Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 73 / Tuesday, April 17, 2007 / Proposed Rules 19337 

specific types of hazardous 

construction, as discussed above, 

construction work accounts for a 

substantial number of young worker 

deaths. In addition, the Report states 

that construction work is also associated 

with adverse health effects from 

exposure to hazardous substances and 

from musculoskeletal disorders. 

According to NIOSH, some construction 

occupations that have relatively low 

fatal injury rates are associated with 

exposure to other agents that may have 

long-term health effects. Examples 

provided include the exposure to 

asbestos among insulation workers, the 

exposure to lead and solvents among 

painters, and the exposure to silica 

among plasterers and drywall installers. 

NIOSH also states that because 

construction sites frequently include 

hazards outside the control of 

individual workers or contractors, an 

apprentice and student-learner 

exemption is not recommended. 

The Department is aware that the 

construction industry has for many 

years provided both temporary and 

career exploration employment 

opportunities for many youth. The 

Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics 

(BLS) reports that in 2004 there were 

approximately 286,000 youth between 

the ages of 16 and 19 employed in the 

construction industry. In addition, the 

construction industry has traditionally 

been one of the higher-paying industries 

in the U.S., with average hourly 

earnings of $20.40 reported by BLS in 

October 2006. 

The construction industry has many 

components, including residential, 

building (non-residential), highway, and 

heavy sectors. In addition, demolition, 

maintenance, repair, and redecorating 

work often fall within the general 

classification of construction. Before the 

Department can address the Report 

recommendations concerning 

construction occupations, it is 

requesting information from the public 

regarding the appropriateness and 

feasibility of implementing such a 

comprehensive and industry-wide 

prohibition. Can 16- and 17-year-olds, 

under specific conditions, be safely 

employed in certain sectors of the 

construction industry? If so, under what 

conditions? 

The Department is also interested in 

obtaining information about existing 

strategies that make certain construction 

jobs safe for minors to perform. Can 

apprenticeship and student-learner 

programs be designed and delivered to 

better protect young workers and keep 

them safe on the job? If so, should the 

written standards or requirements of 

student-learner and apprenticeship 

programs addressing construction 

occupations have a greater emphasis on 

safety training than similar programs 

covering other industries? 

F. Hydraulic Grease Racks 

HO 7 (Occupations involved in the 

operation of power-driven hoisting 

apparatus) generally prohibits 16- and 

17-year-olds from employment in 

occupations that involve the work of: (1) 

Operating an elevator, crane, derrick, 

hoist, or high-lift truck, except that such 

youth may operate unattended 

automatic operation passenger elevators 

and electric or air operated hoists not 

exceeding one ton capacity; (2) riding 

on a manlift or on a freight elevator, 

except a freight elevator operated by an 

assigned operator; and (3) assisting in 

the operation of a crane, derrick, or 

hoist performed by crane hookers, crane 

chasers, hookers-on, riggers, rigger 

helpers, and like occupations. 

Over the years, the Department has 

received inquiries as to whether HO 7 

would permit the employment of 16- 

and 17-year-olds to operate hydraulic 

grease racks—apparatus usually found 

in gasoline service stations and 

automobile repair shops and used to 

raise and to lower vehicles from ground 

level for servicing the vehicles. The 

Department has been consistent in its 

response to such inquires; because the 

original study that led to the 

promulgation of HO 7 did not include 

the operation of such grease racks, HO 

7 does not prohibit the operation of 

such equipment. Although correct, this 

position does not take into 

consideration whether such grease racks 

can be safely operated by 16- and 17- 

year-olds. Reg. 3, which details the 

occupations 14- and 15-year-olds may 

and may not perform, specifically 

prohibits such youth from the operation 

or tending of any hoisting apparatus (see 

§ 570.33(b)). 

Accordingly, the Department is 

seeking information from the public as 

to whether such grease racks can be 

safely operated by 16- and 17-year-olds. 

Is the safe operation of such equipment 

affected by the size and lifting capacities 

of such equipment? In keeping with 

Item A of this ANPRM, if the operation 

of such grease racks should be 

prohibited, would a student-learner or 

apprenticeship exemption be 

warranted? 

G. General 

In soliciting comments on the above 

aspects of the child labor regulations, 

the Department is specifically interested 

in data, reports, cost-benefit analyses, 

studies, and other documentation 

addressing the positions taken or 

otherwise relating to the Department’s 

objective to develop updated, realistic 

health and safety standards for today’s 

young workers that are consistent with 

the established national policy of 

balancing the benefits of employment 

opportunities for youth with the 

necessary and appropriate safety 

protections. 

This document was prepared under 

the direction and control of Paul 

DeCamp, Administrator, Wage and Hour 

Division, Employment Standards 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Labor. 

List of Subjects in 29 CFR Part 570 

Child labor, Child labor occupations, 

Employment, Government, 

Intergovernmental relations, 

Investigations, Labor, Law enforcement, 

Minimum age. 

Signed at Washington, DC, on this 10th day 

of April, 2007. 

Victoria A. Lipnic, 

Assistant Secretary, Employment Standards 

Administration. 

Paul DeCamp, 

Administrator, Wage and Hour Division. 

[FR Doc. E7–7052 Filed 4–16–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–27–P 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

Wage and Hour Division 

29 CFR Part 570 

RIN 1215–AB57 

Child Labor Regulations, Orders and 

Statements of Interpretation 

AGENCY: Wage and Hour Division, 

Employment Standards Administration, 

Labor. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking 

and request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Labor 

(Department or DOL) is proposing to 

revise the child labor regulations in 

order to implement an amendment to 

the Fair Labor Standards Act’s child 

labor provisions, contained in the 

Department of Labor Appropriations 

Act, 2004 (Pub. L. 108–199), which 

authorizes under specified conditions 

the employment of certain youth 

between the ages of 14 and 18 years 

inside and outside of places of business 

that use machinery to process wood 

products. 

The Department is proposing to revise 

Child Labor Regulation No. 3, subpart C 

of 29 CFR part 570, which governs the 

employment of 14- and 15-year-olds in 

nonagricultural occupations by revising 

the lists of occupations and industries 


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in which such youth may and may not 

be employed. The Department is also 

proposing to clarify, but not change, the 

standards addressing the permitted 

periods and conditions under which 

such youth may be employed and to 

create a limited exemption from those 

standards for certain academically 

motivated youth enrolled in work-study 

programs. 

The Department is also proposing to 

revise several of the nonagricultural 

Hazardous Occupations Orders (HOs) to 

implement specific recommendations 

made by the National Institute for 

Occupational Safety and Health in its 

2002 report entitled National Institute 

for Occupational Safety and Health 

(NIOSH) Recommendations to the U.S. 

Department of Labor for Changes to 

Hazardous Orders. The HOs affected by 

this proposal concern occupations 

involved with logging and sawmilling; 

meat processing; and the operation of 

power-driven hoisting equipment, 

bakery equipment, compacting and 

baling equipment, and certain cutting, 

shearing, and guillotining equipment. 

In addition, the Department is 

proposing to provide clarity by 

incorporating into the regulations three 

long-standing enforcement positions 

regarding the cleaning of power-driven 

meat processing equipment, the 

operation of certain power-driven pizzadough rollers, and the definition of 

high-lift trucks. The Department is also 

proposing to expand the HO that 

prohibits youth from operating powerdriven circular saws, band saws, and 

guillotine shears to include prohibitions 

concerning the operation of powerdriven chain saws, wood chippers, and 

reciprocating saws. 

Finally, the Department proposes to 

revise subpart G of the child labor 

regulations, which is entitled General 

Statements of Interpretation of the Child 

Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor 

Standards Act of 1938, as Amended. 

The proposal would incorporate into 

this subpart all the regulatory changes 

made since this subpart was last revised 

in 1971. 

DATES: Comments are due on or before 

July 16, 2007. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by RIN 1215–AB57, by either 

one of the following methods: 

• Electronic comments, through the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Mail: Wage and Hour Division, 

Employment Standards Administration, 

U.S. Department of Labor, Room 

S–3502, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20210. 

Instructions: Please submit one copy 

of your comments by only one method. 

All submissions received must include 

the agency name and Regulatory 

Information Number (RIN) identified 

above for this rulemaking. All 

comments received will be posted 

without change to http:// 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided. Because 

we continue to experience delays in 

receiving mail in the Washington, DC 

area, commenters are strongly 

encouraged to transmit their comments 

electronically via the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal at http:// 

www.regulations.gov or to submit them 

by mail early. For additional 

information on submitting comments 

and the rulemaking process, see the 

‘‘Public Participation’’ heading of the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents or 

comments received, go to the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal at http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Arthur M. Kerschner, Jr., Office of 

Enforcement Policy, Child Labor and 

Special Employment Team, Wage and 

Hour Division, Employment Standards 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Labor, Room S–3510, 200 Constitution 

Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210; 

telephone: (202) 693–0072 (this is not a 

toll free number). Copies of this notice 

of proposed rulemaking may be 

obtained in alternative formats (Large 

Print, Braille, Audio Tape, or Disc), 

upon request, by calling (202) 693–0023. 

TTY/TDD callers may dial toll-free (877) 

889–5627 to obtain information or 

request materials in alternative formats. 

Questions of interpretation and/or 

enforcement of regulations issued by 

this agency or referenced in this notice 

may be directed to the nearest Wage and 

Hour Division District Office. Locate the 

nearest office by calling the Wage and 

Hour Division’s toll-free help line at 

(866) 4US–WAGE ((866) 487–9243) 

between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. in your local 

time zone, or log onto the Wage and 

Hour Division’s Web site for a 

nationwide listing of Wage and Hour 

District and Area Offices at: http:// 

www.dol.gov/esa/contacts/whd/ 

america2.htm. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Electronic Access and Filing 

Comments 

Public Participation: This notice of 

proposed rulemaking is available 

through the Federal Register and the 

http://www.regulations.gov Web site. 

You may also access this document via 

the WHD home page at http:// 

www.wagehour.dol.gov. To comment 

electronically on federal rulemakings, 

go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 

http://www.regulations.gov, which will 

allow you to find, review, and submit 

comments on federal documents that are 

open for comment and published in the 

Federal Register. Please identify all 

comments submitted in electronic form 

by the RIN docket number (1215–AB57). 

Because of delays in receiving mail in 

the Washington, DC area, commenters 

should transmit their comments 

electronically via the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal at http:// 

www.regulations.gov, or submit them by 

mail early to ensure timely receipt prior 

to the close of the comment period. 

Submit one copy of your comments by 

only one method. 

II. Background 

The child labor provisions of the Fair 

Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establish a 

minimum age of 16 years for 

employment in nonagricultural 

occupations, but the Secretary of Labor 

is authorized to provide by regulation 

for 14- and 15-year-olds to work in 

suitable occupations other than 

manufacturing or mining, and during 

periods and under conditions that will 

not interfere with their schooling or 

health and well-being. The FLSA 

provisions permit 16- and 17-year-olds 

to work in the nonagricultural sector 

without hours or time limitations, 

except in certain occupations found and 

declared by the Secretary to be 

particularly hazardous, or detrimental to 

the health or well-being of such 

workers. 

The regulations for 14- and 15-yearolds are known as Child Labor 

Regulation No. 3 (Reg. 3) and are 

contained in subpart C of part 570 (29 

CFR 570.31–.38). Reg. 3 limits the hours 

and times of day that such minors may 

work and identifies occupations that are 

either permitted or prohibited for such 

minors. Under Reg. 3, 14- and 15-yearolds may work in certain occupations in 

retail, food service, and gasoline service 

establishments, but are not permitted to 

work in certain other occupations 

(including all occupations found by the 

Secretary to be particularly hazardous 

for 16- and 17-year-olds). Reg. 3, 

originally promulgated in 1939, was 

revised to reflect the 1961 amendments 

to the FLSA, which extended the Act’s 

coverage to include enterprises engaged 

in commerce or the production of goods 

for commerce. Because of the statutory 

amendments, the FLSA’s child labor 

protections became applicable to 

additional areas of employment for 


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young workers in retail, food service, 

and gasoline service establishments. 

The regulations concerning 

nonagricultural hazardous occupations 

are contained in subpart E of 29 CFR 

part 570 (29 CFR 570.50–.68). These 

Hazardous Occupations Orders (HOs) 

apply on either an industry basis, 

specifying the occupations in a 

particular industry that are prohibited, 

or an occupational basis, irrespective of 

the industry in which the work is 

performed. The seventeen HOs were 

adopted individually during the period 

of 1939 through 1963. Some of the HOs, 

specifically HOs 5, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 

17, contain limited exemptions that 

permit the employment of 16- and 17- 

year-old apprentices and studentlearners under particular conditions to 

perform work otherwise prohibited to 

that age group. The terms and 

conditions for employing such 

apprentices and student-learners are 

detailed in § 570.50(b) and (c). 

Because of changes in the workplace, 

the introduction of new processes and 

technologies, the emergence of new 

types of businesses where young 

workers may find employment 

opportunities, the existence of differing 

federal and state standards, and 

divergent views on how best to balance 

scholastic requirements and work 

experiences, the Department has long 

been reviewing the criteria for 

permissible child labor employment. In 

this review, the Department published a 

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) 

in 1982, an NPRM in 1990, a Final Rule 

in 1991, both an Advance Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) and an 

NPRM in 1994, a Final Rule in 1995, an 

NPRM in 1999, and a Final Rule in 

2004. 

On July 16, 1982, an NPRM was 

published in the Federal Register (47 

FR 31254) which proposed to revise 

several elements of Reg. 3, including the 

permissible hours and times of 

employment for 14- and 15-year-olds 

and the types of cooking operations 

those minors would be permitted to 

perform. The NPRM generated 

considerable public interest, mostly 

relating to the expansion of the hours 

and times of work for this age group. 

The Department subsequently 

suspended the proposal from further 

consideration and no final rule was 

implemented. 

The Department continued to receive 

suggestions from the public that certain 

changes should be made to the child 

labor regulations on a number of issues. 

In 1987, the Department established a 

Child Labor Advisory Committee 

(CLAC) composed of 21 members 

representing employers, education, 

labor, child guidance professionals, 

civic groups, child advocacy groups, 

state officials, and safety groups. The 

mission of the CLAC was to give advice 

and guidance in developing possible 

proposals to change existing standards. 

After reviewing a number of issues, the 

CLAC proposed making certain changes 

to the child labor regulations. The 

Department considered the CLAC’s 

suggestions, as well as suggestions 

received from the public as noted above, 

and published an NPRM in October 

1990, proposing changes to three HOs 

(55 FR 42612). In December 1991, the 

Department promulgated a Final Rule 

which revised the three HOs (56 FR 

58626). 

The Department continued to review 

the child labor regulations and on May 

13, 1994, in an effort to accumulate data 

concerning all aspects of the provisions, 

published both an NPRM (59 FR 25164) 

and an ANPRM (59 FR 25167). The 

NPRM proposed to exempt 14- and 15- 

year-olds from Reg. 3 hours standards 

when employed under certain 

restrictions as sports attendants for 

professional sports teams, to standardize 

the Reg. 3 process for issuing 

occupational variances for Work 

Experience and Career Exploration 

Program (WECEP) participants, to 

remove an outdated exemption for 

enrollees in certain work training 

programs, and to revise the process by 

which HOs are promulgated. A Final 

Rule on these issues was published 

April 17, 1995 (60 FR 19336). 

The 1994 ANPRM requested public 

comment on several specific topics as 

well as all aspects of the child labor 

provisions. Several individuals and 

organizations submitted comments. The 

National Institute for Occupational 

Safety and Health (NIOSH) provided the 

Department with epidemiological data 

on a number of issues related to both 

Reg. 3 and the HOs. NIOSH also 

provided the Department with statistics 

regarding occupational injuries and 

made several recommendations. A 

number of child guidance professionals, 

educators, unions, employer 

associations, and child labor advocates 

also commented and made various 

recommendations. 

Congress has amended the child labor 

provisions of the FLSA three times since 

1996. The Compactors and Balers Safety 

Standards Modernization Act, Pub. L. 

104–174 (Compactor and Baler Act), 

was signed into law on August 6, 1996. 

This legislation added section 13(c)(5) 

to the FLSA, permitting minors 16 and 

17 years of age to load, but not operate 

or unload, certain scrap paper balers 

and paper box compactors when certain 

requirements are met. The Drive for 

Teen Employment Act, Pub. L. 105–334, 

was signed into law on October 31, 

1998. This legislation added section 

13(c)(6) to the FLSA, prohibiting minors 

under 17 years of age from driving 

automobiles and trucks on public 

roadways on-the-job and establishing 

the conditions and criteria for 17-yearolds to drive automobiles and trucks on 

public roadways on-the-job. The 

Department of Labor Appropriations 

Act, 2004, Pub. L. 108–199, amended 

the FLSA by creating a limited 

exemption from the youth employment 

provisions for minors 14 to 18 years of 

age who are excused from compulsory 

school attendance beyond the eighth 

grade. The exemption, contained in 

section 13(c)(7) of the FLSA, allows 

eligible youth, under specific 

conditions, to be employed inside and 

outside of places of business that use 

machinery to process wood products, 

but does not allow such youth to 

operate or assist in operating powerdriven woodworking machines. This 

exemption overrides the FLSA’s 

formerly complete prohibition on the 

employment of 14- and 15-year-olds in 

manufacturing occupations contained in 

section 3(l). 

The Department published an NPRM 

in the Federal Register on November 30, 

1999 (64 FR 67130), inviting comments 

on revisions of regulations to implement 

the 1996 and 1998 amendments and to 

update certain regulatory standards. The 

Compactor and Baler Act affected the 

HO 12 standards (Occupations involved 

in the operation of paper-products 

machines) (29 CFR 570.63) and certain 

other related regulations; amendments 

of those regulations were proposed. The 

Drive for Teen Employment Act affected 

the HO 2 standards (Occupations of 

motor-vehicle driver and outside helper) 

(29 CFR 570.52); an amendment of that 

regulation was proposed. As a result of 

its ongoing review of the child labor 

provisions, the Department also 

proposed changes to HO 1 (Occupations 

in or about plants or establishments 

manufacturing or storing explosives or 

articles containing explosive 

components) (29 CFR 570.51), HO 16 

(Occupations in roofing operations) (29 

CFR 570.67), the Reg. 3 limitations on 

cooking (29 CFR 570.34), and 29 CFR 

570.6(b)(1) which deals with the 

disposition of a Certificate of Age when 

the named individual’s employment 

ends. A Final Rule, addressing the 

above issues and implementing 

procedural changes dealing with 

administrative hearings and appeals of 

child labor civil money penalties, was 

issued on December 16, 2004 (69 FR 

75382). 


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In 1998, the Department provided 

funds to NIOSH to conduct a 

comprehensive review of scientific 

literature and available data in order to 

assess current workplace hazards and 

the adequacy of the current youth 

employment HOs to address them. This 

study was commissioned to provide the 

Secretary with another tool to use in her 

ongoing review of the youth 

employment provisions, and of the 

hazardous occupations orders in 

particular. The report, entitled National 

Institute for Occupational Safety and 

Health Recommendations to the U.S. 

Department of Labor for Changes to 

Hazardous Orders (hereinafter referred 

to as the NIOSH Report or the Report), 

was issued in July of 2002. The Report, 

which makes 35 recommendations 

concerning the existing nonagricultural 

HOs and recommends the creation of 17 

new HOs, also incorporated the 

comments NIOSH submitted in 

response to the 1999 NPRM. The report 

is available for review on the 

Department’s YouthRules! Web site at 

http://www.youthrules.dol.gov/ 

resources.htm. 

The Department recognizes NIOSH’s 

extensive research efforts in compiling 

and reviewing this data. However, it has 

cautioned readers about reaching 

conclusions and expecting revisions to 

the existing HOs based solely on the 

information in the Report. In the Report, 

NIOSH itself recognized the confines of 

its methodology and included 

appropriate caveats about limitations in 

available data and gaps in research. Of 

those limitations, the following are 

worth noting. The NIOSH Report 

recommendations are driven by 

information on high-risk activities for 

all workers, not just patterns of fatalities 

and serious injuries among young 

workers. There is little occupational 

injury, illness, and fatality data 

available regarding minors less than 16 

years of age. In addition, such data for 

youth 16 and 17 years of age tend to be 

mixed with that of older workers whose 

employment is not subject to the youth 

employment provisions of the FLSA. 

