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NIOSH Publication No. 97-143:Child Labor Research Needs |
August 1997 |
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Recommendations from the NIOSH Child Labor Working TeamApplicable Regulations OSHA RegulationsOSHA strives to make the workplace safe for everyone, regardless of age. The agency uses a 45-year working life (occurring between ages 21 and 65) as standard and, with one exception, does not differentiate on the basis of age. The only age specific OSHA regulation concerns exposure to ionizing radiation [29 CFR* 1910.96(b)(3)]. *Code of Federal Regulations. See CFR in References.
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Additional exemptions have been created by regulation. Professional sports attendants who are aged 14 and 15 and perform traditional sports attendant duties outside of school hours are exempt from the hours standards of Child Labor Regulation No. 3 under the FLSA. The Work Experience and Career Exploration Program is an exception to the hours standards of child labor regulations. This program also allows the Wage and Hour Administrator to grant variances that permit enrollees to be employed in otherwise prohibited occupations but not in manufacturing, mining, or the other 17 HOs. The Work Experience and Career Exploration Program is designed to provide a carefully planned work experience and career exploration program for youths aged 14 and 15 who can benefit from a career-oriented educational program designed especially to meet the participants needs, interests, and abilities. Exemptions from certain HOs apply to apprentices and students enrolled in vocational education programs under conditions that assure safe, well supervised employment. Although agricultural employment can be extremely hazardous, the Federal child labor provisions for farm work still reflect the bucolic ideology often described as the agrarian myth [Kelsey 1994]. Coverage is limited and protections are few for young farm workers. Hazardous work in nonagricultural industries is prohibited for youths under age 18. But in agriculture, hazardous work is prohibited only for youths under age 16 who are formally employed away from the family farm. As mentioned, the child labor provisions contain a statutory exemption that permits the children of farmers to perform any job on a family farm. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) conducted a comprehensive review of the nonagricultural child labor regulations to consider significant social, economic, and technological changes that have occurred in the workplace during the past decade. As part of this review, DOL published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in 1994 [59 Fed. Reg. 25164 (1994)]. NIOSH submitted comments on the Proposed Rulemaking [NIOSH 1994] and hopes that some revised Regulations will be issued in 1997. Several bills are being considered by Congress this year to limit the enforcement of Hazardous Occupations Order Number 2 (HO 2) (which deals with motor vehicle driving and outside helpers ) and HO 12 (which deals with power driven paper products machines). Legislation has also been introduced to permit minors aged 16 and 17 to spend as much as 49% of each workday driving. Since the child labor provisions place absolutely no limits on the number of hours these minors may work, the amount of time spent behind the wheel could be substantial. Legislation has been introduced to permit minors aged 16 and 17 to load but not operate or unload paper balers and compactors that meet safety and engineering standards issued by the American National Standards Institute. Federal Register. See Fed. Reg. in References.
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