Objectives To obtain national estimates of annual cumulative incidence of severe non-fatal injuries using compensation benefits data from the Brazilian National Social Security Institute (INSS), and to describe their socio-demographic distribution among workers under age 25.

Methods Data are records of health-related compensation benefits from the Ministry of Social Security's Information System of Compensation Benefits (SUB), of the National Institute of Social Security (INSS), recorded in 2006. The only injuries (International classification of diseases, 10^th revision, Chapter XIX) considered were those certified by an INSS occupational physician s work-related for adolescents and young adults between 16 and 24 years of age.

Results A total of 79 899 workers 16–24 years old received a compensation benefit for injuries in the study year, and 19 439 (24.33%) were work-related, 16 878 (86.8%) for males and 2,561 for females (13.2%). The annual cumulative incidence rate of work-related injuries (ACSWI) was 3.9×1000 workers, higher among males (4.6×1000) compared to females (1.3×1000). ACSWI was higher in the younger age group (16–19 years), and there was an income gradient with disproportionately elevated risk in the lowest wage quintiles, especially for females in the younger group. Logging, extraction, food/beverage and construction industries have higher work-related risk for adolescents and young adult workers of both sex groups.

Conclusions These findings suggest that the Brazilian labour laws limiting young adult workers in hazardous settings need to be expanded, adding occupations, extractive industries and certain types of work in the food/beverage manufacturing industries for these workers.