Also, available occupational injury, 

illness, fatality, and employment data 

on the specific operations in the specific 

industries covered by the NIOSH Report 

recommendations tend to be combined 

with data on other operations and/or 

industries. In some cases, this may 

result in a diminution of the risk by 

including less risky operations and 

industries in the employment estimates. 

In other cases, the risk may be 

exaggerated by including more 

dangerous operations/industries in the 

injury, illness, or fatality estimates. 

In addition, as NIOSH was tasked 

with examining issues within the 

framework of the current HOs only, the 

Report did not consider the extent to 

which fatalities occur despite existing 

HOs, Occupational Safety and Health 

Administration (OSHA) standards, or 

state laws prohibiting the activity. If 

fatalities result from recognized illegal 

activities, such as working with 

fireworks or a power-driven circular 

saw, the best strategy for preventing 

future injuries may not be to revise the 

regulations but to increase compliance 

with existing laws through public 

awareness initiatives, targeted 

compliance assistance efforts, and 

stepped-up enforcement activities. The 

Report also did not consider potential 

approaches for decreasing workplace 

injuries that provide an alternative to a 

complete ban on employment, such as 

safety training, increased supervision, 

the use of effective personal protective 

equipment, and strict adherence to 

recognized safe working practices. 

Though cognizant of the limitations of 

the Report, the Department places great 

value on the information provided by 

NIOSH. Since receiving the Report, the 

Department has conducted a detailed 

review and has met with various 

stakeholders to evaluate and prioritize 

each recommendation for possible 

regulatory action consistent with the 

established national policy of balancing 

the benefits of employment 

opportunities for youth with the 

necessary and appropriate safety 

protections. The 2004 Final Rule 

addressed six of the recommendations. 

As an adjunct to its review of these 

issues the Department contracted with a 

private consulting firm, SiloSmashers, 

Inc., to construct a model that, using 

quantitative analysis, would help 

determine the costs and benefits 

associated with implementing, or not 

implementing, each of the Report’s 

recommendations. The SiloSmashers 

report, Determination of the Costs and 

Benefits of Implementing NIOSH 

Recommendations Relating to Child 

Labor Hazardous Orders, was completed 

in November 2004 and covers 34 of the 

NIOSH HO recommendations in 

agricultural and nonagricultural 

occupations, as well as several 

occupations or activities not presently 

addressed by an existing HO. 

The methodology used by 

SiloSmashers was to compare the direct 

costs and benefits of implementing or 

revising an HO, as recommended by 

NIOSH, with the costs and benefits of 

not implementing or revising the HO 

based on the NIOSH recommendations. 

Each SiloSmashers analysis was 

conducted on a mutually exclusive basis 

to yield a net present value (NPV). 

SiloSmashers defines NPV as ‘‘the 

discounted dollar value of an 

investment across the expected 

planning horizon. As a dollar figure, 

NPV is presented at the full value level 

for each implementation approach 

(implementing versus not 

implementing) as well as at the 

incremental approach (the difference 

between implementing versus not 

implementing). As a comparison tool 

and under the incremental approach, 

the higher the NPV, the higher the 

expected value of implementation.’’ The 

NPVs reported by SiloSmashers for each 

of the NIOSH recommendations 

addressing the current nonagricultural 

HOs range from a negative $9,537,000 to 

a positive $113,556,000. 

Although the SiloSmashers report 

includes both a quantitative analysis 

and a qualitative analysis of each 

NIOSH recommendation, the 

Department is concerned that some 

readers might try to rank each 

recommendation solely on the basis of 

the quantitative results (i.e., on the basis 

of the NPVs) listed in the HO 

Comprehensive Summary. This 

simplistic ranking would not be 

appropriate due to several constraints 

inherent in the methodology adopted by 

SiloSmashers, especially the lack of 

reliable and pertinent data. 

In addition, not only was the 

methodology used by SiloSmashers to 

generate the NPVs subject to the same 

data limitations faced by NIOSH 

regarding the employment, fatality, and 

injury rates of young workers, but it also 

raises additional concerns. First, if 

SiloSmashers were unable to identify 

any minors who were fatally injured 

while performing work that was the 

subject of the NIOSH recommendation 

being examined, even if many adult 

workers were killed while performing 

that exact same work, the analysis 

would reflect that implementation of the 

recommendation would have no benefit 

in reducing occupational hazards to 

youth. Such an assumption is contrary 

to the Department’s long-held position 

that work which is dangerous for adults 

is inherently dangerous for youth. For 

example, because SiloSmashers found 

no deaths of youth resulting from the 

operation of chainsaws, it concluded 

that implementation of the NIOSH 

recommendation to expand HO 14 to 

prohibit the operation of chainsaws on 

all materials, and not just on wood and 

wood products as currently prohibited 

by HOs 4 and 5, would have no impact 

on the number of occupational fatalities 

suffered by 16- and 17-year-olds. The 

Department strongly disagrees with this 

conclusion. NIOSH based its 


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recommendation on data that 

demonstrate that chainsaws continue to 

be the source of substantial numbers of 

fatalities as well as nonfatal injuries 

which may be unusually severe. 

Accordingly, the Department believes 

that the operation of chainsaws is 

inherently dangerous for young workers, 

regardless of the lack of youth-specific 

injury and fatality data. The Department 

agrees with NIOSH that the prudent 

course of action is to prohibit the use of 

chainsaws by all workers under the age 

of 18. 

Secondly, when youth fatalities were 

identified, the values the SiloSmashers 

report placed on the lives saved and 

injuries prevented under the various 

NIOSH Report recommendations are 

based on estimates published in 

economic literature that are based on 

adult populations. Applying those 

estimates to children may result in an 

underestimate of the risk to children 

because the susceptibility of a 

developing child’s body to illness, 

injury, or death will most likely differ 

from that of the fully developed body of 

an adult. These differences are 

important in any such analysis, as 

society tends to place a higher value on 

the lives of children compared to adults. 

By their very nature, child labor laws 

are intended to protect children from 

situations that are permissible for 

adults. Thus, even without some of the 

other data limitations discussed above, 

the estimates presented in the 

SiloSmashers report consistently 

understate the benefits of implementing 

the NIOSH recommendations. Because 

of the data limitations and flaws in 

methodology, the Department does not 

consider the individual analysis 

prepared by SiloSmashers to be 

influential for rulemaking purposes. 

It was the Department’s intention that 

the SiloSmashers analysis would help 

in identifying and defining the scope of 

each recommendation and provide 

additional information to consider after 

the decision was made to implement or 

not to implement a particular 

recommendation. This is in keeping 

with the ultimate recommendation 

made in the SiloSmashers report that 

the Department consider both 

quantitative and qualitative factors, as 

well as other internal and external 

factors-such as budget constraints, 

priorities established by the Department 

or Administration, additional 

stakeholder input, etc.—when 

determining which NIOSH Report 

recommendations to implement. The 

entire report provided to the 

Department by SiloSmashers can be 

viewed on the Internet at http:// 

www.youthrules.dol.gov/clri/ 

Final_Report.pdf. 

As mentioned, the NIOSH Report 

made 35 recommendations concerning 

the existing nonagricultural HOs. The 

Department addressed six of those 

recommendations in the 2004 Final 

Rule (see 69 FR 75382; Dec. 16, 2004). 

The Department has decided that, in 

this first proposal since the 

dissemination of the NIOSH Report, it 

will address 25 of the remaining 29 

Report recommendations dealing with 

existing nonagricultural hazardous 

occupations orders. The Department 

believes there is sufficient data to 

support implementing its proposals. In 

an attempt to acquire additional data in 

order to address the remaining 

nonagricultural NIOSH 

recommendations, as well as pursue 

items not explored in the NIOSH 

Report, the Department is publishing an 

ANPRM concurrently with this NPRM. 

The NIOSH Report also makes 11 

recommendations that impact the 

current agricultural HOs as well as 17 

recommendations that urge the creation 

of new HOs. The Department, in the 

ANPRM being published on the same 

day as this NPRM, is requesting public 

comment on the feasibility of one of 

those recommendations regarding the 

creation of an HO that would prohibit 

the employment of youth in 

construction occupations. The 

Department is continuing to review the 

remaining recommendations, but for 

administrative reasons excluded them 

from its consideration of the NIOSH 

proposals covered in this phase to keep 

the size and scope manageable. Their 

absence from this current round of 

rulemaking is not an indication that the 

Department believes them to be of less 

importance or that they will not be 

given the same level of consideration as 

the recommendations addressing the 

current nonagricultural HOs. 

III. Proposed Regulatory Revisions 

A. Occupations That Are Prohibited for 

the Employment of Minors Between the 

Ages of 14 and 16 Years of Age (29 CFR 

570.31–.34) 

Section 3(l) of the FLSA, defining 

oppressive child labor, expressly 

prohibits children under the age of 16 

from performing any work other than 

that which the Secretary of Labor 

permits, by order or regulation, upon 

finding that it does not interfere with 

their schooling or health and well-being 

(see 29 U.S.C. 203(l), see also 29 CFR 

570.117–.119). Before 14- and 15-yearolds may legally perform work covered 

by the FLSA, the Act requires that the 

work itself be exempt, or that the 

Secretary determines that the work to be 

performed does not constitute 

oppressive child labor. The Secretary’s 

declarations of what forms of labor are 

not deemed oppressive for children 

between the ages of 14 and 16 appear in 

Reg. 3 (29 CFR 570.31–.38). 

Reg. 3 identifies a number of 

occupations or activities that are 

specifically prohibited for these minors 

without regard to the industry or the 

type of business in which their 

employer is engaged (e.g., operating or 

tending any power-driven machinery 

other than office machines, see 

§ 570.33(b)). Reg. 3 also incorporates by 

reference all of the prohibitions 

contained in the Hazardous 

Occupations Orders (29 CFR 570.50–

.68), which identify occupations that are 

‘‘particularly hazardous’’ and, therefore, 

banned for 16- and 17-year-olds (e.g., 

occupations involved in the operation of 

power-driven metal forming, punching, 

and shearing machines, see § 570.33(e)). 

As previously mentioned, Reg. 3 was 

revised to reflect the 1961 amendments 

to the FLSA, which by extending the 

Act’s coverage to include enterprises 

engaged in commerce or the production 

of goods for commerce, brought more 

working youth employed in retail, food 

service, and gasoline service 

establishments within the protections of 

the Act. Section 570.34(a) expressly 

authorizes the performance of certain 

activities by 14- and 15-year-olds in 

retail, food service, and gasoline service 

establishments, while § 570.34(b) details 

those activities that 14- and 15-year-olds 

are expressly prohibited from 

performing in such establishments. For 

example, clerical work, cashiering, and 

clean-up work are authorized, whereas 

‘‘all work requiring the use of ladders, 

scaffolds, or their substitutes’’ is 

prohibited. These special rules apply 

only in the designated types of business. 

Since 1961, new, positive, and safe 

employment opportunities have opened 

up for youth in industries other than 

retail, food service, and gasoline service 

that Reg. 3 does not currently 

specifically address. Jobs in such areas 

as state and local governments, banks, 

insurance companies, advertising 

agencies, and information technology 

firms all normally fall outside of the 

declarations made in Reg. 3. Because 

these jobs are not specifically permitted 

by § 570.33, they are prohibited. There 

has been some confusion about this over 

the years. Some employers have 

believed that 14- and 15-year-old are 

permitted to be employed in any 

industry or occupations not expressly 

prohibited by Reg. 3, or that any 

employer in any industry may employ 

such youth in the occupations permitted 


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by § 570.34(a). However, where these 

jobs are not located in retail, food 

service, or gasoline service 

establishments, the provisions of 

§ 570.34 (both authorizations and 

prohibitions) do not apply to the 

employment of 14- and 15-year-olds. 

The exception to this rule is where there 

is some discrete operation or division 

that could legitimately be characterized 

as such an establishment and therefore 

would be subject to these rules (e.g., 

minors employed in a food service 

operation at a city park or a publicly 

owned sports stadium). The 

Department’s interpretation of Reg. 3 

would prohibit employers such as state 

and local governments, banks, insurance 

companies, advertising agencies, and 

information technology firms from 

employing 14- and 15-year-old workers 

in any jobs other than those that occur 

in those discrete operations or divisions 

that may be characterized as retail, food 

service, or gasoline service 

establishments. 

In 2004, in recognition of the 

importance of youth employment 

programs operated by public sector 

employers that provide safe and 

meaningful developmental 

opportunities for young people, and in 

response to specific requests received 

from two municipalities, the 

Department adopted an enforcement 

position that permits state and local 

governments to employ 14- and 15-yearold minors under certain conditions. 

Consistent with its enforcement 

position, the Department has exercised 

its prosecutorial discretion, as 

authorized by 29 U.S.C. 216(e), in 

declining to cite Reg. 3 occupations 

violations for the employment of 14- 

and 15-year-olds by state and local 

governments as long as that 

employment falls within the 

occupations authorized by Reg. 3 

(§ 570.34(a)) and does not involve any of 

the tasks or occupations prohibited by 

Reg. 3 (§§ 570.33 and 570.34(b)). The 

other provisions of Reg. 3, including the 

restrictions on hours of work, remain 

fully applicable to the employment of 

such minors and continue to be 

enforced. 

The Department’s administration of 

this enforcement position permitting the 

employment of 14- and 15-year-olds by 

state and local governments has had 

extremely positive results. There are 

strong indications that when such youth 

are employed under the guidelines 

established by this enforcement 

position, the employment does not 

interfere with their schooling or with 

their health and well-being, and thus 

accords with the FLSA. 

Based upon the success of the above 

enforcement position, the Department is 

proposing to revise and to reorganize 

§§ 570.33 and 570.34 to clarify and to 

expand the list of jobs that are either 

permitted or prohibited for minors who 

are 14 and 15 years of age and to remove 

the language that limits the application 

of § 570.34 to only retail, food service, 

and gasoline service establishments. 

The revised § 570.33 would detail 

certain specific occupations that are 

prohibited for 14- and 15-year-olds. This 

revision also necessitates a change to 

§ 570.35a(c)(3), which references the 

current §§ 570.33 and 570.34 as they 

pertain to WECEPs. The Department 

proposes to retain all the current 

prohibitions contained in § 570.33 but 

will modify the prohibition regarding 

the employment of 14- and 15-year-olds 

in manufacturing occupations to 

comport with the provisions of the 

Department of Labor Appropriations 

Act, 2004, which enacted section 

13(c)(7) of the FLSA. Fourteen- and 15- 

year-olds would continue to be 

permitted to be employed in all those 

retail, food service, and gasoline service 

establishment occupations in which 

they may currently be employed. 

The Department also proposes to 

apply to FLSA-covered nonagricultural 

employers of minors, with certain 

modifications, all the permitted 

occupations contained in § 570.34(a) 

and all the prohibited occupations 

contained in § 570.34(b) that currently 

apply only to retail, food service, and 

gasoline service establishments. This 

proposal would be accomplished by 

revising § 570.34 to identify permitted 

occupations. The Department also 

proposes to continue to permit youth 

14- and 15-years of age to perform those 

occupations involving processing, 

operating of machines, and working in 

rooms where processing and 

manufacturing take place, that are 

currently permitted under § 570.34(a), 

as referenced in § 570.34(b)(1). 

As mentioned, certain modifications 

to the existing lists of permissible and 

prohibited occupations are being 

proposed. The traditionally prohibited 

occupations and industries would be 

contained in a revised § 570.33, and all 

the permitted occupations and 

industries would be contained in a 

revised § 570.34. The Department is 

aware that, given the FLSA’s mandate 

that before 14- or 15-year-olds may 

legally be employed to perform any 

covered work the Secretary of Labor 

must first determine that the work to be 

performed does not constitute 

oppressive child labor, it could choose 

to publish only a list of permissible 

occupations and industries, and not 

provide a list of certain commonly 

arising prohibited occupations and 

industries. However, the Department 

believes that by continuing the longstanding Reg. 3 tradition of publishing 

lists of those occupations and industries 

in which such youth may be employed 

as well as detailed examples of those 

industries and occupations in which the 

employment of such youth is 

prohibited, it can greatly enhance the 

public’s understanding of these 

important provisions. The list of 

prohibited industries and occupations 

helps to define and to provide clarity to 

the list of permitted industries and 

occupations. However, the list of 

prohibited occupations is not intended 

to identify every prohibited occupation, 

but rather only to provide examples of 

those prohibited occupations that have 

historically been the most common 

sources of violations or concern. As 

previously explained, any job not 

specifically permitted is prohibited. 

The Department also understands 

that, given the constant development 

and changes occurring in the modern 

workplace, in continuing to provide a 

definitive list of permitted occupations 

and industries, the Department may 

unintentionally discourage the creation 

of positive and safe employment 

opportunities for young workers. But 

the Department believes that, by 

continuing its past practice of carefully 

reviewing inquiries regarding individual 

occupations or industries not currently 

addressed by Reg. 3 and then exercising 

its prosecutorial discretion and issuing 

enforcement positions that may 

eventually lead to rulemaking—as 

evidenced by certain proposals 

contained in this NPRM—it has 

developed an efficient and effective 

mechanism which overcomes the 

limitations of a definitive list. 

The proposed modifications to the list 

of prohibited occupations are as follows: 

1. Prohibited Machinery (§§ 570.33–.34) 

Section 570.33(b) prohibits youth 14 

and 15 years of age from employment in 

occupations involving the operation or 

tending of any power-driven machinery 

other than office equipment. Even 

though this prohibition is clear and 

quite broad, other sections of Reg. 3 

have traditionally named certain pieces 

of power-driven machinery so as to 

eliminate any doubt or confusion as to 

their prohibited status. For example, 

§ 570.34(a)(6) prohibits the employment 

of 14- and 15-year-olds in the operation 

of power-driven mowers or cutters and 

§ 570.34(b)(6) prohibits the employment 

of such minors in occupations that 

involve operating, setting up, adjusting, 

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driven food slicers, grinders, choppers, 

and cutters, and bakery-type mixers. 

The Department proposes to combine 

§§ 570.33(b), 570.34(a)(6), and 

570.34(b)(6)—all of which address 

power-driven machinery—into a single 

paragraph located at § 570.33(e) and 

expand the list of examples of 

prohibited equipment to include powerdriven trimmers, weed-eaters, edgers, 

golf carts, food processors, and food 

mixers. Even though Reg. 3 for many 

years has prohibited the employment of 

14- and 15-year-olds to operate any 

power-driven equipment other than 

office machines, the Department 

routinely receives inquiries as to the 

status under Reg. 3 of these individual 

pieces of equipment. The Department 

believes that by continuing to reference 

certain common prohibited machinery 

by name, both clarity and compliance 

will be increased. 

2. Loading of Personal Hand Tools Onto 

Motor Vehicles and Riding on Motor 

Vehicles (§§ 570.33(f) and 570.34(b)(8)) 

Section 570.33(c) prohibits the 

employment of 14- and 15-year-olds in 

the operation of motor vehicles or 

service as helpers on such vehicles. The 

term motor vehicle is defined in 

§ 570.52(c)(1). The Department has 

interpreted the Reg. 3 prohibition 

regarding service as helpers on a motor 

vehicle to preclude youth under the age 

of 16 from riding outside the passenger 

compartment of the motor vehicle. Such 

youth may not ride in the bed of a pickup truck, on the running board of a van, 

or on the bumper of a refuse truck. This 

interpretation dates back to at least the 

1940 enactment of HO 2 which 

prohibits 16- and 17-year-olds from 

serving as outside helpers on motor 

vehicles. 

