- We're deep into the dog days of summer - lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer - and while many of us are hitting the beaches and lakes and soaking in the rays, we actually have more to fear from the sun than just high UV and skin cancer. Working in the sun - specifically, under-hydrated, overexposed, unprotected work - can result in illness, and even fatality, during the hottest months of the year.
Curtis Geesman 15, dies at a camp in Ohio after participating in sumo-suit match.
Sean Whitley, 17, of Marlton died in Philadelphia, the result of a fire at a Boy Scout camp.
For many of us city slickers, farms aren't much more than a pastoral landscape as we take our country drives on Sundays; maybe, at best, we think of the food that comes to our tables. But as dangerous places??
Farm accidents don't really count as workplace injuries, do they?... You wouldn't think so, given that they are not covered by some workers compensation programs, and many national statistics-gathering bodies don't include agricultural accidents and illnesses in their OHS numbers.
But take a look at the average day on a working farm, and you'll see staggering risks, including:
During this season of high work activity for teens, some sobering statistics to consider:
Every year, approximately 200,000 teenagers in the United States are injured on the job, and about 70 teens are killed at work. Every six minutes, a teenager is injured seriously enough on the job to require treatment in a hospital emergency room.
Are these numbers acceptable to anyone? Solutions, anyone?
