engleski

Do we really know how many child workers are injured in Croatia?

The great number of children is involved in the work process: directly as the different kind of workers, during schooling process as apprentices and also through hidden work in family. Injury of the child can occur in each setting including the work place but much less attention is pay to the work as the potential cause of child injuries than to other settings as for example sport and leisure. Of course the whole scope of illegal work of children represents the special risk for injuries. We have analyzed the recent official reports of the Croatian Institute for Health Protection and Safety at Work and Croatian National Institute of Public Health regarding child work injuries. In the temporary report of the Croatian Institute for Health Protection and Safety at Work for 2010 year out of 13.588 cases of work injuries in the age below 18 years they mentioned 6 cases. Five of them happened at the workplace and 1 in commuting. In their report for 2009 year they don't have data according to the age. In the Croatian National Institute of Public Health report for 2009 year the total of 19.566 cases of work injuries are analyzed but without differentiations according to the age. Our analysis shows the lack of data about child work injuries. It is important to have reliable data about child work injury. It is the first step towards decreasing the currently increasing trend. We need to recognize work-related injuries of children and develop guidance and strict regulations to protect child workers from injuries. We need to share, implement and evaluate good practices for recognizing and for preventing child work injuries. A World Health Organization Resolution on Child Injury Prevention from May 2011 addresses child labor as the important issue in the field of child injury prevention.

Child worker; Injury; Croatia

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