The Department does not interpret the 

helper prohibition as applying to 14- 

and 15-year-olds who simply ride inside 

a motor vehicle as passengers and, thus, 

Reg. 3 permits a 14- or 15-year-old to 

ride inside the enclosed passenger 

compartment of a motor vehicle when 

driven by a driver whose employment 

complies with HO 2 under certain 

circumstances. For example, a minor 

may ride in a motor vehicle to reach 

another work site where he or she will 

perform work, to receive special training 

or instructions while riding, or to meet 

other employees or customers of the 

employer. While a 14- or 15-year old 

may be a passive passenger in a vehicle, 

that same minor is not permitted to ride 

in a motor vehicle when a significant 

reason for the minor being a passenger 

is for the purpose of performing work in 

connection with the transporting—or 

assisting in the transporting—of other 

persons or property. This interpretation 

comports with the provision of 

§ 570.33(f)(1), which prohibits the 

employment of 14- and 15-year-olds in 

occupations in connection with the 

transportation of persons or property by 

highway. Performing work in 

connection with the transportation of 

the other persons or property does not 

have to be the primary reason for the 

trip for this prohibition to apply. 

The Department is proposing to 

include its long-standing interpretation 

that prohibits 14- and 15-year-olds 

riding outside of motor vehicles in Reg. 

3 at § 570.33(f). The Department is also 

proposing to revise Reg. 3 at § 570.34(o) 

to permit 14- and 15-year-olds to ride in 

the enclosed passenger compartments of 

motor vehicles, except when a 

significant reason for the minors being 

passengers in the vehicle is for the 

purpose of performing work in 

connection with the transporting—or 

assisting in the transporting—of other 

persons or property. Each minor must 

have his or her own seat in the 

passenger compartment, each seat must 

be equipped with a seat belt or similar 

restraining device, and the employer 

must instruct the minors that such belts 

or other devices must be used. These 

provisions mirror the requirements of 

Drive for Teen Employment Act as 

contained in HO 2. 

In addition, the Department’s 

interpretation of prohibited helper 

services under § 570.33(c), since at least 

the mid-1950s, has included the loading 

and unloading of materials from motor 

vehicles when the purpose of the 

operation of the vehicle is the 

transportation of such materials. Section 

570.33(f)(1) furthers this prohibition by 

banning the employment of minors in 

occupations in connection with the 

transportation of property by highway. 

Section 570.34(b)(8) prohibits the 

employment of such youth by retail, 

food service, and gasoline service 

establishments to load or unload goods 

to and from trucks, railroad cars, or 

conveyors. These prohibitions are 

designed to protect young workers from 

the hazards associated with loading 

docks, motor vehicles, and receiving 

departments; strains from lifting and 

moving heavy items; and falls and 

falling items. Accordingly, 14- and 15- 

year-olds generally are prohibited from 

loading and unloading any property (not 

just ‘‘goods’’) onto and from motor 

vehicles, including the light personal 

hand tools they use in performing their 

duties. 

In 2000, the Department was 

requested by a municipality (the City) to 

review certain aspects of the 

prohibitions against employing 14- and 

15-year-olds to load and unload items 

onto and from motor vehicles. The City 

advised the Department that, even with 

the adoption of the enforcement 

position that permits state and local 

governments to employ minors under 

certain conditions, it was being forced 

to abandon a youth-employment 

program that provided 14- and 15-yearolds with certain jobs because of the 

prohibition against loading materials 

into vehicles. The City specifically 

requested permission to allow such 

minors to load and unload, onto and 

from motor vehicles, the light, nonpower-driven tools each youth would 

personally use as part of his or her 

employment. The Department carefully 

considered this request and, again using 

its prosecutorial discretion, decided that 

it would not assert a violation of the 

child labor provisions when 14- and 15- 

year-old employees of state and local 

governments loaded and unloaded the 

light non-power-driven hand tools—

such as rakes, hand-held clippers, and 

spades—that they personally use as part 

of their employment. The City was 

advised that this enforcement policy did 

not extend to other prohibited 

transportation-related work such as the 

loading or unloading of materials other 

than the light hand tools the minors 

may encounter on-the-job, such as trash 

or garbage, or power-driven equipment 

such as lawn mowers, edgers, and weed 

trimmers—the use of which by this age 

group is prohibited under Reg. 3. 

The Department proposes to revise 

Reg. 3 at §§ 570.33(f) and (k) and 

570.34(k) to incorporate the 

enforcement position that allows 14- 

and 15-year-olds to be employed to load 

onto and unload from motor vehicles 

the light non-power-driven personal 

hand tools they use as part of their 

employment and to make it available to 

all covered employers, not just state and 

local governments. Such light nonpower-driven hand tools would include, 

but not be limited to, rakes, hand-held 

clippers, shovels, and brooms, but 

would not include items like lawn 

mowers or other power-driven lawn 

maintenance equipment. In addition, 

such minors would be permitted to load 

onto and unload from motor vehicles 

any personal protective equipment they 

themselves will use at the work site and 

any personal items such as backpacks, 

lunch boxes, and coats their employers 

allow them to take to the work site. 

Such minors would not be permitted to 

load or unload such jobsite-related 

equipment as barriers, cones or signage. 


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3. Work in Meat Coolers and Freezers 

(§ 570.34(b)(7)) 

Section 570.34(b)(7) prohibits 14- and 

15-year-olds from working in freezers 

and meat coolers. Since its inception, 

the Department has interpreted this 

section to mean that such youth are 

prohibited from working as dairy stock 

clerks, meat clerks, deli clerks, produce 

clerks, or frozen-food stock clerks where 

their duties would require them to enter 

and remain in the freezer or meat cooler 

for prolonged periods. Inventory and 

cleanup work, involving prolonged 

stays in freezers or meat coolers, are also 

prohibited. On the other hand, the 

Department has taken the position since 

at least 1981 that counter workers in 

quick service establishments or cashiers 

in grocery stores whose duties require 

them to occasionally enter freezers only 

momentarily to retrieve items are not 

considered to be working in the freezers 

for enforcement purposes. In order to 

provide clarification, the Department is 

proposing to incorporate this longstanding interpretation into the 

regulations at § 570.33(i). 

4. Youth Peddling 

The Department is proposing to 

amend Reg. 3 and create § 570.33(j) to 

ban the employment of 14- and 15-yearold minors in occupations involving 

youth peddling, also referred to as 

‘‘door-to-door sales’’ and ‘‘street sales.’’

Controversies regarding young children 

conducting commercial sales of items, 

often on a ‘‘door-to-door’’ basis, are not 

new. The Department has over the years 

documented reports of minors, many as 

young as 10 or 11 years of age, working 

as part of mobile sales crews, selling 

such items as candy, calendars, and 

greeting cards for profit-making 

companies. Injuries, and even deaths, 

have occurred as the result of young 

children engaging in youth peddling 

activities. The door-to-door sales 

industry employing these minors 

generally is composed of a number of 

crew leaders who, during the course of 

a year, operate in many different states. 

The crew leaders, who often have ties to 

regional or national businesses, 

mistakenly claim that they and their 

young sales crews are independent 

contractors. Typically, a crew leader 

attempts to saturate a particular area 

with sales crews, make as many sales as 

possible, and then quickly move to a 

new location. Crews often work from 

late afternoon to late at night as that is 

when most of the potential customers 

are likely to be at home. Because youth 

peddlers typically qualify as outside 

sales employees under FLSA section 

13(a)(1), they are usually exempt from 

the minimum wage and overtime 

requirements of the FLSA (see 29 CFR 

541.500). 

Congressional hearings and the 

Department’s enforcement experience 

have shown that the problems 

associated with children performing 

door-to-door sales and street sales are 

numerous. These youth are often 

transported by crew leaders in vans, 

which fail to meet proper safety and 

insurance requirements, to areas quite 

distant from their home neighborhoods. 

They are often required to work many 

hours on school nights and late into the 

evening. These minors are frequently 

placed by employers, without adult 

supervision, at subway entrances, 

outside large office buildings, at hightraffic street corners, and on median 

strips at busy intersections where they 

can attract potential customers. Reports 

of children being abandoned, suffering 

injuries from violence and motor 

vehicle crashes, and being exposed to 

the elements have been substantiated. 

Youth have been injured and have died 

as a result of these activities. 

Intimidation by crew leaders is 

commonly reported. 

In 1987, the permanent Subcommittee 

on Investigations of the Committee on 

Governmental Affairs of the United 

States Senate held hearings on the 

Exploitation of Young Adults in Doorto-Door Sales. The hearings included a 

staff study that documented many 

abuses that had occurred in this 

industry, including indentured 

servitude, physical and sexual abuse, 

and criminal activity. In 1998, the 

Interstate Labor Standards Association 

created a subcommittee to work toward 

ending door-to-door sales by children 

and recommended that the Department 

of Labor act as a national clearinghouse 

regarding information concerning doorto-door sales operations. In response to 

the 1994 ANPRM issued by the 

Department, calls for banning door-todoor sales by those under 18 years of 

age were received from the National 

Consumers League, the Defense for 

Children International, USA, and the 

Food and Allied Service Trades 

Department, AFL–CIO. At least 17 states 

have rules prohibiting or regulating 

door-to-door sales by minors. 

The Department’s proposal to prohibit 

youth peddling would not be limited to 

just the attempt to make a sale or the 

actual consummation of a sale, but 

would include such activities normally 

associated with and conducted as part 

of the individual youth peddler’s sales 

activities, such as the loading and 

unloading of vans or other motor 

vehicles, the stocking and restocking of 

sales kits and trays, the exchanging of 

cash and checks, and the transportation 

of minors to and from the various sales 

areas by the employer. 

As used here, the terms youth 

peddling, door-to-door-sales, and street 

sales do not include legitimate fundraising activities by eleemosynary 

organizations such as cookie sales 

conducted by the Girl Scouts of America 

or school fund-raising events where the 

students are truly volunteers and are not 

promised compensation for the sales 

they make. The term compensation 

would not include the small prizes, 

trophies, or other awards of minimal 

value that the eleemosynary 

organization may give a volunteer in 

recognition of his or her efforts. In 

administering the FLSA, the Department 

considers such individuals, who 

volunteer or donate their services, 

usually on a part-time basis, for public 

service, religious, or humanitarian 

objectives, without contemplation of 

pay, not to be employees of the 

religious, charitable, or similar 

nonprofit corporations that receive their 

services. In addition, FLSA section 

3(e)(4) excludes from the definition of 

‘‘employee’’ individuals who volunteer 

to public agencies. These provisions 

apply equally whether the volunteer is 

an adult or a minor. 

5. Poultry Catching and Cooping 

The Department has long taken the 

position that 14- and 15-year-olds may 

not be employed to catch and coop 

poultry in preparation for transportation 

or for market because it is a 

‘‘processing’’ occupation prohibited by 

§ 570.33(a). Such employees are often 

referred to as ‘‘chicken catchers or 

poultry catchers.’’ In addition, the 

prohibitions against operating or 

tending power-driven equipment 

contained in § 570.33(b) and the 

prohibition against employment in 

occupations in connection with the 

transportation of property contained in 

§ 570.33(f)(1) generally preclude the 

employment of such youth as poultry 

catchers. These activities are normally 

performed in environments and under 

conditions that present risks of injury 

and illness to young workers. Working 

in the dark, with the only illumination 

provided by ‘‘red lights’’ which the fowl 

cannot see, and in poorly ventilated 

rooms, is not uncommon. The risks 

associated with poultry catching also 

occur in the catching and cooping of 

poultry other than chicken—for 

example, processors of turkeys and 

Cornish game hens employ similar 

methods of moving their products to 

slaughter. 

Despite the Department’s consistent 

interpretation that 14- and 15-year-olds 


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Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 73 / Tuesday, April 17, 2007 / Proposed Rules 19345 

may not be employed as poultry 

catchers, employers still have questions 

concerning how the regulations address 

such work, and violations still occur. 

For example, the Department 

investigated the death of a 15-year-old 

male in 1999 who was employed as a 

poultry catcher, working in the dark and 

under red lighting, in Arkansas. The 

youth was electrocuted shortly after 

midnight when he bumped into a fan 

while performing his ‘‘catching’’ duties. 

In order to remove any confusion and 

increase employer compliance, the 

Department is therefore proposing to 

amend Reg. 3 and create § 570.33(l) to 

specifically prohibit the employment of 

14- and 15-year-old minors in 

occupations involving the catching and 

cooping of poultry for preparation for 

transport or for market. The prohibition 

would include the catching and cooping 

of all poultry, not just chickens. 

It is important to note that in those 

rare instances when the catching 

activities would be agricultural in 

nature, such as where poultry catchers 

are employed solely by a farmer on a 

farm to catch poultry raised by that 

farmer, the catchers would be subject to 

the agricultural child labor provisions 

contained in FLSA sections 13(c)(1) and 

(2). 

B. Occupations That Are Permitted for 

Minors Between 14 and 16 Years of Age 

(29 CFR §§ 570.33–.34) 

As mentioned, section 3(l) of the 

FLSA expressly prohibits children 

under the age of 16 from performing any 

work other than that which the 

Secretary of Labor permits, by order or 

regulation, upon finding that it does not 

interfere with their schooling or health 

and well-being (see 29 U.S.C. 203(l)). 

Before a 14- or 15-year-old may legally 

perform work covered by the FLSA, the 

Act requires that the work itself be 

exempt, or that the Secretary of Labor 

has determined that the work to be 

performed does not constitute 

oppressive child labor. The Secretary’s 

declarations of what forms of labor are 

not deemed oppressive for children 

between the ages of 14 and 16 appear in 

Reg. 3 (29 CFR 570.31–.38). 

Reg. 3 identifies a number of 

occupations or activities that are 

specifically permitted for the 

employment of youth 14 and 15 years of 

age in retail, food service, and gasoline 

service establishments. As mentioned, 

the Department proposes to revise this 

list of permitted occupations by 

clarifying it, adding to it, and extending 

its application to all employment 

covered by the FLSA, except those 

employers engaged in mining or 

manufacturing, or any industry or 

occupation prohibited by the proposed 

§ 570.33. This revised list would be 

contained in § 570.34. 

The Department also proposes to 

revise § 570.34(a)(8) by clarifying that 

14- and 15-year-olds may perform car 

cleaning, washing, and polishing, but 

only by hand. Such youth are prohibited 

from operating or tending any powerdriven machinery, other than office 

equipment, and this prohibition has 

always included automatic car washers, 

power-washers, and power-driven 

scrubbers and buffers. The Department 

believes this clarification will provide 

guidance to employers. 

The additional occupations the 

Department is proposing to permit 14- 

and 15-year-olds to perform are 

discussed below. 

1. Work of a Mental or Artistically 

Creative Nature 

The Department routinely receives 

inquiries asking whether 14- and 15- 

year-old youth may be employed to 

perform certain mental or artistically 

creative activities in industries not 

specifically permitted by Reg. 3. The 

inquiries have concerned such jobs as a 

computer programmer and computer 

applications demonstrator for a college, 

print and runway model, and musical 

director at a church or school. Often, 

these inquiries concern students who 

are especially gifted or career oriented 

in a particular field. A strict adherence 

to Reg. 3 requirements would not permit 

the employment of a 14- or 15-year-old 

in any of these scenarios, even though 

talented and motivated youth could 

safely and successfully perform these 

tasks without interfering with their 

schooling or health and well-being. 

The Department is proposing to revise 

Reg. 3 at § 570.34(b) to permit the 

employment of 14- and 15-year-olds to 

perform work of a mental or artistically 

creative nature such as computer 

programming, the writing of software, 

teaching or performing as a tutor, 

serving as a peer counselor or teacher’s 

assistant, singing, playing a musical 

instrument, and drawing. Permitted 

work of a mental nature would be 

limited to work that is similar to that 

performed in an office setting and not 

involving the use of any power-driven 

equipment other than office machines. 

Artistically creative work would be 

limited to work in a recognized field of 

artistic or creative endeavor. The 

employment would be permitted in any 

industry other than those prohibited by 

Reg. 3 and would also be subject to all 

the applicable hours and times 

standards established in § 570.35 and 

occupation standards contained in 

§ 570.33. 

2. The Employment of 15-Year-Olds 

(But Not 14-Year-Olds) as Lifeguards 

The Department is proposing to revise 

Reg. 3 at § 570.34(l) to permit the 

employment of 15-year-olds as 

lifeguards at swimming pools and water 

amusement parks under certain 

conditions. A local chapter of the 

American Red Cross (Chapter) first 

raised this issue in 2000. The Chapter 

advised the Department that the Red 

Cross had revised its own rules and was 

now certifying 15-year-olds as 

lifeguards. Prior to 2000, according to 

the Chapter, 16 years was generally the 

minimum age at which the Red Cross 

would provide such certification. The 

Chapter inquired as to whether Reg. 3 

would permit the employment of 15- 

year-olds as lifeguards. Also in 2000, a 

municipality contacted the Department 

inquiring whether it could legally 

employ such youth as lifeguards at its 

city-owned swimming pools. 

The occupation of lifeguard is not 

specifically authorized in Reg. 3 as an 

occupation that 14- and 15-year-olds 

may perform. In response to the 

inquiries, the Department adopted an 

enforcement policy in 2000 that allowed 

15-year-olds (but not 14-year-olds) to be 

employed at swimming pools owned 

and operated by state and local 

governments or private-sector retail 

establishments under certain 

conditions. Those conditions included 

that the youth be trained and certified 

in aquatics and water safety by the Red 

Cross, or by some similarly recognized 

certifying organization, and that the 

youth work under conditions acceptable 

to the Red Cross, or some similarly 

recognized certifying organization. This 

enforcement position permitted such 

employment at swimming pools 

operated by hotels, amusement parks, 

cities, and state-owned universities, but 

did not permit such employment at 

pools operated by non-public and nonretail establishments such as apartment 

houses, country clubs, private schools, 

home-owner associations, and private 

health clubs. In early 2005, the 

Department, after reviewing additional 

information, extended this enforcement 

position to permit the employment of 

15-year-olds as lifeguards at (1) all 

traditional swimming pools regardless 

of who owns, operates or manages the 

establishments, and (2) those facilities 

of water amusement parks that 

constitute traditional swimming pools. 

The Department proposes to revise 

Reg. 3 by creating § 570.34(l) to 

incorporate portions of the current 

enforcement position. The revision 

would permit 15-year-olds, but not 14- 

year-olds, to be employed as lifeguards, 


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performing lifeguard duties, at 

traditional swimming pools and certain 

areas of amusement water parks 

operated by all types of employers, if 

the minors have been trained and 

certified by the Red Cross or a similarly 

recognized certifying organization. 

The occupation of lifeguard, as used 

in this subpart, entails the duties of 

rescuing swimmers in danger of 

drowning, the monitoring of activities at 

a swimming pool to prevent accidents, 

the teaching of water safety, and 

assisting patrons. Lifeguards may also 

help to maintain order and cleanliness 

in the pool and pool areas, give 

swimming instructions, conduct or 

officiate at swimming meets, and 

administer first aid. Additional ancillary 

lifeguard duties may include checking 

in and out such items as towels, rings, 

watches and apparel. Permitted duties 

for 15-year-olds would include the use 

of a ladder to access and descend from 

the lifeguard chair; the use of hand tools 

to clean the pool and pool area; and the 

testing and recording of water quality 

for temperature and/or pH levels, using 

all of the tools of the testing process 

including adding chemicals to the test 

water sample. Fifteen-year-olds 

employed as lifeguards would, however, 

be prohibited from entering or working 

in any mechanical rooms or chemical 

storage areas, including any areas where 

the filtration and chlorinating systems 

are housed. The other provisions of Reg. 

3, including the restrictions on hours of 

work contained at § 570.35(a), would 

continue to apply to the employment of 

15-year-old lifeguards. 

Under the proposed rule, no youth 

under 15 years of age, whether properly 

certified or not, could legally perform 

any portion of the lifeguard duties 

detailed above as part of his or her 

FLSA covered employment. The core 

and defining duty of a lifeguard is the 

rescuing of swimmers in danger of 

drowning, often by entering the water 

and physically bringing the swimmer to 

safety. Under the Department’s 

proposal, any employee under the age of 

16 whose duties include this core 

duty—such as a ‘‘junior lifeguard’’ or a 

‘‘swim-teacher aide’’—or whose 

employment could place him or her in 

a situation where the employer would 

reasonably expect him or her to perform 

such rescue duties, would be 

performing the duties of a lifeguard 

while working in such a position. For 

such employment to comply with Reg. 

