US Labor Department finds S & H Pallet Industries of Waveland, Ind., in violation of child labor

[xchrom]

http://www.dol.gov/whd/media/press/whdpressVB3.asp?pressdoc=Midwest%2F20120111_1.xml

US Labor Department finds S & H Pallet Industries of Waveland, Ind., in violation of child labor regulations after wood notcher severs 17-year-old worker’s arm

WAVELAND, Ind. -- The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has found S & H Pallet Industries in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s child labor provisions after a 17-year-old worker’s arm was severed in an accident at the Waveland-based wood pallets manufacturing plant. An investigation revealed that the company employed six minors, including an 11-year-old, in violation of federal law. The company has filed a timely exception to the civil money penalty assessment and requested a hearing before an administrative law judge.

“Employers who hire our nation’s youth must comply with federal and state regulations intended to keep children safe in the workplace,” said Patricia Lewis, director of the Wage and Hour Division’s Indianapolis District Office. “The severe injury suffered by this 17-year-old boy is a tragic reminder of what can happen when children are permitted to operate hazardous equipment in violation of the law.”

The 17-year-old was operating a power-driven wood pallet notcher when his glove became caught in the machine, which severed his right arm above the elbow.

Acting upon information received by the state of Indiana’s Department of Labor regarding an injury to a minor, the Wage and Hour Division conducted an investigation of the company’s employment practices, which determined that all six minors employed at the plant regularly were permitted to perform prohibited hazardous tasks, such as operating power-driven band saws, circular saws, nail guns and other power-driven woodworking machines.

[DCKit]

1. This would be a daily occurance if the (R)s had their way. nt

[Ikonoklast]

2. The Gubbmamint is meddling in that company needlessly.

If children want to work, the Gubbamint should have no say in it.

If the kids get hurt or killed, it's Gawud's Will that they got maimed.

Seperation Of Church And State.

I rest my case!

[saras]

3. The problem isn't minors, it's conditions that NO ONE should have to work under

Would it be somehow better if the guy had been 22 instead of 17, and had the same accident happen due to the same unsafe machinery and operating procedures? Does he somehow become "guilty" at age 21, like the right-wingers think females do, when suddenly it's no longer child porn but loose women?

There's no excuse for that machine not requiring the operator to actuate two switches, one with each hand, in order to make it work. This has been SOP for many decades for that sort of machine and/or job. Or was that one of those pretentious "ergonomics" things that Bush threw out?