Boston residents recently came together to stem the tide of Massachusetts Child Labor Law violations, work-related injuries, and deaths at a conference organized by youth leaders from the Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS) and the Teens Lead at Work program at MassCOSH (the Massachusetts Coalition of Occupational Safety and Health). The attorney’s at the Boston office of the Law Office of Neil Burns want Massachusetts children to stay safe. The Law Office of Neil Burns can help if your child is injured or hurt in an accident.
With summer just around the corner and tens of thousands of young people entering the workforce in Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick has proclaimed May “Safe Jobs for Youth Month” to focus attention on preventing child workplace injuries and deaths.
According to MassCOSH over 1000 minors are taken to Emergency Rooms as a result of work related injuries and there have been 8 youths who died at work since 2000. MassCOSH concludes that this is disproportionate to the overall rate of work injuries due to young peoples size and lack of full strength. Further, they are less skilled and knowagable as to how to avoid injuries.
Safe Jobs for Youth Month increases the awareness of Child Labor laws, as well as health and safety issues young workers face on the job. Information will be available at http://www.masscosh.org for young workers, parents, employers and educators about keeping youth safe at work. The Massachusetts Attorney General’s youth employment website also has information at http://www.laborlowdown.com.