3, the employee would have to be at 

least 15 years of age and be properly 

certified. 

A traditional swimming pool, as used 

in this subpart, would mean a watertight structure of concrete, masonry, or 

other approved materials located either 

indoors or outdoors, used for bathing or 

swimming and filled with a filtered and 

disinfected water supply, together with 

buildings, appurtenances and 

equipment used in connection 

therewith. A water amusement park 

means an establishment that not only 

encompasses the features of a traditional 

swimming pool, but may also include 

such additional attractions as wave 

pools; lazy rivers; specialized activities 

areas such as baby pools, water falls, 

and sprinklers; and elevated water 

slides. Properly certified 15-year-olds 

would be permitted to be employed as 

lifeguards at most of these water park 

features. 

Not included in the definition of a 

traditional swimming pool or a water 

amusement park would be such natural 

environment swimming facilities as 

rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs, wharfs, 

piers, canals, or oceanside beaches. 

It is important to note that § 570.33(b) 

prohibits the employment of 14- and 15- 

year-olds in occupations involving the 

operation or tending of power-driven 

machinery, except office machines. This 

prohibition has always encompassed the 

operation or tending of all power-driven 

amusement park and recreation 

establishment rides—including elevated 

slides found at water amusement parks. 

Such slides, which often reach heights 

of over 40 feet, rely on power-driven 

machinery that pump water to the top 

of the slides which facilitates the 

descents of the riders to the ‘‘splashdown’’ areas at the base of the slides. 

Minors less than 16 years of age may not 

be employed as dispatchers or 

attendants at the top of elevated water 

slides—employees who maintain order, 

direct patrons as to when to depart the 

top of the slide, and ensure that patrons 

have safely begun their ride—because 

such work constitutes ‘‘tending’’ as used 

in Reg. 3. In addition, when serving as 

dispatchers or attendants at the top of 

an elevated water slide, minors under 

16 years of age are not performing, nor 

can they reasonably be expected to 

perform, the core lifeguard duty of 

rescuing swimmers because they are so 

far removed from the splash-down area 

of the slide. Accordingly, even if 15- 

year-old minors have been certified as 

lifeguards, the provisions of § 570.34(l) 

would not apply to the time spent as 

dispatchers or attendants at an elevated 

water slide. Properly certified 15-yearold lifeguards, however, may be 

stationed at the ‘‘splashdown pools’’

located at the bottom of the elevated 

water slides to perform traditional 

lifeguard duties. 

The Department is aware that 

permitting 15-year-olds to be employed 

as lifeguards at such water amusement 

park facilities as lazy rivers, wave pools, 

and the splashdown pools of elevated 

slides could be construed as allowing 

these youth to tend power-driven 

machinery. But the Department believes 

that the overall predominance of their 

responsibility to perform the core lifesaving duty of rescuing patrons who are 

in the water, which they have been 

properly trained and certified to 

perform, outweighs the minimum, 

isolated, and sporadic amount of 

tending such lifeguards may potentially 

be called upon to do when stationed at 

wave pools, lazy rivers, and splashdown 

pools. 

3. The Employment of Certain Youth by 

Places of Business Where Machinery Is 

Used To Process Wood Products 

The provisions of the Department of 

Labor Appropriations Act, 2004, 

amended the FLSA by creating a limited 

exemption from the youth employment 

provisions for certain minors 14 through 

17 years of age who are excused from 

compulsory school attendance beyond 

the eighth grade. The exemption, 

contained at section 13(c)(7) of the 

FLSA, allows eligible youth to work 

inside and outside of places of 

businesses that use machinery to 

process wood products, subject to 

specified limitations. The Department is 

incorporating the new requirements of 

this amendment into its regulations. The 

Department is proposing to incorporate 

the amendment into Reg. 3 at 

§ 570.34(m), and into § 570.54, Logging 

occupations and occupations in the 

operation of any sawmill, lath mill, 

shingle mill, or cooperage stock mill 

(Order 4). 

Section 13(c)(7) overrides the 

heretofore complete prohibition on the 

employment of 14- and 15-year-olds in 

manufacturing occupations contained in 

section 3(l) of the FLSA. Accordingly, to 

meet the requirements of this 

legislation, the Department is proposing 

to revise Reg. 3 to permit the 

employment of qualifying 14- and 15- 

year-olds inside and outside of places of 

business where manufacturing (the 

processing of wood products by 

machinery) takes place, subject to 

specified conditions and limitations. 

The Department proposes to limit the 

types of employers who may employ 

such minors, as well as the worksites at 

which such minors may be employed, to 

those contemplated by the language of 

the statute and mentioned by the 

sponsors of the legislation and the 

interested parties that testified at the 

hearings held by Congress prior to the 

enactment of the legislation (see, e.g., 

Testimony Before Senate Labor, Health 


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and Human Services, and Education 

Subcommittee of the Committee on 

Appropriations, The Employment Needs 

of Amish Youth, 107th Cong. 2 (2001)). 

The term places of business where 

machinery is used to process wood 

products shall mean such permanent 

workplaces as sawmills, lath mills, 

shingle mills, cooperage stock mills, 

furniture and cabinet making shops, 

gazebo and shed making shops, toy 

manufacturing shops, and pallet shops. 

The term shall not include construction 

sites, portable sawmills, areas where 

logging is being performed, or mining 

operations. The term inside or outside 

places of business refers to the distinct 

physical place of the business, i.e., the 

buildings and the immediate grounds 

necessary for the operation of the 

business. This exemption would not 

apply to tasks performed at locations 

other than inside or outside the place of 

business of the employer such as the 

delivery of items to customers or the 

installation of items at customers’

establishments or residences. 

Although section 13(c)(7) permits the 

employment of certain youth inside and 

outside of places of business where 

machinery is used to process wood 

products, it does so only if the youth do 

not operate or assist in the operation of 

power-driven woodworking machines. 

The terms operate or assist in the 

operation and power-driven 

woodworking machines are wellestablished in 29 CFR 570.55, and the 

Department proposes to revise Reg. 3 to 

include these definitions along with the 

specific prohibition against operating or 

assisting in the operation of powerdriven woodworking machines. Section 

570.55 lists, when discussing the 

prohibited occupations involved in the 

operation of power-driven woodworking 

machines, such activities as supervising 

or controlling the operation of the 

machines, feeding materials into such 

machines, and helping the operator feed 

material into such machines. The list 

also includes the occupations of setting 

up, adjusting, repairing, oiling, or 

cleaning the machines. That same 

section defines power-driven 

woodworking machines to mean all 

fixed or portable machines or tools 

driven by power and used or designed 

for cutting, shaping, forming, surfacing, 

nailing, stapling, wire stitching, 

fastening, or otherwise assembling, 

pressing, or printing wood or veneer. 

The Department is proposing to amend 

the definition of power-driven 

woodworking machines to include those 

machines that process trees, logs, and 

lumber in recognition that section 

13(c)(7) now permits certain youth 14 

through 17 years of age to work in 

sawmills where trees, logs, and lumber 

would be processed. This revised 

definition of power-driven woodworking 

machines would be included in 

§ 570.34(m) of Reg. 3 and both § 570.54 

(HO 4) and § 570.55 (HO 5). 

The limited exemption contained in 

section 13(c)(7) applies only to certain 

youth—new entrants into the 

workforce—and only when certain 

additional criteria are met. Section 

13(c)(7) defines a new entrant into the 

workforce as an individual who is under 

the age of 18 and at least the age of 14, 

and, by statute or judicial order, is 

exempt from compulsory school 

attendance beyond the eighth grade. 

In addition, in order to be employed 

inside or outside of places of business 

where machinery is used to process 

wood products, the new entrant must be 

supervised by an adult relative or an 

adult member of the same religious sect 

or division as the entrant. The term 

supervised refers to the requirement that 

the youth’s on-the-job activities be 

directed, monitored, overseen, and 

controlled by a specified named adult. 

Although the statute does not define the 

terms adult and relative, the Department 

proposes that, for purpose of this 

exemption, a relative would include a 

parent (or person standing in place of a 

parent), a grandparent, an aunt, an 

uncle, and a sibling; and an adult would 

be someone who has reached his or her 

eighteenth birthday. The Department 

also proposes that the term adult 

member of the same religious sect or 

division as the youth would mean an 

adult who professes membership in the 

same religious sect or division to which 

the youth professes membership. The 

Department believes that in order to 

ensure these youth receive the degree of 

protection from injury Congress 

intended, the supervision of the minors 

must be close, direct, and 

uninterrupted. No other provision of the 

federal nonagricultural youth 

employment rules requires such a 

specific level of supervision. It is 

important to note that this requirement 

of supervision, just like the requirement 

that youth not operate or assist in the 

operation of power-driven woodworking 

machinery, applies to the employment 

of 16- and 17-year-olds as well as 14- 

and 15-year-olds. 

Furthermore, section 13(c)(7) permits 

the employment of a new entrant inside 

or outside places of business where 

machinery is used to process wood 

products only if the youth is (1) 

protected from wood particles or other 

flying debris within the workplace by a 

barrier appropriate to the potential 

hazard of such wood particles or flying 

debris or by maintaining a sufficient 

distance from machinery in operation, 

and (2) required to use personal 

protecting equipment to prevent 

exposure to excessive levels of noise 

and saw dust. It is the Department’s 

position that section 13(c)(7)’s 

prerequisite that the youth is ‘‘required 

to use personal protective equipment to 

prevent exposure to excess levels of 

noise and saw dust’’ includes the 

youth’s actual use of such equipment 

and not just the employer’s obligation to 

mandate such use. 

The Wage and Hour Division has 

consulted with representatives of the 

Department’s Occupational Safety and 

Health Administration (OSHA) and will 

defer to that agency’s expertise and 

guidance when determining whether an 

employer is in compliance with the 

safety provisions of this exemption—

i.e., whether a workplace barrier is 

appropriate to the potential hazard, 

whether a sufficient distance has been 

maintained from machinery in 

operation, and whether the youth is 

exposed to excessive levels of noise and 

saw dust. The Department proposes that 

compliance with the safety and health 

provisions discussed in the previous 

paragraph will be accomplished when 

the employer is in compliance with the 

requirements of the applicable 

governing standards issued by OSHA or, 

in those areas where OSHA has 

authorized the state to operate its own 

Occupational Safety and Health Plan, 

the applicable standards issued by the 

Office charged with administering the 

State Occupational Safety and Health 

Plan. 

C. Periods and Conditions of 

Employment (29 CFR § 570.35) 

FLSA section 3(l) authorizes the 

Secretary of Labor to provide by 

regulation for the employment of young 

workers 14 and 15 years of age in 

suitable nonagricultural occupations 

and during periods and under 

conditions that will not interfere with 

their schooling or with their health and 

well-being. In enacting FLSA section 

3(l), Congress intended to assure the 

health and educational opportunities of 

14- and 15-year-olds, while allowing 

them limited employment 

opportunities. 

In 1939, Reg. 3 was promulgated 

under the direction of the Chief of the 

Children’s Bureau, in whom Congress 

vested the original delegation of 

authority to issue child labor 

regulations. The record on which Reg. 3 

was based included hearings where 

child labor advocates expressed concern 

over the need for children to avoid 

fatigue, so as not to deplete the energy 


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required for their school work. 

Similarly, witnesses stressed that early 

morning and late evening work hours, 

which interfered with sleep and often 

fostered exhaustion, were unhealthful 

for children and also diminished the 

time that children should have spent 

with the family (see In the Matter of 

Proposed Regulation Relating to the 

Employment of Minors Between 14 and 

16 Years of Age Under the Fair Labor 

Standards Act, Official Report of the 

Proceedings Before the Children’s 

Bureau, February 15, 1939, at 19, 21, 34, 

82). Reg. 3 limits the hours that 14- and 

15-year-olds may work to: 

(1) Outside school hours; 

(2) Not more that 40 hours in any 1 

week when school is not in session; 

(3) Not more than 18 hours in any 1 

week when school is in session; 

(4) Not more than 8 hours in any 1 

day when school is not in session; 

(5) Not more than 3 hours in any 1 

day when school is in session; and 

(6) Between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. in any 

1 day, except during the summer (June 

1 through Labor Day) when the evening 

hour will be 9 p.m. 

The Department is not proposing to 

change any of these hours and time-ofday limitations, but wishes to foster 

both understanding of, and compliance 

with, these provisions by incorporating 

into the regulations certain longstanding Departmental enforcement 

positions and interpretations. For 

example, the Department has developed 

long-standing enforcement positions 

regarding the application of certain of 

the hours standards limitations to 

minors, who for differing reasons, no 

longer attend or are unable to attend 

school. Some of these positions have 

been in place since the 1970s and all 

have been detailed in the Wage and 

Hour Division’s Field Operations 

Handbook since 1993. The Department 

proposes to incorporate them into Reg. 

3 to promote both clarity and 

compliance. The Department proposes 

to amend § 570.35 to reflect that school 

would not be considered to be in 

session for a 14-or 15-year-old minor 

who has graduated from high school; or 

has been excused from compulsory 

school attendance by the state or other 

jurisdiction once he or she has 

completed the eighth grade and his or 

her employment complies with all the 

requirements of the state school 

attendance law; or has a child to 

support and appropriate state officers, 

pursuant to state law, have waived 

school attendance requirements for this 

minor; or is subject to an order of a state 

or federal court prohibiting him or her 

from attending school; or has been 

permanently expelled from the local 

public school he or she would normally 

attend. Such minors would be exempt 

from the ‘‘when school is in session’’

hours standards limitations contained in 

§§ 570.35(a)(1), (a)(3) and (a)(5). The 

employment of such minors would still 

be governed by the remaining 

provisions of Reg. 3, including the daily, 

weekly, morning, and evening hours 

standards limitations contained in 

§§ 570.35(a)(2), (a)(4), and (a)(6). 

The Department also proposes to 

clarify the hours restriction contained in 

§ 570.35(a)(5), which limits the 

employment of 14- and 15-year-olds in 

nonagricultural employment to no more 

than 3 hours on a day when school is 

in session, by adding a statement that 

this restriction also applies to Fridays. 

The Wage and Hour Division 

occasionally receives requests for 

clarification from employers seeking to 

lengthen the work shifts of younger 

employees on nights that do not precede 

a school day. As the stated purposes of 

the hours standards limitations include 

the protection of young workers from 

exhaustion and the preservation of time 

for rest and family relations, no more 

than 3 hours of work is permitted on 

any day when school was in session. 

The Department also proposes to 

incorporate into Reg. 3 its long standing 

position that the term week as used in 

Reg. 3 means a standard calendar week 

of 12:01 a.m. Sunday through midnight 

Saturday, not an employer’s workweek 

as defined in 29 CFR § 778.105. The 

calendar week would continue to serve 

as the timeframe for determining 

whether a minor worked in excess of 18 

hours during any week when school 

was in session or in excess of 40 hours 

in any week when school was not in 

session. 

Finally, as noted above, Reg. 3 limits 

the employment of 14- and 15-year-olds 

to periods that are outside of school 

hours and to designated hours 

depending whether or not school is in 

session. Although neither the FLSA nor 

Reg. 3 defines the terms school hours 

and school is in session as they apply 

to nonagricultural employment, the 

Department has developed and applied 

a long-standing enforcement position 

that these terms refer to the normal 

hours of the public school system in the 

child’s district of residence. This 

enforcement position mirrors the 

provisions of FLSA section 13(c)(1), 

which Congress added in1949, to clarify 

how these terms applied to the 

employment of youth in agricultural 

employment. FLSA section 13(c)(1) 

states, in relevant part: ‘‘The provisions 

of section 12 relating to child labor shall 

not apply to any employee employed in 

agriculture outside of school hours for 

the school district where such employee 

is living while he is so employed, if 

such employee * * * (c) is fourteen 

years of age or older.’’

The Department, though not 

proposing specific regulatory language 

regarding these terms at this time, is 

seeking information from the public 

regarding whether such regulatory 

provisions would be appropriate 

including whether: (1) The Department 

should continue to use the hours of 

operation of the local public school 

where a minor resides to determine 

when he or she may legally be 

employed, even when that minor does 

not attend that local public school or, 

for whatever reason, may actually have 

attendance requirements that differ from 

that of the rest of the students attending 

that local school; (2) the FLSA’s 

requirement that such a minor only be 

employed under conditions and during 

periods that will not interfere with his 

or her schooling or health and wellbeing would be equally or better served 

if it were based on the minor’s own 

actual academic schedule; (3) using the 

academic schedule and attendance 

requirements of each minor when 

determining when school was in session 

for that minor would provide working 

youths greater opportunities and 

flexibility when seeking safe, positive 

and legal employment. Based on 

comments received, the Department will 

consider adding a regulatory provision 

defining the terms school hours and 

school is in session, as they apply to 

nonagricultural employment. 

D. Work-Study Programs 

Effective November 5, 1969, Reg. 3 

was amended to provide a variance from 

some of the provisions of § 570.35 for 

the employment of minors 14 and 15 

years of age enrolled in and employed 

pursuant to a school-supervised and 

administered Work Experience and 

Career Exploration Program (WECEP). 

Although originally proposed as an 

experimental program, Reg. 3 was 

amended to make the WECEP a 

permanent exception. 

WECEP was created to provide a 

carefully planned work experience and 

career exploration program for 14- and 

15-year-old youth who can benefit from 

a career oriented educational program 

designed especially to meet the 

participants’ needs, interests, and 

abilities. The program was, and 

continues to be, specifically geared to 

helping dropout-prone youth become 

reoriented and motivated toward 

education and to prepare for the world 

of work. 

Section 570.35a establishes the 

criteria that must be met in order for 


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states to apply for and receive 

authorization to operate a WECEP. This 

same section details the terms, 

conditions, and responsibilities 

participating states agree to assume 

upon receiving authorization to operate 

a WECEP. 

As mentioned, certain provisions of 

§ 570.35 relating to the Reg. 3 hours 

standards are varied for youth enrolled 

in and employed pursuant to an 

approved WECEP. Such youth may 

work up to 23 hours in any one week 

when school is in session, any portion 

of which may be during school hours. 

The other provisions of § 570.35 

(limiting employment to no more than 

3 hours on any one day school is in 

session, no more than 8 hours a day on 

any one day school is not in session, 

and no more than 40 hours in any one 

week when school is not in session) 

remain applicable to the employment of 

WECEP participants. Section 570.35a 

also includes provisions that allow the 

Administrator of the Wage and Hour 

Division discretion to grant requests for 

special variances from the occupation 

standards established by §§ 570.33 and 

570.34. 

Several states have advised the 

Department that WECEP serves its 

targeted audience well, helping 

dropout-prone students, especially 

those who are not academically 

oriented, stay in school and complete 

their high school educations. However, 

WECEP, by design, does little to help 

those students who wish to use work 

experience, and the wages such 

experiences generate, as a means to 

realize their academic potential and 

acquire a college education. 

In 2003, the Department became 

aware of a non-profit network of private 

schools, hereafter referred to as the 

Network, that was operating a corporate 

work-study program for its students. 

The Network is an association of 

private, not-for-profit college 

preparatory high schools that strive to 

meet the educational needs of people in 

many economically challenged areas 

throughout the country. The work-study 

program was implemented to help 

students offset the costs of a quality 

college preparatory education and 

develop important work experience and 

socialization skills that will allow them 

to assume leadership roles as adults. 

