How Safe Is Your Child's Summer Job?

Last year, Skylar Ellis, of East Harwich, Massachusetts, and another teenage worker were overcome by chemical fumes while cleaning the dining room of the doughnut shop where they worked.

"We were using bleach and some other chemicals, working it into the corners and getting down and scrubbing," the 17-year-old says. "The stuff was right in your face. After about three hours, we had a hard time breathing. The other girl threw up."

The supervisor called 911, and the girls were taken to the emergency room, given oxygen, and released. They had sore throats for days afterward, but they were lucky. In extreme cases, such exposure could lead to severe respiratory problems or even death. Knowing more about the chemicals and having a workplace where proper ventilation was provided would likely have spared them their trouble in the first place.

Despite the best intentions of their parents, thousands of teens are injured -- some are even killed -- while working summer jobs. Occasionally, teenagers take risks or make bad decisions. Some employers put their young workers in peril. Senseless accidents happen.

Yet there are steps that parents can take to safeguard their children, says Darlene Adkins, coordinator of the Child Labor Coalition, a watchdog group and part of the National Consumers League. "There are many good employers out there, but don't depend upon them to do the right thing," she says. "Being safe on the job really falls to the parent and the teenager."