money and they learn what it takes to keep a job thank you bye when kids enter the workforce uh the first thing that they that that they're hit with is responsibility and and consequences to actions and it's not
• 07:00 - 07:30 just about earning money it's about how do you earn money and how do you earn more money and how do you get satisfaction out of what you're doing uh no the triple counts aren't quite ready yet I think working as a kid is a really good thing because it's taught me how to deal with my money and kind of the value of like buying things cuz now when I think about oh do I really want this shirt I think oh it's $21 that was 3 hours of work do I really need it that so it's kind of given me an appreciation
• 07:30 - 08:00 for things that I have so what if you're one of these teen workers how do you make your experience a safe one no matter how old you are or where you work all workers have rights on the job some of those rights specifically protect teens for example depending on your age there are limits on how long you can work this is to ensure that you have adequate time for schoolwork and other activities there are also
• 08:00 - 08:30 restrictions on how early and how late you can work young people are not allowed to be working alone past 8pm without an adult supervisor or some adult present someone who's 18 years or older this restriction applies to retail and service jobs and is especially important because 50% of teenagers work in retail settings and whenever money is present assaults and robberies are a concern we're trained just to go with the flow and don't resist and just give
• 08:30 - 09:00 them the money in that case um our employers mainly just want us to be safe for workers under 18 there are also restrictions on doing certain kinds of work and on using some machines because they're too dangerous for teens because I am 18 I am able to use the slicer here in the deli and so far by using the safety skills that they've given me I haven't had any accidents there are different regulations uh when it applies to an AG agricultural job versus non-agricultural
• 09:00 - 09:30 such as grocery stores and restaurants and then we do have differences if you're a 14 or a 15-year-old you have more restrictions than if you're 16 or 17 Once you turn 18 there are no special protections uh required keep on going when you're going to come down do the same thing backwards instead of doing this trying to run or something like that you could trip you could fall frontwards it's the employer's job to know know the special regulations that
• 09:30 - 10:00 apply to teens under 18 and to provide a safe work environment that includes providing proper training identifying any safety hazards and providing protective clothing and Equipment if necessary when you start filling up the flats just make sure you're wearing the adequate clothing don't wear something that's too long that could get caught right here in the inspection belt could I get caught here here when you're sitting over there you could get caught on the
• 10:00 - 10:30 chains the Department of Labor and industries regulates workers compensation the health and safety regulations and the child labor and the wage and hour regulations we're involved with making sure you get the minimum wage that you paid for overtime that you get rest and meal breaks as well as a safe environment to work in and if you're hurt on the job you have the right to file a workers's compensation claim to pay for medical expenses and lost wages but you need to
• 10:30 - 11:00 file the claim yourself understand you have an injury related to work what you do is go to your doctor or nurse tell them that your injury occurred in the workplace and they will help you file a worker's compensation claim so have you had a chance to fill out your Labor and Industry paperwork uh I think mostly okay it's your responsibility to follow all safety procedures for your workplace this includes wearing proper clothing using any safety equipment provided and
• 11:00 - 11:30 telling your supervisor if you see any safety hazards when I first started working here I I was taught to never push more than 10 carts and always wear my [Music] vest it's important to ask questions go to your supervisor if something doesn't feel safe or if you're not clear about how to do any part of your job there you go if you don't know how to do something
• 11:30 - 12:00 if you're injured if you have any questions go straight to your manager don't think that you need to handle things on your own a teen sees a hazard or a danger in the workplace it's important to know that they can speak up about that Hazard and they cannot be fired for speaking up about it if the employer won't fix the situation they need to contact the Department of Labor and industries and they cannot be fired for contacting us as for mallerie life is moving on she's able to work part time and started
• 12:00 - 12:30 attending Community College last fall and she has some advice for young workers out there I would suggest they ask for training and and pay attention during the training not just face off like people would do you know I would have but just actually pay attention I hope that nobody ever has to go through this because it's just it's life-changing and it's not for the best [Music]
• 12:30 - 13:00 better if you have questions about workplace rights or labor laws in Washington state contact the Washington State Department of Labor and industries employment standards office
• 13:00 - 13:30 [Music] [Music]