Under the Network’s model, five 

students share a single, full-time clerical 

position with a private employer at a 

work place screened and selected by the 

school. Each youth works five full days 

per four-week period for the employer at 

the work place-one eight hour-day once 

a week for three weeks, and two eighthour days every fourth week. The 

academic schedules of the students are 

carefully coordinated so that students 

do not miss any classes on the days they 

work and the school year has been 

extended beyond the standard academic 

schedule of the local public school to 

compensate for the time the students 

spend at work. These accommodations 

ensure that students complete a fully 

accredited, college preparatory 

curriculum that exceeds both state and 

accrediting agency requirements. Under 

the Network model, students do not 

work more than eight hours a day, 

before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m., and are 

transported to and from their jobs by the 

school. The students receive at least the 

applicable federal and state minimum 

wages, and applicable taxes are 

withheld and reported by their 

respective employers. The Network 

envisioned the work-study program as 

an integral part of the academic 

program, yielding benefits on many 

different levels. Students, their parents, 

and the work-study director sign an 

agreement defining performance 

expectations and program support 

structures. Participating employers are 

also required to sign an agreement 

defining job duties and expectations. All 

students are required to participate in 

the work-study program, beginning with 

their freshman year and ending at 

graduation. 

The Network provided information 

that its model is achieving its stated 

aims. It advised the Department that 100 

percent of the students of the 2003 

graduating class of one of its schools 

were accepted into college. The school 

is located in a neighborhood where 20 

percent of those attending the local 

public school drop out annually and the 

high school graduation rate is 55 

percent. 

Reg. 3, as currently written, does not 

allow 14- and 15-year-olds to participate 

in such work-study programs. Such 

youth may not work during the hours 

school is in session—unless 

participating in a state sponsored 

WECEP—and may not work more than 

three hours on a day the local public 

school is in session. 

Because the Department believes that 

the health, well-being, and educational 

opportunities of 14- and 15-year-olds 

who are academically oriented are not 

placed at risk by participation in 

structured work-study programs such as 

the Network’s model- and are in fact 

enhanced by such participation-it is 

proposing that Reg. 3 be revised to 

accommodate such programs. The 

Department proposes to allow public 

and private school districts or systems 

to apply to the Administrator of the 

Wage and Hour Division for approval to 

operate a work-study program that 

would permit certain 14- and 15-yearolds to work during school hours and 

up to eight hours on a school day under 

specific circumstances. An individual 

private school that was not part of a 

network, district, or system would also 

be able to apply to participate in a work 

study program. 

The youth would have to be enrolled 

in a college preparatory curriculum and 

must receive, every year they participate 

in the work-study program, at least the 

minimum number of hours of class 

room instruction required by the 

applicable state educational agency 

responsible for establishing such 

standards. Participating youth would 

also be required to receive annual 

classroom instruction in work place 

safety and youth employment 

provisions. Home-schooled youth 

would be able to participate in workstudy programs operated by local public 

schools in the same manner many 

currently participate in team sports 

programs, band, and other 

extracurricular activities. 

Each participating school would be 

required to name a teacher-coordinator 

to supervise the work-study program, 

make regularly scheduled visits to the 

students’ work sites, and ensure that 

participants are employed in 

compliance with the minimum wage 

and youth employment provisions of 

the FLSA. In addition, the teachercoordinator, the employer and the 

student would be required to sign a 

written participation agreement that 

details the objectives of the work-study 

program, describes the specific job 

duties to be performed by the student, 

and the number of hours and times of 

day that the student would be employed 

each week. The agreement, which must 

also be signed or otherwise consented to 

by the student’s parent or guardian, 

would also affirm that the student will 

receive the minimum number of hours 

of class room instruction as required by 

the state educational agency for the 

completion of a fully-accredited college 

preparatory curriculum and that the 

employment will comply with the 

applicable youth employment and 

minimum wage provisions of the FLSA. 

Students participating in a valid 

work-study program would be permitted 

to work up to eighteen hours a week, a 

portion of which may be during school 

hours, in accordance with the following 

formula that is based upon a continuous 

four-week cycle. In three of the four 

weeks, the participant would be 

permitted to work during school hours 

on only one day per week, and for no 

more than for eight hours on that day. 

During the remaining week of the fourVerDate Aug<31>2005 20:13 Apr 16, 2007 Jkt 211001 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 4701 Sfmt 4702 E:\FR\FM\17APP2.SGM 17APP2

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week cycle, such minor would be 

permitted to work during school hours 

on no more than two days, and no more 

than for eight hours on each of those 

two days. The employment of such 

minors would still be subject to the time 

of day and number of hours standards 

contained in §§ 570.35(a)(2), (a)(3), 

(a)(4), and (a)(6). 

E. Logging Occupations and 

Occupations in the Operation of Any 

Sawmill, Lath Mill, Shingle Mill, or 

Cooperage Stock Mill (Order 4) (29 CFR 

570.54) 

HO 4 generally prohibits minors 16 

and 17 years of age from being 

employed in most occupations in 

logging and in the operation of a 

sawmill, lath mill, shingle mill or 

cooperage stock mill. The HO was 

created because of the extremely high 

numbers of occupational fatalities and 

injuries that were experienced by 

workers of all ages in these industries. 

HO 4 currently provides exemptions 

that allow 16- and 17-year-olds to 

perform some occupations within the 

logging industries. Such minors may 

perform work in offices or repair or 

maintenance shops. They may work in 

the construction, operation, repair, or 

maintenance of living and 

administrative quarters of logging 

camps. They may work in the peeling of 

fence posts, pulpwood, chemical wood, 

excelsior wood, cordwood, or similar 

products when not done in conjunction 

with and at the same time and place as 

other logging occupations declared 

hazardous by HO 4. They may work in 

the feeding and care of animals. Finally, 

they may work in timber cruising, 

surveying, or logging engineering 

parties; in the repair or maintenance of 

roads, railroads, or flumes; in forest 

protection, such as clearing fire trails or 

roads, piling and burning slash, 

maintaining fire-fighting equipment, 

constructing and maintaining telephone 

lines, or acting as fire lookouts or fire 

patrolman away from the actual logging 

operations—but only if such tasks do 

not involve the felling and bucking of 

timber, the collecting or transporting of 

logs, the operation of power-driven 

machinery, the handling or use of 

explosives, and working on trestles. 

HO 4 also provides exemptions at 

§ 570.54(a)(2), permitting 16- and 17- 

year-olds to be employed in certain 

sawmill, lath mill, shingle mill, or 

cooperage stock mill occupations. These 

exemptions, which do not apply to work 

performed in a portable sawmill or that 

entails the young worker entering the 

sawmill building, permit 16- and 17- 

year-olds employed in sawmills, lath 

mills, shingle mills, or cooperage stock 

mills to work in offices or in repair or 

maintenance shops; straighten, mark, or 

tally lumber on the dry chain or the dry 

drop sorter; pull lumber from the dry 

chain; clean up the lumberyard; pile, 

handle, or ship cooperage stock in yards 

or storage sheds other than operating of 

or assisting in the operation of powerdriven equipment; clerical work in the 

yards or shipping sheds, such as done 

by ordermen, tally-men, and shipping 

clerks; clean-up work outside shake and 

shingle mills, except when the mill is in 

operation; split shakes manually from 

precut and split blocks with a fore and 

mallet, except inside the mill building 

or cover; pack shakes into bundles when 

done in conjunction with splitting 

shakes manually with a froe and mallet, 

except inside the mill building or cover; 

and manually load bundles of shingles 

or shakes into trucks or railroad cars, 

provided that the employer has on file 

a statement from a licensed doctor of 

medicine or osteopathy certifying the 

minor capable of performing this work 

without injury to himself. 

The NIOSH Report recommends that 

the Department not only retain HO 4, 

but expand its coverage to include work 

in the operation of timber tracts 

(Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 

081) and forestry services (SIC 085) 

because of the high number of fatalities 

occurring in such operations. The SIC 

industry group of timber tracts 

encompasses establishments primarily 

engaged in the operation of timber tracts 

or tree farms for the purpose of selling 

standing timber, including those 

establishments that grow Christmas 

trees. The SIC industry group of forestry 

services encompasses establishments 

primarily engaged in performing, on a 

contract or fee basis, services related to 

timber production, wood technology, 

forestry economics and marketing, as 

well as other forestry services not 

contained in another SIC such as 

cruising timber, forest firefighting, and 

reforestation. Establishments that 

perform timber estimation and valuation 

and forest fire prevention and pest 

control are also included in SIC 085. 

The Report states ‘‘The logging 

industry * * * had the highest lifetime 

risk of fatal injury of any industry, at 47 

deaths per 1,000 workers based on an 

analysis of National Traumatic 

Occupational Fatality Surveillance 

System data for 1990 and 1991. 

Sawmills, planing mills, and millwork 

* * * had the 14th highest lifetime risk 

of 5.8 deaths per 1,000 workers.’’ The 

Report also documents that the forestry 

industry has a high fatality rate as well, 

and workers face injury risks similar to 

those of logging workers. Citing data 

from the Census of Fatal Occupational 

Injuries (CFOI), the Report identified 82 

fatalities of workers between 1992 and 

1997 employed in the forestry industry 

as a whole, which includes 

establishments primarily engaged in the 

operation of timber tracts, tree farms, 

forest nurseries and those providing 

related forest service activities such as 

cruising and estimating timber, 

reforestation, fire prevention and fire 

fighting, pest control, timber valuation, 

and the gathering of forest products. 

Although the Report notes that there 

was almost no data specific to workers 

16 and 17 years of age, the CFOI 

identifies 35 deaths in timber tract 

operations for all age groups between 

1992 and 1997 and 39 deaths in forestry 

service operations for all age groups 

during the same period. In addition, 

NIOSH also was able to identify 16 

additional deaths of workers of all ages 

that were clearly attributable to forest 

firefighting activities. These are indeed 

occupations that experience high rates 

of fatalities. 

NIOSH notes that work in SIC 083, 

forest nurseries and gathering of forest 

products, is associated with very small 

numbers of fatalities and should not be 

prohibited by HO 4. SIC 083 

encompasses those establishments 

primarily engaged in growing trees for 

purposes of reforestation or in gathering 

forest products. The concentration or 

distillation of these products, when 

carried out in the forest, is also included 

in this industry. Examples of industries 

or activities included in SIC 083 are the 

gathering of balsam needles, ginseng, 

huckleberry greens, maple sap, moss, 

Spanish moss, sphagnum moss, 

teaberries, and tree seeds; the 

distillation of gum, turpentine, and 

rosin if carried on at the gum farm; and 

the extraction of pine gum. It should 

also be noted that section 13(d) of the 

FLSA already provides an exemption 

from the Act’s minimum wage, 

overtime, and youth employment 

provisions to any homeworker engaged 

in the making of wreaths composed 

principally of natural holly, pine, cedar, 

or other evergreens (including the 

harvesting of the evergreens or other 

forest products used in making such 

wreaths). 

The Report also recommends that that 

the Department remove the current 

exemption that permits 16- and 17-yearolds to work in the construction of 

living and administrative quarters of 

logging camps. The Report states: 

‘‘Construction work has high risks for 

fatal and nonfatal injuries and should 

not be exempted in the construction of 

living or administrative quarters at 

logging sites or mills.’’ The Department 

is seeking public comments about this 


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issue in the ANPRM that is being 

published concurrently with this 

NPRM. 

As mentioned earlier, the Department 

of Labor Appropriations Act, 2004 (Pub. 

L. 108–199), amended the FLSA by 

creating a limited exemption from the 

youth employment provisions for 

minors 14 to 18 years of age who are 

excused from compulsory school 

attendance beyond the eighth grade. The 

exemption, contained in section 13(c)(7) 

of the FLSA, allows eligible youth, 

under specific conditions, to be 

employed by businesses that use 

machinery to process wood products, 

but does not allow such youth to 

operate or assist in operating powerdriven woodworking machines. This 

exemption necessitates that the 

Department revise both Reg. 3 and HO 

4. 

The Department agrees with the 

Report recommendation that HO 4 

should be expanded to cover work in 

forest firefighting and forest fire 

prevention because of the risks inherent 

in those occupations. The Department is 

also inclined to adopt NIOSH’s 

recommendation that the employment 

of 16- and 17-year-olds be prohibited in 

the operation of timber tracts, tree farms 

and forestry services, but is concerned 

that such youth may be able to be safely 

employed in certain facets or 

occupations within those industries 

without jeopardizing their health or 

well-being. Therefore, the Department is 

asking, in this NPRM, for information 

from the public that will help it identify 

which occupations or tasks within the 

timber tract, tree farm, and forestry 

services industries, if any, are not 

particularly hazardous or detrimental to 

the health and well-being of youth. 

The Department is proposing to revise 

HO 4 to add a prohibition on the 

employment of youth 16 and 17 years of 

age in forest firefighting and forest fire 

prevention occupations to the current 

prohibitions on logging occupations, 

and occupations in the operation of any 

sawmill, lath mill, shingle mill, or 

cooperage stock mill. The Department 

proposes to revise the title of HO 4 to 

reflect these changes. 

Under this proposal, all occupations 

in forest firefighting and forest fire 

prevention shall include the controlling 

and extinguishing of fires, the wetting 

down of areas or extinguishing of spot 

fires, the patrolling of burned areas to 

assure the fire has been extinguished, 

and the piling and burning of slash. The 

term shall also include the following 

tasks when performed in conjunction 

with, or in support of, efforts to 

extinguish an actual fire: The clearing of 

fire trails or roads; the construction, 

maintenance, and patrolling of firelines; 

acting as a fire lookout or fire 

patrolman; and tasks associated with the 

operation of a temporary firefighting 

base camp. The prohibition concerning 

the employment of youth in forest 

firefighting and forest fire prevention 

would apply to all forest locations and 

buildings located within the forest, not 

just where logging or sawmilling takes 

place. We note that, because the FLSA 

does not cover individuals who 

volunteer to perform services for state or 

local government agencies when the 

provisions in section 3(e)(4) are met, 

this proposal would not prohibit 16- 

and 17-year-old volunteers from 

donating their forest firefighting services 

to state and local governments. 

The Department is also proposing to 

incorporate into HO 4 the provisions of 

the Department of Labor Appropriations 

Act, 2004 (Pub. L. 108–199), which 

amended the FLSA by creating a limited 

exemption from the youth employment 

provisions for certain minors 14 through 

17 years of age who are excused from 

compulsory school attendance beyond 

the eighth grade. The exemption, 

contained at section 13(c)(7) of the 

FLSA, overrides the HO 4 prohibition 

against 16- and 17-year-olds performing 

any work in the sawmill industry that 

entails entering the sawmill building by 

permitting certain youth to be employed 

inside and outside of places of business 

where machinery is used to process 

wood products. The Department 

proposes to revise HO 4 to incorporate 

the provisions of section 13(c)(7) in the 

same manner, and using the same 

definitions and interpretations, as it 

proposed when discussing revisions to 

Reg. 3, above. 

The term all occupations in the 

operation of any sawmill, lath mill, 

shingle mill, or cooperage stock mill, as 

defined by HO 4, specifically excludes 

work performed in the planing-mill 

department or other remanufacturing 

departments of any sawmill, or in any 

planing mill or remanufacturing plant 

not a part of a sawmill. Although not 

defined in the regulations, the 

Department has, since at least 1942, 

considered the term remanufacturing 

departments to mean those departments 

of a sawmill where lumber products 

such as boxes, lawn furniture, and the 

like are remanufactured from previously 

cut lumber. The kind of work performed 

in such departments is similar to that 

done in planing mill departments in 

that rough lumber is surfaced or made 

into other finished products. The term 

is not intended to denote those 

operations in sawmills where rough 

lumber is cut to dimensions. Because 

the Department has, over the years, 

received requests for clarification as to 

the meaning of remanufacturing 

departments, it proposes to add the 

above definition to HO 4. 

The Department is also proposing to 

revise HO 4 to include the above 

definition of remanufacturing 

departments, as well as the all 

definitions necessitated by the 

incorporation of the provisions of FLSA 

section 13(c)(7) and discussed earlier in 

this document. The Department also 

proposes to restructure all the 

definitions in HO 4 in an alphabetical 

sequence to comport with guidance 

provided by the Federal Register. 

The Department has decided not to 

address, in this NPRM, the Report 

recommendation to remove the HO 4 

exemption that permits 16- and 17-yearolds to work in the construction of 

living and administrative quarters of 

logging camps. This is because the 

Report also recommends the creation of 

a new HO that would prohibit all work 

in construction occupations which, if 

adopted, would impact the provisions of 

not only HO 4 but several other HOs. 

The Department believes additional 

information is needed before it can 

address such a broad recommendation 

that would impact all construction 

occupations. Accordingly, the 

Department is issuing an ANPRM, in 

conjunction with and on the same day 

as this NPRM, that requests public 

comment on this issue. 

F. Occupations Involved in the 

Operation of Power-Driven Wood 

Working Machines (Order 5) (29 CFR 

570.55) 

HO 5 generally prohibits the 

employment of 16- and 17-year-olds in 

occupations involving the operating, 

setting up, adjusting, repairing, oiling, 

or cleaning of power-driven 

woodworking machines. It also 

prohibits the occupations of off-bearing 

from circular saws and from guillotineaction veneer clippers. As previously 

mentioned, FLSA section 13(c)(7) now 

permits certain minors who are at least 

14 years of age and under the age of 18 

years to be employed inside and outside 

of places of business where machinery 

is used to process wood products, but 

does not allow such youth to operate or 

assist in operating power-driven 

woodworking machines. 

The term power-driven woodworking 

machines has long been defined in 

§ 570.55(b) to mean all fixed or portable 

machines or tools driven by power and 

used or designed for cutting, shaping, 

forming, surfacing, nailing, stapling, 

wire stitching, fastening, or otherwise 

assembling, pressing, or printing wood 

or veneer. Although FLSA section 


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13(c)(7) does not impact the 

prohibitions of HO 5 because eligible 

youth are still prevented from operating 

power-driven woodworking machinery, 

it does expand the types of workplaces 

where certain youth may be employed 

to include sawmills, lath mills, shingle 

mills, and cooperage stock mills as well 

as other workplaces the Department is 

proposing to include under Reg. 3 and 

HO 4. Employees at these newly 

permitted work sites routinely use 

power-driven equipment that process 

materials that may not be included in 

the current definition of power-driven 

woodworking machines contained in 

HO 5, such as trees, logs, and lumber. 

Accordingly, the Department is 

proposing to amend the definition of 

power-driven woodworking machines to 

include those machines that process 

trees, logs, and lumber. To ensure 

consistency, the Department is 

proposing that this single definition of 

power-driven woodworking machines be 

included in § 570.34(m) (Reg. 3), 

§ 570.54 (HO 4), and § 570.55 (HO 5). 

The Department is also proposing to 

restructure the two definitions in this 

section to reflect an alphabetical 

sequence in accordance with guidance 

provided by the Federal Register. 

G. Occupations Involved in the 

Operation of Power-Driven Hoisting 

Apparatus (Order 7) (29 CFR 570.58) 

HO 7 generally prohibits 16- and 17- 

year-olds from employment in 

occupations that involve the work of: (1) 

Operating an elevator, crane, derrick, 

hoist, or high-lift truck except such 

youth may operate unattended 

automatic operation passenger elevators 

and electric or air operated hoists not 

exceeding one ton capacity; (2) riding 

on a manlift or on a freight elevator, 

except a freight elevator operated by an 

assigned operator; and (3) assisting in 

the operation of a crane, derrick or hoist 

performed by crane hookers, crane 

chasers, hookers-on, riggers, rigger 

helpers, and like occupations. 

The Report recommends that the 

Department expand HO 7 to prohibit the 

repairing, servicing, disassembling of 

the machines and assisting in tasks 

being performed by the machines 

named in the HO. Assisting in tasks 

being performed by the machines would 

be tending the machines. The Report 

reflects substantial numbers of deaths 

and injuries are associated with 

operating and assisting in tasks 

performed by power-driven hoisting 

apparatus, including deaths of youth. 

Additionally, a considerable number of 

deaths were associated with activities 

not directly related to operation of the 

hoisting apparatus, notably servicing, 

repairing, and disassembling. Currently, 

the work of repairing, servicing, 

disassembling, and tending the 

machines covered by HO 7 is prohibited 

to 14- and 15-year-olds under Reg. 3 at 

§ 570.33(b). Under HO 7, 16- and 17- 

year-olds may currently perform such 

work, except they may not assist in the 

operation of a crane, derrick, or hoist as 

defined by the HO. 

