U. S. Department of Labor U. S. Department of Labor

Occupational Safety and Health Administration Employment Standards Administration

Directorate of Science, Technology and Medicine Wage and Hour Division

Office of Science and Technology Assessment

Safety and Health Information Bulletin

SHIB 03-09-30

This Safety and Health Information Bulletin is not a standard

or regulation, and it creates no new legal obligations. The

Bulletin is advisory in nature, informational in content, and is

intended to assist employers in providing a safe and healthful

workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Act requires

employers to comply with hazard-specific safety and health

standards. In addition, pursuant to Section 5(a)(1), the General

Duty Clause of the Act, employers must provide their

employees with a workplace free from recognized hazards

likely to cause death or serious physical harm. Employers can

be cited for violating the General Duty Clause if there is a

recognized hazard and they do not take reasonable steps to

prevent or abate the hazard. However, failure to implement

any recommendations in this bulletin is not, in itself, a

violation of the General Duty Clause. Citations can only be

based on standards, regulations, and the General Duty Clause

Protecting Young Workers: Prohibition Against Young Workers Operating Forklifts

Purpose

The purpose of this Safety and Health Information Bulletin is:

1. To inform employers that youth employment

regulations (29 CFR 570) promulgated under the

Fair Labor Standards Act prohibit most employees

under the age of 18 years from operating forklifts for

non-agricultural operations;1

2. To remind employers that all forklift operators who are 18 years old or older must be trained

and certified as competent to operate forklifts; and

3. To identify additional resources for employers to ensure a safe and healthful workplace for all

workers.

Background

The Directorate of Science, Technology and

Medicine was informed by the Atlanta OSHA

Regional Office, the Boston OSHA Regional Office,

and the Wage Hour Division (WHD) of the

Employment Standards Administration (ESA) of

two recent, fatal forklift accidents involving underage

operators that occurred in warehouses in Georgia

and Massachusetts. Both accidents involved

operators under 18 years of age. Given the

significant number of young workers employed,

especially during the summer months, OSHA and

WHD believe that it is important to remind all

employers of the regulations that prohibit workers

under 18 years of age from operating specified

hazardous machines and equipment, including forklift

trucks in non-agricultural operations.

______________

1.Different youth employment standards apply to agricultural

employment.

Accident Descriptions

Massachusetts Accident

The forklift operator was a 16-year-old male

hired as a summer helper to label bins and move

stock by hand around the warehouse.

The warehouse has a forklift, and it was

common practice to leave the forklift’s operating

key in the ignition switch when the forklift was not

being operated. Prior to the accident, the victim

was observed operating the forklift several times,

most recently on the morning of the accident. He

was advised several times by a number of employees not to operate the forklift.

The victim was not trained nor was he certified

as competent to operate the forklift.

There were no witnesses to the accident.

However, it is believed that the victim boarded the

forklift, without putting on the seatbelt, raised the

forks with an empty pallet to a height of approximately 10 feet, and drove down the left side of the

loading dock ramp. The ramp slopes away from the
building at an angle of approximately 33 degrees on

the left side near the street level (Figure 1).

There was a stack of empty pallets across the

bottom of the ramp, and it appears that the victim

was attempting to place the empty pallet on top of

the stack before the close of business. With the

forks raised to a height of approximately 10 feet on

a 33 degree slope, the forklift’s center of gravity

may have shifted, creating an unstable condition and

causing the forklift to topple sideways (Figure 2).

Refer to 29 CFR 1910.178 Appendix A, for further

discussion concerning stability of powered industrial

trucks. The victim was crushed under the truck.

Georgia Accident

A foreman’s 15 year-old step-son was killed

while the youth was operating a forklift at the

warehouse.

The victim was being shown how to operate

the forklift and was practicing picking up and

moving empty pallets. He had just unloaded a pallet

in the warehouse and had picked the empty pallet

off the floor when he lost control of the forklift. The

police investigator stated that the forklift “suddenly

went backward, crashing open a closed loading bay

door and drop[ping] four feet to the ground. The

victim fell off [the forklift,] and the forklift landed on

top of him.” The victim was pinned to the ground

and sustained massive chest injuries.

