A community-based telephone survey of work and injuries in teenage agricultural workers

In order to estimate the one-year cumulative incidence of work-related injuries in teenage agricultural workers and to characterize the patterns and types of agricultural work performed by teenagers, we performed a community-based random-digit dialing telephone survey. We used a sampling frame of farm and non-farm households to access information on teenage agricultural workers. An agricultural community in eastern Washington State was selected due to the high number of teenage youth and its agricultural economy. Teenage agricultural workers who worked for an agricultural business owned by one of their family members were more likely to work a greater number of seasons, work fewer hours per week, perform tasks involving driving, animal care, and mechanic work, and were less likely to be seasonal workers or work in the harvest than teenagers who did not work for a family member. A similar pattern of work differences was seen when comparing non-Hispanic to Hispanic agricultural workers. Teenagers working for a family member in agriculture had a higher injury rate than teenagers working for an agricultural business not owned by a family member. The injury rate among Hispanic teenage agricultural workers was also higher than that of non-Hispanics.