When identifying occupational safety and health research needs for children and adolescents, the Child Labor Working Team considered existing knowledge, current research efforts, and needs expressed by stakeholders. These research needs are outlined in the following subsections. Improved Surveillance for Work Related Injuries and Illnesses of Children and Adolescents Substantial gaps exist in the coverage provided by occupational injury surveillance systems, and concerns exist about their underestimation of injuries in children and adolescents.
Problems are greatest in the agricultural sector, but they occur across all industries.
The occupational safety and health community needs to standardize nomenclature and establish a minimum data set to be collected on occupational injuries in children and adolescents. We need better understanding of the types of work children and adolescents do, the hazards they are exposed to, and the distribution of risk factors. The health outcomes of childhood work exposures have been hypothesized but not quantified. Information is needed to define the severity of disease and injury and the economic and social consequences. Consequently, we do not know the true impact of injuries and illnesses among children and adolescents.