Labor Proposes Ban on Children Working Hazardous Farm Jobs
By Travis Sanford
WASHINGTON (CN) –Due to the large number of injuries and fatalities in certain farm trades, the Department of Labor proposes to eliminate an exemption that allows children as young as 14 to work in the raw materials sector.
According to the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, from 2005 to 2008 the farm-product raw material merchant wholesaler industry experienced 48 deaths, mostly from workers being caught or crushed by collapsing materials in grain or bean silos or in roll-over tractor-trailer accidents.
A 2011 paper by Bill Field and Steve Riedel of PurdueUniversity, cited by the department, reports 51 separate “grain entrapment” episodes, 51 percent of which were fatal, including six youths under the age of 16.
The child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act contain many exemptions allowing children employed in the agricultural sector to encourage family farms and provide learning opportunities for young people in rural settings.
The proposed reclassification of the wholesale raw-farm products sector from agricultural to nonagricultural hazardous would mean that no one under 18 could be employed in feed-lots, livestockauctions or grain storage or transportation jobs.
The children of the owner or operator of such facilities remain exempt under the statutory child labor parental exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Labor Proposes Ban on Children Working Hazardous Farm Jobs
By Travis Sanford
WASHINGTON (CN) – Due to the large number of injuries and fatalities in the wholesale raw farm products trades like meat and grain storage and sales, the Department of Labor proposes to eliminate an exemption that allows children as young as 14 to work in the industry.
According to the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, from 2005 to 2008 the farm-product raw material merchant wholesaler industry experienced 48 deaths mostly from workers being caught or crushed by collapsing materials in grain or bean silos or in roll-over tractor-trailer accidents.
A 2011 paper by Bill Field and Steve Riedel of PurdueUniversity, cited by the department, reports 51 separate “grain entrapment” episodes, 51 percent of which were fatal, including six youths under the age of 16.
The child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act contain many exemptions allowing children employed in the agricultural sector to encourage family farms and provide learning opportunities for young people in rural settings.
The proposed reclassification of the wholesale raw-farm products sector from agricultural to nonagricultural hazardous would mean that no one under 18 could be employed in feed-lots, livestock auctions or grain storage or transportation jobs.
The children of the owner or operator of such facilities remain exempt under the statutory child labor parental exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION(WHD)
Child labor regulations, orders and statements of interpretation, violationscivil money penalties:Notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comments, published Sept. 2, 2011,comments byNov. 1, 2011
[TEXT]
The Department of Labor proposes to revise the child labor regulations issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which describe the criteria for the permissible employment of minors under 18 years of age in agricultural and nonagricultural occupations.