The Report also recommends that HO 

7 be expanded to prohibit youth from 

riding on any part of a forklift as a 

passenger (including the forks) and from 

working from forks, platforms, buckets, 

or cages attached to a moving or 

stationary forklift. The Report notes that 

substantial numbers of fatalities occur 

among workers who are passengers on 

forklifts, riding on the forks, or working 

from the raised forklift attachments. 

Currently, 14- and 15-year-olds are 

prohibited from riding on forklifts 

because Reg. 3 prohibits such youth 

from operating or tending hoisting 

apparatus and any power-driven 

machines other than office equipment. 

The Department has long interpreted 

tending to include riding upon the 

power-driven equipment. HO 7, 

however, prohibits older youth only 

from operating high-lift trucks such as 

forklifts. Since 1999, the WHD has 

investigated at least three incidents 

where youth under 18 years of age were 

seriously injured while riding on 

forklifts being operated by other 

employees. One 16-year-old who was 

riding on the tines of a forklift suffered 

especially serious injuries to his liver 

and pancreas as a result of being pinned 

against a wall when the driver was 

unable to stop the forklift. 

The Report also recommends that HO 

7 be expanded to prohibit work from 

truck-mounted bucket or basket hoists 

commonly termed ‘‘bucket trucks’’ or 

‘‘cherry pickers’’ because worker 

fatalities are associated with work from 

such equipment. The Report specifically 

notes the risk of falls and electrocution 

being linked with such equipment. The 

Report, citing CFOI data, reflects that 

there were 99 worker deaths associated 

with truck mounted bucket or basket 

hoists between 1992 and 1997. 

In addition, the Report recommends 

that HO 7 be expanded to prohibit 16- 

and 17-year-olds from employment 

involving certain commonly used 

manlifts—especially aerial platformsthat do not meet the current definition 

of manlift contained in the HO. The 

Report contends that such manlifts 

appear to pose more significant injury 

risk than those traditionally prohibited 

by HO 7. HO 7 defines a manlift as a 

device intended for the conveyance of 

persons that consists of platforms or 

brackets mounted on, or attached to, an 

endless belt, cable, chain or similar 

method of suspension; such belt, cable 

or chain operating in a substantially 

vertical direction and being supported 

by and driven through pulleys, sheaves 

or sprockets at the top and bottom. The 

Report is correct that this current 

definition of manlift does not include, 

and therefore does not prohibit, 16- and 

17-year-olds from operating or tending 

aerial platforms and other manlifts such 

as scissor lifts, boom-type mobile 

elevating work platforms, work assist 

vehicles, cherry pickers, basket hoists, 

and bucket trucks. 

The Report also recommends that HO 

7 be revised to eliminate the exemption 

that permits 16- and 17-year-olds to 

operate an electric or air-operated hoist 

not exceeding one-ton capacity. The 

Report states that current injury and 

fatality surveillance systems do not 

provide sufficient detail to justify this 

exemption. ‘‘A hoisted load weighing 

less than one ton has the potential to 

cause injury or death as a result of 

falling, or being improperly rigged or 

handled. Hoist-related fatalities of 

young workers have been reported, 

including a recent case in which a youth 

was killed while operating a half-ton 

capacity hoist.’’

The Department is proposing to 

implement all five of the Report 

recommendations concerning HO 7. 

Sections 570.58(a)(1) and (a)(2) would 

be revised to reflect that in addition to 

work involved with operating the 

named equipment, the work of tending, 

riding upon, working from, servicing, 

repairing or disassembling such 

equipment would also be prohibited. 

Section 570.58(a)(3) would be 

eliminated because its provisions would 

now be contained in the revised 

§ 570.58(a)(1); the work of assisting in 

the operation of a crane, derrick, or 

hoist would be prohibited because such 

tasks fall within the scope of tending of 

equipment. The exemption contained in 

§ 570.58(a)(1) permitting youth to 

operate and ride inside passenger 

elevators would be retained, but the 

exemption that currently allows 16- and 

17-year-olds to operate an electric or airoperated hoist not exceeding one ton 

capacity would be eliminated as per the 

Report recommendation. 

The Department also proposes to 

reformat the definitions section 

contained in HO 7 to reflect an 

alphabetical sequence in accordance 

with guidance provided by the Federal 

Register. In addition, the Department 

proposes to revise the definition of 

manlift so that, as recommended by the 

Report, it incorporates those pieces of 

equipment that perform the same 


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functions as manlifts but that do not 

currently fall within the prohibitions of 

the HO. The proposed definition 

includes a statement that the term 

manlift shall also include truck-or 

equipment-mounted aerial platforms 

commonly referred to as scissor lifts, 

boom-type mobile elevating work 

platforms, work assist vehicles, cherry 

pickers, basket hoists, and bucket 

trucks. 

The Department is also proposing to 

revise the definition of high-lift truck to 

incorporate a long-standing enforcement 

position that industrial trucks such as 

skid loaders, skid-steer loaders, and 

Bobcat loaders are high-lift trucks as 

defined by HO 7. Although not 

specifically named as high-lift trucks by 

HO 7, such equipment meets the 

definition of high-lift trucks because 

each is ‘‘a power-driven industrial type 

of truck equipped with a poweroperated lifting device * * * capable of 

tiering loaded pallets or skids one above 

the other.’’ The Department has opined 

on this matter, in writing, since at least 

1993. By adding skid loaders, skid-steer 

loaders, and Bobcat loaders to the 

definition of high-lift trucks, the 

Department believes it will clarify the 

requirements for compliance with HO 7. 

The Department has successfully 

defended this enforcement position, 

most recently in a case where minors 

were employed to operate a skid-steer 

loader to clean trailers used to haul 

livestock. The Department prevailed 

despite the fact that the youth did not 

operate or utilize the loader’s hoisting 

device but used the skid-steer loader as 

a ‘‘scraper’’ (see Lynnville Transport, 

Inc. v. Chao, 316 F. Supp. 2d 790 (S.D. 

Iowa 2004)). 

H. Occupations in the Operation of 

Power-Driven Meat-Processing Machines 

and Occupations Involving 

Slaughtering, Meat Packing or 

Processing, or Rendering (Order 10) (29 

CFR 570.61) 

HO 10 generally prohibits 16- and 17- 

year-olds from being employed in all 

occupations in or about slaughtering, 

meat packing or processing 

establishments, and rendering plants. 

The HO also prevents such minors from 

performing all occupations involved in 

the operation or feeding of several 

power-driven meat processing machines 

when performed in slaughtering and 

meat packing establishments, as well as 

in wholesale, retail, or service 

establishments. The term slaughtering 

and meat packing establishments is 

defined in HO 10 to mean places in 

which cattle, calves, hogs, sheep, lambs, 

goats, or horses are killed, butchered, or 

processed. The term also includes 

establishments that manufacture or 

process meat products or sausage casing 

from such animals. The term currently 

does not include establishments that 

process only poultry, rabbits, or small 

game. The term retail/wholesale or 

service establishments, as defined in HO 

10, includes establishments where meat 

or meat products are processed or 

handled, such as butcher shops, grocery 

stores, restaurants, quick service 

establishments, hotels, delicatessens, 

and meat locker (freezer-locker) 

companies, and establishments where 

any food product is prepared or 

processed for serving to customers using 

machines prohibited by the HO. 

Included on the list of prohibited 

power-driven meat processing machines 

are meat patty forming machines, meat 

and bone cutting saws, meat slicers, 

knives (except bacon-slicing machines), 

headsplitters, and guillotine cutters; 

snoutpullers and jawpullers; skinning 

machines; horizontal rotary washing 

machines; casing-cleaning machines 

such as crushing, stripping, and 

finishing machines; grinding, mixing, 

chopping, and hashing machines; and 

presses (except belly-rolling machines). 

The term operation includes setting-up, 

adjusting, repairing, oiling, or cleaning 

such machines, regardless of the 

product being processed by the 

machine. For example, HO 10 prohibits 

a minor from operating a meat slicer in 

a restaurant to cut cheese or vegetables. 

In addition, the Department has, as early 

as 1991, interpreted the prohibition on 

cleaning such machines as precluding 

16- and 17-year-olds from performing 

the hand or machine washing of parts of 

and attachments to power-driven meat 

processing machines, even when the 

machine was disassembled and 

reassembled by an adult. This provision 

is designed to prevent such youth from 

being injured by contact with the 

machines’ sharp blades and cutting 

surfaces. HO 10 provides a limited 

exemption that permits the employment 

of apprentices and student-learners 

under the conditions prescribed in 

§ 570.50(b) and (c). 

The Report recommends that HO 10 

be expanded to prohibit work in all 

meat products manufacturing industries 

including those engaged in the 

processing of sausages and/or other 

prepared meat products and those 

engaged in poultry slaughtering and/or 

processing. The rationale for this 

recommendation is that although injury 

fatality rates in meat products 

manufacturing industries are relatively 

low, rates of disorders due to repeated 

trauma are extremely high. This is also 

true for poultry processing which is not 

encompassed in the existing HO. In 

addition, there are a number of diverse 

and serious health hazards associated 

with the slaughtering of animals and 

manufacturing of meat products, 

including exposure to infectious agents 

and respiratory hazards. The Report 

notes that in 1997 there were an 

estimated 13,646 occupational injuries 

and illnesses resulting in days away 

from work among employees in the 

meat product manufacturing industry. 

Although the greatest number of these 

injuries and illnesses occurred in meat 

packing plants (5,526), establishments 

that produce sausages and prepared 

meats experienced 4,147 injuries and 

illnesses, and poultry slaughtering and 

processing establishments experienced 

3,937 that same year. In 1999, the 

Department investigated the death of a 

young poultry processing worker in 

Arkansas and the serious injury of a 

similarly employed minor in Missouri 

who injured both of his legs when he 

slipped and fell into an auger. The 

minor also suffered severe nerve damage 

and second degree burns. 

The Report also recommends that HO 

10 be revised to allow 16- and 17-yearolds to operate and feed power-driven 

meat and food slicers in retail, 

wholesale and service industry 

establishments. This is one of the few 

recommendations the Report makes that 

would relax current prohibitions, and it 

is made with the rationale that 

‘‘although data show high numbers of 

injuries associated with power-driven 

slicers, the injuries appear to be 

relatively minor.’’ NIOSH includes the 

caveat that if this recommendation is 

implemented ‘‘it should be 

accompanied by a mandatory reporting 

period in which all serious youth 

injuries and deaths resulting from 

previously prohibited activities are 

promptly reported to the U.S. 

Department of Labor.’’ Such a reporting 

plan would allow an assessment as to 

whether the revision should be 

rescinded or further refined to best 

protect working youth. 

Finally, the Report recommends that 

the apprenticeship and student-learner 

exemption contained in HO 10 be 

restricted to apply only to 16- and 17- 

year-olds employed in retail, wholesale, 

and service industries. The Report 

recommends that this exemption no 

longer be applicable to the employment 

of such minors in meat products 

manufacturing industries. 

The Department proposes to 

implement the Report recommendation 

to expand the application of HO 10 to 

prohibit the employment of 16- and 17- 

year-olds in all meat products 

manufacturing industries, including 


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those engaged in the processing of 

sausages and/or other prepared meat 

products and those engaged in poultry 

slaughtering and/or processing. The 

Department proposes to revise the term 

slaughtering and meat packing 

establishments contained in § 570.61(b) 

so that the term also includes places 

where poultry are killed, butchered, or 

processed. This term would also include 

establishments that manufacture or 

process meat products, including 

poultry, sausage, or sausage casings. The 

Department also proposes to add buffalo 

and deer to the lists of animals 

contained in the definitions of the terms 

killing floor and slaughtering and meat 

packing establishments and note that 

these lists are not exhaustive. The 

Department also proposes to revise the 

title of HO 10 to reflect its expansion to 

the slaughtering of poultry, and the 

processing, packing, and rendering of 

poultry and poultry products. The 

current HO 10 exemption permitting the 

killing and processing of rabbits or 

small game in areas physically 

separated from the killing floor would 

not be changed. 

The Department also proposes to 

revise § 570.61(a)(4) to incorporate its 

interpretation that the prohibition 

against 16- and 17-year-olds cleaning 

power-driven meat processing machines 

extends to washing the machine’s parts 

and attachments, even if the machine is 

disassembled and reassembled by an 

adult. This proposal, however, would 

not prevent a 16- or 17-year-old from 

operating a commercial dishwasher to 

run a self-contained rack containing 

parts of or attachments to a powerdriven meat processing machine 

through the dishwasher so long as the 

youth does not actually handle or touch 

the machine parts or attachments. 

The Department also proposes to 

reformat, in an alphabetical sequence, 

all the definitions found in § 570.61(b) 

to comport with guidance provided by 

the Federal Register. 

The Department has decided not to 

implement the Report recommendation 

that would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to 

operate and feed power-driven meat and 

food slicers in retail, wholesale and 

service industry establishments. Both 

the Report and the Department’s 

enforcement experience reflect that 

meat slicers are responsible for many 

occupational injuries. The Report notes 

that the Survey of Occupational Injuries 

and Illnesses reports that in 1997, food 

and beverage processing machinery 

were responsible for 11,737 nonfatal 

injuries and illness that resulted in days 

away from work. Over sixty percent of 

that number, 7,280 injuries and 

illnesses, were caused by food slicers. 

The median number of days away from 

work for workers who suffered food 

slicer related injuries or illnesses was 

four days, not an insignificant number. 

Since October 1999, the Department has 

investigated at least 36 injuries of young 

workers that were caused by operating 

or cleaning power-driven meat slicers. 

Although none of these injuries was life 

threatening, most were considered to be 

serious and many caused the partial loss 

of digits and will leave some permanent 

scarring. 

The Department has also decided not 

to implement at this time the Report 

recommendation concerning limiting 

the current apprenticeship and studentlearner exemption contained in HO 10 

to retail, wholesale and service 

industries. The apprenticeship and 

student learner exemptions contained in 

certain HOs were developed relatively 

independently of each other as each HO 

was adopted. The issue of allowing 

certain training exemptions from the 

HOs first arose in the early 1940s, after 

the enactment of the first six HOs. HO 

5 was amended to permit the 

employment of student learners and 

apprentices, but HOs 1 through 4 were 

not. Each committee convened 

thereafter to study, draft, and implement 

a new HO developed its own criteria for 

determining the appropriateness of 

including apprentice and studentlearner exemptions and was not 

restricted by the determinations made 

by previous committees. The Report 

makes several recommendations 

concerning the establishment, revision, 

and elimination of apprenticeship and 

student-learner exemptions, but the 

rationale for each recommendation 

either is vague or is not provided. The 

Department believes that before any 

changes to the existing exemptions are 

made, it is important to consider and 

develop criteria for determining when 

apprenticeship and student-learner 

exemptions are appropriate. Such 

criteria, which must be consistent with 

the established national policy of 

balancing the benefits of employment 

opportunities for youth with the 

necessary and most effective safety 

protections, will also be of value as the 

Department considers creating new 

HOs. Accordingly, the Department is 

issuing an ANPRM, in conjunction with 

and on the same day as this NPRM, to 

solicit public comment on this 

important issue. 

I. Occupations Involved in the 

Operation of Bakery Machines (Order 

11) (29 CFR 570.62) 

HO 11 generally prohibits the 

employment of 16- and 17-year-olds in 

occupations involved in the operation of 

power-driven bakery machines. 

Prohibited activities include operating, 

assisting to operate, setting up, 

adjusting, repairing, oiling, or cleaning 

any horizontal or vertical dough mixer; 

batter mixer; bread dividing, rounding, 

or molding machine; dough brake; 

dough sheeter; combination bread 

slicing and wrapping machine; or cake 

cutting band saw. The HO also prevents 

the employment of such youth in the 

occupation of setting up or adjusting a 

cooky (sic) or cracker machine. The 

prohibitions of the HO do not 

differentiate between portable and nonportable equipment, and models 

designed for use in the home versus 

those solely designed for industrial 

applications. Therefore, the prohibitions 

of HO 11 include the employment of 16- 

and 17-year-olds to operate even the 

smallest of counter top vertical mixers. 

In response to information presented 

by several restaurants and employer 

associations, the Department adopted an 

enforcement position in 1990 that it 

would not assert a violation of HO 11 

when a 16- or 17-year-old employee 

operated a pizza-dough roller, a type of 

dough sheeter, when the machine: (1) Is 

constructed with safeguards contained 

in the basic design so as to prevent 

fingers, hands, or clothing from being 

caught in the in-running point of the 

rollers; (2) has gears that are completely 

enclosed; and (3) has microswitches that 

disengage the machinery if the backs or 

sides of the rollers are removed. This 

enforcement position applies only when 

all the safeguards detailed above are 

present on the machine, are operational, 

and have not been overridden. In 

addition, this enforcement position 

applies only to the operation of the 

machine. HO 11 still prohibits 16- and 

17-year-olds from being employed in 

occupations involving the setting up, 

adjusting, repairing, oiling, or cleaning 

of such pizza-dough rollers. The 

Department has restated this position 

numerous times in response to written 

requests and has included this position 

in its Field Operations Handbook since 

at least 1992. 

The Report recommends that HO 11 

be relaxed to allow the operation of 

counter-top models of power-driven 

bakery machines, comparable to those 

intended for household use. The 

Report’s rationale for this 

recommendation is that available data 

suggest that there were no fatalities 

involving such counter-top powerdriven machines, and nonfatal injuries 

requiring time away from work are of 

moderate severity. Although, as noted, 

the HO prohibits the use of several 

different power-driven bakery 

machines, the thrust of the Report’s 


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recommendation involves food mixers. 

The Report notes that there were 712 

non-fatal injuries and illnesses in 1997, 

with a median of 11 days away from 

work, associated with work with mixers, 

blenders, and whippers. 

The Department’s enforcement 

experience includes situations where 

employers have questioned why 16- and 

17-year-olds were not permitted to use 

small mixers to process such things as 

cheese dip and batter for seafood when 

such machines generally appeared to 

present no risks to such minors. 

Recently, the Department adopted an 

enforcement policy that it would not 

assert violations of HO 11 when 16- and 

17-year-olds operate, assist to operate, 

setup, adjust, repair, oil, or clean certain 

small, lightweight, countertop mixers. 

The Department proposes to 

implement this recommendation by 

creating a new § 570.62(b)(1) that would 

include an exemption allowing the 

employment of 16- and 17-year-olds to 

operate—including setting-up, 

adjusting, repairing, oiling, and 

cleaning—lightweight, small capacity, 

portable counter-top power-driven food 

mixers that are, or are comparable to, 

those models intended for household 

use. The Department, during its 

meetings with various stakeholders held 

after the release of the Report, sought to 

identify which types of mixers could be 

operated safely in the workplace by 16- 

and 17-year-olds. The information 

provided, which also echoed the 

Department’s enforcement experiences, 

indicated that such factors as bowl 

capacity, the horsepower of the motor, 

the portability of the machine (light 

weight and not permanently wired or 

‘‘hardwired’’ into the establishment’s 

electrical power source), and similarity 

to equipment designed exclusively for 

home use were all important criteria. 

For purposes of this exemption, the 

Department proposes that a lightweight, 

small capacity mixer is one that is not 

hardwired into the establishment’s 

power source, is equipped with a motor 

that operates at no more than 1⁄2

horsepower, and whose bowl capacity 

does not exceed five quarts. Minors 14- 

and 15-years of age would still be 

prohibited from operating or assisting in 

the operation of such mixers under the 

provisions of Reg. 3. 

The Department is also proposing to 

incorporate into part 570 its longstanding enforcement position regarding 

the operation of certain pizza-dough 

rollers by 16- and 17-year-old workers. 

The Department’s enforcement 

experience indicates that when 

employers properly apply this limited 

enforcement position, 16- and 17-yearolds can safely operate pizza-dough 

rollers. Accordingly, the Department is 

proposing to create a new § 570.62(b)(2) 

that will permit such youth to operate— 

but not set-up, adjust, repair, oil, or 

clean—those power-driven pizza-dough 

rollers that: (1) Are constructed with 

safeguards contained in the basic design 

so as to prevent fingers, hands, or 

clothing from being caught in the inrunning point of the rollers; (2) have 

gears that are completely enclosed; and 

(3) have microswitches that disengage 

the machinery if the backs or sides of 

the rollers are removed. The exception 

in § 570.62(b)(2) would apply only 

when all the safeguards detailed above 

are present on the machines, are 

operational, and have not been 

overridden. 

