Child Labor Advocates Decry Ongoing Teen Worker Injuries, Call on DOL to Adopt ‘No-Brainer’ Recommendations
Dangerous Jobs and Teen Workers Should Not Mix
February 2, 2008
Contact: NCL Communications
202-835-3323
media@nclnet.org
Washington, DC—With more than 100,000 working youth having been injured over the last five years, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), continues to drags its feet on updating workplace protections for young workers.
“Many deaths and injuries and illnesses among working children could have been prevented had DOL not wasted years failing to address the seriously outdated and insufficiently protective Hazardous Occupation Orders (HOs),” alleges the Child Labor Coalition (CLC) in its comments, recently submitted to DOL.
In May 2002, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) presented 38 recommendations to DOL to better protect young workers from dangerous industries, occupations, and machinery. In DOL’s latest request for public comment, the Department questions the NIOSH recommendations, further delaying action in the foreseeable future.
The CLC comments, submitted last month respond to DOL’s request for comments and information, published in the Federal Register on April 17, 2007, related to these workplace safety issues. The areas DOL sough input on includes: student-learner and apprentice exemptions to the HOs, power-driven machinery, occupational radiation exposures, petroleum and natural gas extraction, hydraulic grease racks, and construction.
“DOL’s inexplicable hesitation about moving on the NIOSH recommendations is costing lives,” said Sally Greenberg, co-chair of the CLC and executive director of the National Consumers League, the Washington, DC-based nonprofit group that coordinates the coalition. “A teen worker is injured on the job every two minutes, and one youth dies from a workplace injury every five days. The injuries tend to happen in certain industries where youth workers shouldn’t be employed. The NIOSH recommendations are a ‘no-brainer’ if we are going to protect young workers on the job.”
The CLC comments are a second installment of comments to DOL. The CLC submitted comments last July, to DOL in response to their Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The CLC comments offered some support but mostly harsh criticism of the proposed new regulations, which the CLC calls, in some cases, both overdue and weak.
To view a copy of the comments submitted by the Child Labor Coalition, visit www.stopchildlabor.org.
About the Child Labor Coalition
The Child Labor Coalition is a group of more than 30 organizations, representing consumers, labor unions, educators, human rights and labor rights groups, child advocacy groups, and religious and women’s groups. It was established in 1989, and is co-chaired by the National Consumers League and the American Federation of Teachers. Its mission is to protect working youth and to promote legislation, programs, and initiatives to end child labor exploitation in the United States and abroad.