Top Youths' risk of fatal work injuries About 3 million youths under the age of 18 work each year. Because youths work for short periods, for the most part in part-time jobs, exposure hours were used to evaluate fatality risk. There were slight differences, however, in the proportion of fatalities for highway incidents, off-road vehicle incidents, contacts with objects, and falls. The pattern for these two groups was fairly similar for assaults and violent acts, fires and explosions, and exposures to harmful substances and environments. The construction, services, and manufacturing industries also sustained high levels of youth deaths.
Agriculture is one of the most dangerous industries for all workers.
The industry's rate of fatal work injuries consistently ranks just below that of mining, which has the highest rate. Therefore, it is not surprising that the industry poses great hazards to youths. Slightly over one-half of these fatalities occurred to youths on their own families' farms. Of the 162 youth fatalities in agriculture, all but 10 occurred to males. About three-fourths of the 109 fatalities involving youths under 15 occurred in farming.