The Department is also proposing to 

change the word cooky in § 570.62(a)(2) 

to cookie to reflect the more common 

spelling of that word. 

J. Occupations Involved in the 

Operation of Paper-Products Machines, 

Scrap Paper Balers, and Paper Box 

Compactors (Order 12) (29 CFR 570.63) 

Hazardous Occupations Order No. 12 

generally prohibits minors under 18 

years of age from working in 

occupations involving the operation of 

paper-products machines. The HO 

prohibits, with certain exceptions 

discussed below, the loading, operating, 

and unloading of scrap paper balers, 

including paper box balers and 

compacting machines, and other powerdriven machines used in the 

remanufacture or conversion of paper or 

pulp into a finished product. When HO 

12 was promulgated in 1954, the 

dangers specifically associated with the 

operation of scrap paper balers involved 

being caught in the plungers during the 

compression process and suffering 

strains and other injuries while moving 

the compressed bales. 

The Department has consistently 

interpreted HO 12 to apply to any 

establishments that use such paperproducts machines, including retail 

stores. The Department had long 

interpreted the regulation as applying to 

paper box compactors (which generally 

perform the same function, utilize the 

same processes of compacting, and 

present the same dangers as scrap paper 

balers) although paper box compactors 

were not specifically named in the HO 

until 2005. Prior to 2005, the 

prohibitions of HO 12 applied only to 

equipment used exclusively to process 

paper products, even though machines 

used to process other materials, in 

addition to paper products, share the 

identical machine designs, operation 

methods, and potential risks. 

As a result of reports received in the 

1980s of injuries to minors employed in 

retail stores involving paper balers, the 

Department conducted a review of HO 

12 in 1990–91 as it applied to grocery 

stores and other retail operations. 

Through a Proposed Rule (55 FR 42812), 

followed by a Final Rule (56 FR 58626), 

HO 12 was amended in December 1991. 

The regulation was clarified as applying 

where the baled paper products were 

recycled, as well as where they were 

disposed of as trash. Further, the 

regulation’s prohibition on ‘‘operation’’ 

was clarified so as not to include (i.e., 

to permit) the stacking of materials in 

areas adjacent to the machine. Finally, 

the regulation was revised to state 

explicitly that HO 12 applied to all 

covered establishments that used such 

machines, consistent with longestablished Departmental interpretation. 

The Department published an 

ANPRM in 1994 (59 FR 25167), seeking 

the public’s views on possible changes 

in the child labor regulations, including 

the Hazardous Occupations Orders. 

Although HO 12 was not specifically 

mentioned in the ANPRM, the 

Department received comments from 

representatives of the grocery industry 

asserting that recent technological 

changes have rendered certain new 

balers and compactors safe for minors to 

load. The Food and Allied Service 

Trades Department, AFL–CIO, opposed 

any relaxation of the prohibitions 

contained in HO 12. The Child Labor 

Coalition also opposed any relaxation of 

HO 12 and suggested that it should be 

expanded to include all compactors. 

The Compactor and Baler Act was 

enacted on August 6, 1996 (Pub. L. 104– 

174). This legislation amended the 

FLSA by adding a new subsection 

13(c)(5) which permits 16- and 17-yearolds to load, but not operate or unload, 

certain scrap paper balers and paper box 

compactors only when certain 

conditions are met. One such condition 

is that the equipment must meet specific 

standards issued for balers or for 

compactors by the American National 

Standard Institute (ANSI). ANSI is a 

national organization that coordinates 

the development of voluntary, 

consensus standards in a wide range of 

areas, including product and worker 

safety. 

When enacting the Compactor and 

Baler Act, Congress explicitly applied 

certain industry standards for the 

determination of which balers and/or 

compactors are safe for minors to load: 

ANSI Standard ANSI Z245.5–1990 for 

scrap paper balers or Standard ANSI 

Z245.2–1992 for paper box compactors. 

Congress has used ANSI standards in 

other contexts as expressions of the best 


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available technology in the safety area. 

For example, the Occupational Safety 

and Health Act of 1970 directed the 

Department of Labor to adopt the thenexisting ANSI standards, rather than 

delay any activity until the agency 

promulgated particular occupational 

safety and health standards (see section 

6(a) of the Occupational Safety and 

Health Act, 29 U.S.C. 655(a)). The ANSI 

standards for scrap paper balers and 

paper box compactors govern the 

manufacture and modification of the 

equipment, the operation and 

maintenance of the equipment, and 

employee training. The Compactor and 

Baler Act also provides that any new 

standard(s) adopted by ANSI would also 

be sufficient for the safety of the scrap 

paper balers and paper box compactors, 

if the Secretary of Labor certifies the 

new standard(s) to be at least as 

protective of the safety of minors as the 

two standards specified in the Act. In 

the Final Rule issued in 2004, the 

Department stated that it would publish 

a Notice in the Federal Register when 

the Secretary made any such 

certifications. 

Because these ANSI standards are 

copyright-protected, the Department 

cannot include them in the regulations 

or reproduce them for distribution to the 

public. Copies of the applicable ANSI 

standards are available for inspection at 

the Office of the Federal Register, 800 

North Capitol Street, NW., Suite 700, 

Washington, DC 20408, at the 

Occupational Safety and Health 

Administration Docket Office at Room 

N–2625, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 

Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, 

DC 20210, and at any of the OSHA 

regional offices. Copies of these 

standards are available for purchase at 

the American National Standards 

Institute, 11 West 42nd Street, New 

York, New York 10036. 

The Department issued a Final Rule 

on December 16, 2004 (69 FR 75382), 

which revised HO 12 to incorporate the 

provisions of the Compactor and Baler 

Act. The final rule became effective on 

February 14, 2005. As supported by the 

provisions of the Compactor and Baler 

Act, the Final Rule expanded the 

coverage of HO 12 to include those 

balers and paper box compactors that 

process other materials in addition to 

paper products. The final rule also 

included the Secretary’s certification, as 

permitted by the Compactor and Baler 

Act, that the new Standard ANSI 

Z245.5–1997 is as protective of the 

safety of minors as Standard ANSI–

S245.5–1990 and that the new Standard 

ANSI Z245.2–1997 is as protective of 

the safety of minors as Standard ANSI 

Z245.2–1992. Accordingly, these newer 

standards were incorporated into HO 

12. 

The Department, when issuing the 

2004 Final Rule (69 FR 75397, 

December 16, 2004), noted that there 

still remained one class of balers and 

compactors that falls outside of the 

scope of HO 12—those machines that 

process anything and everything but 

paper products. The Report, in 

recognition of this gap in coverage, 

recommends that HO 12 be revised to 

include such machines because ‘‘balers 

and compactors used to process other 

scrap materials such as plastic and 

aluminum cans pose similar risk of 

injury from crushing or amputation.’’

The Report notes that baler and 

compactor related deaths are not limited 

to those in which paper or cardboard is 

being processed. Many machines are 

adaptable for the baling and compacting 

of a wide variety of materials, including 

paper, aluminum cans, plastic milk jugs, 

and general refuse. Other machines are 

intended specifically for processing a 

single product, such as metals. These 

specialized metal balers and 

compactors, which process such items 

as cars, radiators, and siding, may share 

similar designs and operating 

procedures with those compactors and 

balers that process only paper products 

or process other materials in addition to 

paper products. However, these 

specialized metal balers also include 

large industrial machines that feature 

shear blades that are not normally 

present on lighter-duty type balers. The 

Report notes that while these large 

specialized balers are generally found in 

facilities that specialize in processing 

scrap and waste materials, smaller 

general-purpose portable machines that 

serve the same functions are marketed 

for use in businesses such as grocery 

stores, hotels, restaurants, and hospitals. 

These smaller general-purpose 

machines operate in essentially the 

same manner as the larger machines and 

present similar risks of injury. 

In addition, the Report recommends 

that the Department continue to 

emphasize enforcement of portions of 

the Compactor and Baler Act requiring 

that balers and compactors conform to 

construction and operations standards 

that greatly reduce exposure to 

hazardous energy. The Report notes that 

investigations of baler-related incidents 

show that failure to maintain machinery 

in safe operating condition contributes 

to fatalities and serious injuries and that 

neither adult supervisors nor young 

workers may fully appreciate the risks 

posed by uncontrolled hazardous 

energy. The Report also recommends 

that the Department retain the limited 

exemption contained in § 570.63(c)(2) 

that permits apprentices and studentlearners to perform, under specific 

guidelines, tasks that would otherwise 

be prohibited by HO 12. 

The Department agrees with the 

NIOSH Report recommendation 

regarding the scope of the HO and is 

proposing to revise HO 12 to prohibit 

16- and 17-year-olds from operating, 

loading, and unloading, with limited 

exceptions, all balers and compactors, 

regardless of the materials being 

processed. Both NIOSH occupational 

injury data and the Department’s 

enforcement experience reflect that 

injuries occur when youth operate 

balers and compactors that are designed 

and used to process materials other than 

paper. For example, the Department 

investigated the employment of a 17- 

year-old who had both legs amputated 

in a large industrial baler machine at a 

recycling center. The machine was the 

only baler at the center and, therefore, 

was used to process a wide variety of 

items. In a different investigation, 

another 17-year-old lost his right index 

finger while putting recyclables into an 

industrial waste compactor by hand. 

The limited exemption provided by 

FLSA section 13(c)(5) and contained in 

§ 570.63(c)(1), which allows 16- and 17- 

year-old workers, under specific 

conditions, to load but not operate or 

unload certain scrap paper balers and 

paper box compactors, would remain. 

This exemption, as detailed in the 

Compactor and Baler Act, would apply 

only to certain scrap paper balers and 

paper box compactors, as currently 

defined in § 570.63(b), and would not 

apply to those balers and compactors 

that are not designed or used to process 

paper or cardboard. 

This proposed revision would be 

accomplished by adding new 

subsections to § 570.63 that would 

prohibit 16- and 17-year-olds from 

performing the occupations of operating 

or assisting to operate any baler or 

compactor that is designed or used to 

process materials other than paper. A 

baler that is designed or used to process 

materials other than paper would be 

defined in § 570.63(b) to mean a 

powered machine designed or used to 

compress materials other than paper or 

cardboard boxes, with or without 

binding, to a density or form that will 

support handling and transportation as 

a material unit without requiring a 

disposable or reusable container. A 

compactor that is designed or used to 

process materials other than paper 

would be defined in § 570.63(b) to mean 

a powered machine that remains 

stationary during operation, designed or 

used to compact refuse other than paper 

or cardboard boxes, into a detachable or 


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integral container or into a transfer 

vehicle. The occasional processing of 

paper or a cardboard box by a machine 

designed to process other materials 

would not bring the loading of such 

machines within the limited exemption 

provided by section 13(c)(5). 

The prohibition against such youth 

setting up, adjusting, repairing, oiling, 

or cleaning any of the machines 

currently listed in HO 12 would be 

extended to include compactors and 

balers that are designed to process 

materials other than paper. 

As previously noted, the Compactor 

and Baler Act provides that any new 

standard(s) adopted by ANSI would also 

be sufficient for the determination of the 

safety of the scrap paper balers and 

paper box compactors, if the Secretary 

of Labor certifies the new standard(s) to 

be at least as protective of the safety of 

minors as the two standards specified in 

the Act. In the 2004 Final Rule, the 

Secretary certified that Standard ANSI 

Z245.5–1997 is as protective of the 

safety of minors as Standard ANSI–

S245.5–1990 and that Standard ANSI 

Z245.2–1997 is as protective of the 

safety of minors as Standard ANSI 

Z245.2–1992. Accordingly, the newer 

standards were incorporated into HO 

12. 

The Department has learned that in 

2004 ANSI adopted Standard ANSI 

Z245.2–2004 (Stationary Compactors—

Safety Requirements for Installation, 

Maintenance, and Operations) and 

Standard ANSI Z245.5–2004 (Baling 

Equipment—Safety Requirements for 

Installation, Maintenance, and 

Operations). The Department’s 

preliminary review of these new 

Standards, which includes input from 

NIOSH, indicates that the Standards are 

as protective as those cited in the 

Compactor and Baler Act and should be 

included in HO 12 along with the older 

Standards should a Final Rule be 

implemented. The public is invited to 

provide comment on whether Standard 

ANSI Z245.5–2004 is as protective of 

the safety of minors as Standard ANSI 

Z245.5–1990 and whether Standard 

ANSI Z245.2–2004 is as protective of 

the safety of minors as Standard ANSI 

Z245.2–1992. 

The Department appreciates the 

Report’s recommendation to continue 

emphasizing enforcement of portions of 

the Compactor and Baler Act requiring 

that balers and compactors conform to 

construction and operations standards 

that greatly reduce exposure to 

hazardous energy. The Report notes that 

investigations of baler-related incidents 

show that failure to maintain machinery 

in safe operating condition contributes 

to fatalities and serious injuries and that 

neither adult supervisors nor young 

workers may fully appreciate the risks 

posed by uncontrolled hazardous 

energy. The Department’s enforcement 

experience supports these findings. 

Most recently, the Department 

investigated the death of a 16-year-old 

grocery store worker in New York who 

was crushed to death by a baler that had 

been jerry-rigged to operate while the 

door to the loading chamber was open. 

This over-riding of an important safety 

device required by each of the ANSI 

Standards was done to speed up the 

loading process. As discussed 

previously, in order for an employer to 

avail itself of the limited exemption 

contained in § 570.63(c)(1) that permits 

16- and 17-year-olds under certain 

conditions to load, but not operate or 

unload, certain scrap paper balers and 

paper box compactors, the employer 

must determine that the equipment 

meets an appropriate ANSI Standard 

listed in HO 12. The employer must also 

post a notice on the machine that states, 

among other things, which applicable 

ANSI Standard the machine meets. The 

appropriate ANSI Standards govern not 

only the manufacture and modification 

of the equipment, but the operation and 

maintenance of the equipment, and 

employee training as well. During 

enforcement actions involving 

employers who avail themselves of the 

limited exemption contained in 

§ 570.63(c)(1), the Department routinely 

confirms whether the scrap paper baler 

or paper box compactor being loaded by 

16- or 17-year-olds meets the 

requirements of the applicable ANSI 

Standard as determined and declared by 

the employer. If the equipment does not 

meet the requirements of an applicable 

ANSI Standard or if the employer failed 

to make such a determination, the 

provisions of the limited exemption 

have not been met and a violation of HO 

12 has most likely occurred. The 

Department will carry on these efforts 

and will continue to work with both 

NIOSH and OSHA to better educate 

employers, employees, and enforcement 

personnel about the requirements of the 

ANSI Standards. Such efforts impact the 

safety of all workers, not just those 

under the age of 18. 

Finally, the Department proposes to 

take no action concerning the NIOSH 

Report recommendation concerning the 

apprenticeship and student-learner 

exemption to HO 12 at this time. As 

previously discussed, the Department is 

issuing an ANPRM, in conjunction with 

and on the same day as this NPRM, that 

requests information from the public on 

this issue. 

K. Occupations Involved in the 

Operation of Circular Saws, Band Saws, 

and Guillotine Shears (HO 14) (29 CFR 

570.65) 

HO 14 generally prohibits the 

employment of 16- and 17-year-olds in 

the occupations of operator or helper on 

power-driven circular saws, band saws, 

and guillotine shears, except those that 

are properly guarded and equipped with 

devices for full automatic feeding and 

ejection. The prohibitions of HO 14 are 

based on the equipment and apply 

regardless of the materials being 

processed. Section 570.65(b)(4) defines 

the term circular saw to mean a machine 

equipped with a thin steel disc having 

a continuous serious of notches or teeth 

on the periphery, mounted on shafting, 

and used for sawing materials. The term 

band saw is defined in § 570.65(b)(5) to 

mean a machine equipped with an 

endless steel band having a continuous 

serious of notches or teeth, running over 

wheels or pulleys, and used for sawing 

materials. Section 570.65(b)(6) defines 

the term guillotine shear to mean a 

machine equipped with a moveable 

blade operated vertically and used to 

shear materials. The term does not 

include other types of shearing 

machines, using a different form of 

shearing action, such as alligator shears 

or circular shears. HO 14 also prohibits 

such minors from setting-up, adjusting, 

repairing, oiling, or cleaning circular 

saws, band saws, and guillotine shears. 

The original report that led to the 

issuance of HO 14 in 1960 noted that 

these machines had already been found 

and declared to be particularly 

hazardous for 16- and 17-year-old 

employees when used to process certain 

materials. Circular saws and band saws 

were already covered under HO 5 when 

used on wood, HO 10 when used on 

meat, and HO 12 when used on paper 

products. Band saws were also covered 

under HO 11 when used to cut sheet 

cakes to desired sizes and shapes. 

Guillotine shears are covered under HOs 

5, 8, 10 and 12 when used on wood, 

metal, meat, and paper products, 

respectively. Reports showing that 

minors were being injured when 

operating these machines on materials 

not covered by an existing HO led the 

Department to issue the allencompassing HO 14. 

The Report recommends that HO 14 

be expanded to cover other machines, 

such as chain saws, that perform cutting 

and sawing functions through direct 

contact between the cutting surfaces and 

the materials. The Report also 

recommends, alternatively, that the 

Department consider developing a new 

HO that would prohibit all sawing 


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machinery that perform cutting and 

sawing functions through direct contact 

of the cutting surface and the material 

being processed. The Report states: 

‘‘Stationary saws and hand-held saws, 

including chain saws, continue to be the 

source of substantial numbers of 

fatalities as well as nonfatal injuries 

which may be unusually severe.’’ The 

Report observes that not all machines 

that perform cutting and sawing 

functions fit into HO 14’s definitions of 

circular saw, band saw, or guillotine 

shears. The Report notes that available 

data demonstrate that chainsaws 

specifically contributed to 70 worker 

deaths between 1992 and 1997 and over 

1,600 lost workday injuries. Some of 

these fatalities and deaths involved 

workers under 18 years of age. The 

Report also recommends that the 

Department retain the exemption 

contained in HO 14 that permits 16- and 

17-year-old apprentices and student 

learners to perform work that would be 

otherwise prohibited by the HO. 

The Department has long taken the 

position that HO 4 (Logging occupations 

and occupations in the operation of any 

sawmill, lath mill, shingle mill, or 

cooperage stock mill) prohibits 16- and 

17-year-olds from operating chain saws 

in logging operations because the HO 

prohibits all work ‘‘in connection with 

the felling of timber.’’ Likewise, the 

Department has consistently taken the 

position, starting as early as 1959, that 

HO 5 (Occupations involved in the 

operation of power-driven woodworking 

machines) prohibits these same minors 

from using chain saws to cut wood and 

wood products, including trees and 

branches. Over the last ten years, the 

Department has investigated the serious 

injuries of several youth that resulted 

from the use of chain saws to cut 

branches and trees, charged violations 

under HO 5, and assessed and collected 

civil money penalties because of those 

violations. However, as the Report 

implies, the use of chain saws by 16- 

and 17-year-olds would not be 

prohibited when cutting other materials 

such as metal, concrete, stone, and ice. 

The Department has also long taken 

the position that HO 5 prohibits the 

employment of 16- and 17-year-olds to 

operate wood chippers to grind tree 

limbs, branches, and trunks into chips, 

mulch, or debris. Some questions have 

recently been raised concerning the 

appropriateness of this position, but the 

Department has been consistent in its 

application when the equipment is used 

to process wood and trees. Young 

workers have been killed or seriously 

injured while operating wood chippers. 

In 2000, the Department investigated the 

death of a 14-year-old member of a treetrimming crew who was dismembered 

when he became entangled in branches 

he was feeding into a drum-type wood 

chipper. In 2001, the Department 

investigated the serious injury of a 17- 

year-old who suffered a fractured skull 

when the wood chipper he was feeding 

‘‘spit out’’ a 12-inch long, 4-inch 

diameter, piece of a tree branch. Three 

titanium plates were permanently 

implanted into the minor’s skull. The 

Department charged the employer of 

this youth with a violation of HO 5, and 

assessed and collected a civil money 

penalty because of the violation. 