The Fair Labor Standards Act

Regulations promulgated pursuant to the Fair

Labor Standards Act prohibit individuals younger

than 18 years of age from engaging in specified

hazardous occupational activities. 29 CFR 570.58

– Occupations involved in the operation of

power-driven hoisting apparatus (Order 7),

paragraph (a) (5), specifically prohibits employees

under 18 years of age from operating forklifts in

non-agricultural employment.

Additional orders promulgated pursuant to the

Fair Labor Standards Act prohibit operation of

other machines that are hazardous to workers under

18 years of age. These orders include:

• Order 2, driving a motor vehicle and being an

outside helper on a motor vehicle;

• Order 5, operation of power-driven woodworking machines;

• Order 8, operation of power-driven metal

forming, punching, and shearing machines;

Slope of approximately

33 degrees from the

wall of building

Figure 1

 Figure 2 Approximately 10 feet
• Order 10, operation of power-driven meatprocessing machines, including meat slicers;

• Order 11, operation of bakery machines;

• Order 12, operation of paper-products

machines; and

• Order 14, operation of circular saws, band

saws, and guillotine shears.

A complete list of occupational activities

deemed to be unsafe for employees between 16 and

18 years of age can be found at: http://

www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/

whdfs43.htm.

OSHA Powered Industrial Truck

Standard, 29 CFR 1910.178

OSHA’s standard for powered industrial

trucks, 29 CFR 1910.178, contains requirements

for powered industrial truck design and construction, operator training, truck operations, and maintenance.

29 CFR 1910.178 (l) requires that “[t]he

employer shall ensure that each powered industrial

truck operator is competent to operate a powered

industrial truck safely, as demonstrated by the

successful completion of the training and evaluation.”

This standard also contains requirements regarding:

training program content and implementation,

refresher training and evaluation, avoidance of

duplicative training, and certification.

Other Information

In May 2002, the Secretary of the Department

of Labor, Elaine Chao, launched the YouthRules!

Initiative, http://www.youthrules.dol.gov, to increase

public awareness of Federal and State rules concerning young workers. The YouthRules! web page

is a gateway providing quick access to information

about Federal and State labor laws that apply to

young workers. The web page includes information

designed to educate teens, parents, educators, and

employers concerning the hours youth can work, the

jobs youth can do, and how to prevent workplace

illnesses and injuries. The web page contains a link

to the Fair Labor Standards Act Advisor on “Prohibited Occupations for Non-Agricultural Employees” http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/docs/

haznonag.asp, which includes the prohibited occupations for 14- and 15-year-old youth workers, as

well as a list of hazardous occupations, which are

prohibited for workers under 18 years of age.

Another link of the Advisor, “Prohibited Occupations for Agricultural Employees” http://

www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/docs/hazag.asp, includes the prohibited agricultural occupations for

youth younger than 12, 12- or 13-year-old workers, and 14- or 15- year-old workers.

OSHA also has a webpage for young workers,

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/teenworkers/index.html

which contains occupational safety and health

information relevant to young workers.

In 2002, the Wage and Hour Division of the

Employment Standards Administration initiated a

“STOP” sticker program. As part of that program,

WHD developed a sticker that can be applied to

forklifts to provide a warning regarding the prohibition against workers under 18 years of age operating a forklift. http://youthrules.dol.gov/posters.htm.
Conclusions

Employers have the responsibility to comply

with 29 CFR 1910.178 in order to ensure the safe

operation of powered industrial trucks at their

facility. In addition, since Order 7 of Hazardous

Occupations prohibits employees under 18 years of

age from operating forklifts, employers must make

certain that workers under 18 years of age are not

permitted to operate forklifts under any circumstances. Employers who employ individuals

younger than 18 years of age also must be cognizant

of other employment activities prohibited for young

workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Employers, educators, parents, and young workers

all are encouraged to visit the DOL and OSHA web

pages for additional information on creating and

maintaining compliant, safe and healthful work

environments.