Just like in 1960 when HO 14 was first 

issued, the Department is receiving 

reports of injuries and deaths, such as 

the ones described in the preceding 

paragraphs, of youth operating powerdriven machines that may be prohibited 

when used to process certain types of 

materials and not prohibited when 

processing other types of materials. 

Reciprocating saws constitute another 

example of such a machine. HO 5 

prohibits the employment of 16- and 17- 

year-olds to operate reciprocating saws 

that are used or designed for cutting 

wood, but the same piece of equipment 

is permitted when used or designed 

exclusively to cut materials other than 

wood, such as metal. The Department 

has learned of occupational injuries to 

workers operating reciprocating saws to 

cut materials other than wood. The 

Department is aware of the death of an 

adult plumber in Minnesota in 2002 

who was killed when the blade of the 

reciprocating saw he was using to 

rough-in plumbing entered his head 

near his eye. The U.S. Department of 

Energy has also reported that in 2002 an 

adult worker injured his larynx when 

the reciprocating saw he was operating 

kicked back and cut him in his lower 

throat. The American Journal of 

Forensic Medicine and Pathology 

(Volume 28, No. 4, December 2001) 

reports on the death of a 32-year-old 

male who lost his balance and fell on 

the blade of an electric reciprocating 

saw he was using to trim branches. The 

blade perforated his anterior chest wall, 

right lung, heart and aorta. The Journal 

noted that the victim had been drinking 

beer while trimming the branches. 

Finally, in 2004, the Department 

investigated the death of a 17-year-old 

worker who was employed to operate a 

reciprocating saw to salvage automobile 

catalytic converters for recycling. While 

operating the saw, the vehicle upon 

which he was using the saw fell on him 

and crushed him to death. 

The Department is proposing to revise 

the prohibitions of HO 14 to include 

chain saws, wood chippers, and 

reciprocating saws. The prohibition 

would not depend on the material or 

materials being processed and would 

encompass the occupations of settingup, adjusting, repairing, oiling, or 

cleaning such machines. This revision 

would be accomplished by revising 

§ 570.65(a)(2) to prohibit the 

employment of minors in the 

occupations of operator of or helper on 

power-driven chain saws, wood 

chippers, and reciprocating saws, 

whether the machines are fixed or 

portable. Unlike the machines currently 

listed in § 570.65(a)(1), the prohibition 

would not be lifted if the chain saws, 

wood chippers, or reciprocating saws 

were equipped with full automatic feed 

and ejection-devices that are almost 

never found on such equipment. The 

current § 570.65(a)(2) would be 

renumbered as § 570.65(a)(3) and 

revised to reflect that 16- and 17-yearolds could not be employed in 

occupations involving the setting-up, 

adjusting, repairing, oiling, or cleaning 

of any of the equipment covered by the 

HO. The Department is also proposing 

to revise the title of HO 14 to reflect its 

application to the additional pieces of 

machinery and to change the word 

operations to operation. Finally, the 

Department proposes to restructure the 

definitions section contained at 

§ 570.65(b) in an alphabetical sequence 

to comport with guidance provided by 

the Federal Register and to include 

definitions of the terms chain saw, wood 

chipper, and reciprocating saw. The 

term chain saw would mean a machine 

that has teeth linked together to form an 

endless chain used for cutting materials. 

The term wood chipper would mean a 

machine equipped with a feed 

mechanism, knives mounted on a 

rotating chipper disc or drum, and a 

power plant used to reduce to chips or 

shred such materials as tree branches, 

trunk segments, landscape waste, and 

other materials. The term reciprocating 

saw would mean a machine equipped 

with a moving blade that alternately 

changes direction on a linear cutting 

axis used for sawing materials. 

The Department is evaluating the 

alternative recommendation made by 

the Report that it consider developing a 

new HO that combines the sawing 

machinery covered under HO 14 with 

other specialized machinery that 

performs cutting and sawing functions 

through direct contact of the cutting 

surface and the material. Similar 

alternative recommendations were made 

regarding HO 5 (Occupations involved 

in the operation of power-driven 

woodworking machines) and HO 8 

(Occupations involved in the operation 

of power-driven metal forming, 


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punching, and shearing machines). The 

Department will continue to study these 

recommendations and, in an ANPRM, 

issued in conjunction with and on the 

same day as this NPRM, is requesting 

information from the public on these 

recommendations. 

Finally, the Report also recommended 

that the Department retain the limited 

exemption contained in § 570.65(c) that 

permits apprentices and studentlearners to perform, under specific 

guidelines, tasks that would otherwise 

be prohibited by HO 14. As discussed 

previously in the sections dealing with 

HOs 10 and 12, the Department 

proposes to take no action concerning 

the apprenticeship and student-learner 

exemptions to certain HOs at this time. 

The Department is issuing an ANPRM, 

in conjunction with and on the same 

day as this NPRM, that requests 

information from the public on this 

issue. 

L. Additional Recommendations of the 

Report 

The Report recommends that the 

Department retain, as currently issued, 

HO 3 (Coal mining occupations), HO 13 

(Occupations involved in the 

manufacture of brick, tile, and kindred 

products), HO 15 (Occupations involved 

in wrecking, demolition, and 

shipbreaking occupations), and HO 17 

(Occupations in excavation operations). 

The Department accepts these 

recommendations and proposes no 

revisions to these HOs. The Report also 

recommends that the Department 

remove the limited exemption for 

apprentices and student-learners 

contained in HO 16 (Occupations in 

roofing operations and on or about a 

roof) and HO 17, and retain the same 

exemption as it applies to HO 5 

(Occupations involved in the operation 

of power-driven woodworking 

machines) and HO 8 (Occupations 

involved in the operation of powerdriven metal forming, punching, and 

shearing machines). As discussed 

previously in the sections dealing with 

HOs 10, 12, and 14 of this preamble, the 

Department proposes to take no action 

concerning the apprenticeship and 

student-learner exemptions to any of the 

HOs at this time. The Department 

believes that before any changes to the 

existing exemptions are made, it is 

important to first consider and develop 

criteria for determining when 

apprenticeship and student-learners are 

appropriate. Accordingly, the 

Department is issuing an ANPRM, in 

conjunction with and on the same day 

as this NPRM, that seeks information 

from the public on this and other issues. 

M. Subpart G—General Statements of 

Interpretation of the Child Labor 

Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards 

Act of 1938, as Amended (29 CFR 

570.101–570.129) 

Subpart G discusses the meaning and 

scope of the child labor provisions of 

the FLSA. The interpretations of the 

Secretary of Labor contained in subpart 

G indicate the construction of the law 

that guides the Secretary in 

administrating and enforcing of the Act. 

Since the last revision of subpart G in 

1971, Congress has passed several 

amendments to the FLSA and the 

Department has revised other subparts 

of 29 CFR part 570 that are not currently 

reflected in subpart G. The Department 

proposes to revise subpart G to 

accommodate not only the statutory and 

regulatory changes that have occurred, 

but to reflect the proposed revisions to 

part 570 made by this NPRM and 

discussed earlier in this document. The 

proposed revisions to subpart G are as 

follows: 

1. Section 570.103(c) states that there 

are only four specific child labor 

exemptions contained in the FLSA, and 

that only one of them applies to the 

minimum wage and overtime 

requirements of the Act as well. 

Congress has created four additional 

exemptions to the child labor provisions 

of the FLSA that are not currently 

reflected in subpart G (the making of 

wreaths composed principally of natural 

holly, pine, cedar, or other evergreens 

by homeworkers; the loading of certain 

scrap paper balers and paper box 

compactors by 16- and 17-year-olds; the 

limited driving of certain automobiles 

and trucks by 17-year-olds; and the 

employment of certain youth between 

the ages of 14 and 18 years inside and 

outside of places of business that use 

power-driven machinery to process 

wood products). The exemption 

concerning the employment of 

homeworkers who make wreaths, 

contained in FLSA section 13(d), is an 

exemption from the minimum wage and 

overtime provisions of the Act as well 

as its child labor provisions. The 

Department is proposing to revise 

§ 570.103(c) to reflect that the FLSA 

now contains eight exemptions from the 

child labor provisions and that two of 

these exemptions are also exemptions 

from the Act’s minimum wage and 

overtime requirements. 

This same subsection cites FLSA 

section 3(d), which defines the term 

employer and then, in footnote 4, 

discusses that definition. FLSA section 

3(d) was amended in 1966, and the 

provisions of that amendment are not 

reflected in subpart G. The Department 

proposes to revise footnote 4 of 

§ 570.101(c) to include the more recent 

definition of the term employer and to 

correct an erroneous reference to FLSA 

section 13(d). 

2. Section 570.118 notes that the 

FLSA sets a minimum age of 16 years 

for employment in manufacturing or 

mining, but does not take into account 

the effects of the 2004 enactment of 

FLSA section 13(c)(7). Section 13(c)(7) 

allows the employment of certain 14- 

and 15-year-olds inside and outside of 

places of business that use power-driven 

machinery to process wood products as 

discussed above. The Department is 

proposing to revise § 570.118 to 

incorporate the provisions of FLSA 

section 13(c)(7). 

3. Section 570.119 discusses those 

occupations in which 14- and 15-yearold minors may and may not be 

employed under Reg. 3. The Department 

proposes to revise this section to 

incorporate the changes necessitated by 

the adoption of FLSA section 13(c)(7) 

and to reflect the proposed revisions to 

§§ 570.33 and 570.34 as discussed 

above. For the sake of both brevity and 

clarity, the Department proposes not to 

repeat in § 570.119 the lists of all the 

occupations contained in §§ 570.33 and 

570.34, but rather to refer readers to 

those sections. 

The proposed revision to § 570.119 

would contain the general prohibition 

against the employment of minors under 

14 years of age under any circumstances 

that is currently included at the end of 

§ 570.119. 

4. Section 570.120 describes the 

authority and process by which HOs are 

adopted, and lists those occupations the 

Secretary has found and declared to be 

particularly hazardous or detrimental to 

the health or well-being of minors 16 

and 17 years of age. Since subpart G was 

last revised, not only have several HOs 

been amended, but the process for 

promulgating and revising the HOs has 

also changed. Before 1995, the process 

for promulgating and amending HOs 

included public hearings and advice 

from committees composed of 

representatives of employers and 

employees of the impacted industry and 

the public, in accordance with the 

procedures established by subpart D of 

this part. The Department issued a Final 

Rule on April 17, 1995 (60 FR 19336) 

that deleted subpart D and placed the 

process of promulgating and revising 

HOs solely under the provisions of the 

Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 

U.S.C. 551 et seq., which control 

Departmental rulemaking. 

The Department proposes to revise 

§ 570.120 to reflect the 1995 change in 

the process for issuing and revising 


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HOs. The Department is also proposing, 

for the sake of brevity and clarity, not 

to repeat the list of individual HOs as 

they are already listed in subpart E of 

29 CFR part 570. 

5. Section 570.122 lists the four 

exemptions from the FLSA child labor 

provisions that existed when subpart G 

was last revised. As discussed earlier, 

Congress has added four more 

exemptions that are not included in the 

current subpart G. Section 13(d) 

exempts from the FLSA minimum wage, 

overtime, and child labor provisions the 

employment of homeworkers engaged in 

the making of wreaths composed 

principally of evergreens. Section 

13(c)(5) authorizes the employment of 

16- and 17-year-olds to load, but not 

operate or unload, certain scrap paper 

balers and paper box compactors under 

specific conditions. Section 13(c)(6) 

permits the employment of 17-year-olds 

to drive on an occasional and incidental 

basis, during daylight hours, certain 

automobiles and trucks under specified 

conditions. Section 13(c)(7) permits the 

employment of certain youth between 

the ages of 14 and 18 years, under 

certain conditions, inside and outside of 

places of business that use power-driven 

machinery to process wood products. 

The Department proposes to revise 

§ 570.122 by creating new subsections 

(e), (f), (g), and (h), which will list the 

exemptions from the child labor 

provisions contained in FLSA sections 

13(d), 13(c)(5), 13(c)(6), and 13(c)(7), 

respectively. A more thorough 

discussion of each of these exemptions 

is proposed to be included in 

§§ 570.127–.130. 

6. The Department proposes to revise 

§§ 570.127, .128, and .129, and create a 

new § 570.130 to present detailed 

discussions of the exemptions from the 

child labor provisions contained in 

FLSA sections 13(d), 13(c)(5), 13(c)(6), 

and 13(c)(7). These proposed provisions 

are structured similarly to those already 

contained in subpart G that address the 

earlier FLSA exemptions concerning 

employment of youth in agriculture 

(§ 570.123), in the delivery of 

newspapers (§ 570.124), as actors and 

performers (§ 570.125), and by one’s 

parents (§ 570.126). The Department 

also proposes to revise and redesignate 

the sections of subpart G currently 

dealing with general enforcement 

(§ 570.127), good faith defense 

(§ 570.128), and the relation of the child 

labor provisions to other laws 

(§ 570.129). These sections would be 

redesignated as § 570.140, § 570.141, 

and § 570.142, respectively. The 

Department proposes to reserve 

§§ 570.131 through 570.139 to 

accommodate any additional statutory 

amendments to the FLSA child labor 

provisions that may be enacted. 

7. Section 570.127 contains a general 

discussion of the enforcement of the 

FLSA child labor provisions. Since that 

last revision of subpart G, Congress has 

amended the FLSA at section 16(e) so 

that any person who violates the 

provisions of section 12 or section 

13(c)(5) relating to child labor, or any 

regulation issued under section 12 or 

section 13(c)(5), shall be subject to a 

civil money penalty, currently not to 

exceed $11,000, for each employee who 

was the subject of such a violation. The 

Department, as discussed above, 

proposes to redesignate this section as 

§ 570.140 and to revise it to include the 

Department’s authority to assess civil 

money penalties against persons who 

violate the child labor provisions of the 

Act. 

8. Section 570.128 deals with a 

provision of FLSA section 12(a) that 

relieves from liability a purchaser who 

ships or delivers for shipment in 

commerce goods acquired in good faith 

in reliance on written assurance from 

the producer, manufacturer, or dealer 

that the goods were produced in 

compliance with section 12 and that 

were acquired for value without notice 

of any violation. The Department 

proposes to redesignate this section as 

§ 570.141. 

9. Section 570.129 discusses the 

relationship of the child labor 

provisions of the FLSA to other laws. 

The Department proposes to redesignate 

this section as § 570.142. 

N. Miscellaneous Matters 

The Department proposes to change 

the name of HO 8 from Occupations 

involved in the operations of powerdriven metal forming, punching, and 

shearing machines (Order 8) to 

Occupations involved in the operation 

of power-driven metal forming, 

punching, and shearing machines 

(Order 8). 

IV. Paperwork Reduction Act 

Circumstances Necessitating 

Collection: DOL proposes to revise its 

regulations about youth employment 

and create a new 29 CFR 570.35b that 

would contain the requirements 

describing the criteria for use, 

occupations permitted, and conditions 

of employment that would allow the 

employment of 14- and 15-year-olds—

pursuant to a school-supervised and 

school-administered Work-Study 

Program (WSP)—under conditions Reg. 

3 otherwise prohibits. The new 

regulation would require the 

implementation of a new paperwork 

burden with regard to a WSP. 

FLSA section 3(l) establishes a 

minimum age of 16 years for most 

nonagricultural employment but allows 

the employment of 14- and 15-year-olds 

in occupations other than 

manufacturing and mining, if the 

Secretary of Labor determines such 

employment is confined to (1) periods 

that will not interfere with the minor’s 

schooling and (2) conditions that will 

not interfere with the minor’s health 

and well-being. 

FLSA section 11(c) requires all 

employers covered by FLSA to make, 

keep, and preserve records of their 

employees’ wages, hours, and other 

conditions and practices of 

employment. Section 11(c) also 

authorizes the Secretary of Labor to 

prescribe the recordkeeping and 

reporting requirements for these 

records. Reg. 3 sets forth the 

employment standards for 14- and 15- 

year-olds. 

Reporting Requirements: WSP 

Application: In order to utilize the 

proposed Reg. 3 WSP provisions, 

§ 570.35(b) would require a local public 

or private school system to file with the 

Administrator of the Wage and Hour 

Division (WHD) of DOL an application 

for approval of a WSP as one that does 

not interfere with the schooling or 

health and well-being of the minors 

involved. 

Written Participation Agreement: The 

proposed regulations would require 

preparation of a written participation 

agreement for each student participating 

in a WSP and that the teachercoordinator, employer, and student each 

sign that agreement. See proposed 

§ 570.35b(b)(3)(iv). The proposed 

regulation would also require that the 

student’s parent or guardian sign the 

training agreement, or otherwise give 

consent to the agreement, in order for it 

to be valid. 

Recordkeeping Requirements: The 

proposed regulation would require a 

school system operating a WSP to keep 

a copy of the written participation 

agreement for each student enrolled in 

the WSP. Employers of WSP 

participants would also be required to 

keep a copy of the written participation 

agreement for each student employed. 

These agreements would be maintained 

for 3 years from the date of the student’s 

enrollment in the WSP. 

Purpose and Use: WSP Application: 

Under the proposal, a local school 

system would file a letter of application 

requesting the Administrator of WHD to 

approve a WSP that permits the 

employment of 14- and 15-year-olds 

under conditions that Reg. 3 would 

otherwise prohibit. WHD would 

evaluate the information to determine if 


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the program meets the requirements 

specified in the proposed regulation, in 

order to respond to the request. 

Written Participation Agreement: The 

school system administering the WSP 

and each applicable employer would 

separately maintain a copy of the 

written participation agreement for each 

student. The written agreement would 

be signed by the teacher-coordinator, 

the employer, and the student. In 

addition, the student’s parent or 

guardian would either sign or otherwise 

provide consent for the participation 

agreement to be valid. The proposed 

written participation agreement is 

structured to ensure that the quality of 

the student’s education, as well as his 

or her safety and well-being, are not 

compromised. School systems, 

employers, and WHD would use these 

records to document the validity of the 

WSP. 

Information Technology: The 

proposed regulation prescribes no 

particular form for the application, 

provided the applicant submits all 

required information. DOL also does not 

intend to require a particular format for 

the written participation agreement. In 

accordance with the Government 

Paperwork Elimination Act, WHD 

would accept electronic submission by 

e-mail or fax. See 44 U.S.C. 

3504(a)(1)(B)(vi). DOL expects to receive 

only 30 WSP applications per year 

under the proposal. The costs to 

develop and maintain an on-line 

application system would not be 

justified for such a small information 

collection. DOL would accept the 

parties electronically submitting the 

written participation agreement between 

each other, provided the copies contain 

the required information and signatures. 

As the written participation agreements 

are third party disclosures requiring 

multiple signatures, DOL development 

of an on-line submission option is not 

practical. 

The proposed regulations prescribe no 

particular order or form of records. 

Under existing regulations, WHD would 

accept records preserved in such forms 

as microfilm or automated word or data 

processing, provided the school systems 

and employers make adequate facilities 

available for their inspection and 

transcription by DOL representatives. 

See 29 CFR 516.1. 

Minimizing Duplication: Federal rules 

regulating youth employment are 

unique to WHD, and the agency is not 

aware of any duplicative effort to collect 

this information. This information is not 

already collected under existing 

authorities, such as the general FLSA 

recordkeeping requirements under 29 

CFR part 516 (See OMB controls 1215–

0006, 1215–0016, and 1215–0017) or 

other sections of the youth employment 

regulations under 29 CFR part 570 (See 

OMB controls 1215–0083 and 1215–

0121). The requested information would 

not be available from any other source. 

Small Entities: This proposed 

information collection would not have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities. 

The information DOL proposes to 

require in the application letter is the 

minimum necessary to determine if the 

WSP would meet the proposed 

regulatory requirements for approval. 

The written participation agreement 

would be necessary to document the 

validity of a WSP. Without this 

information, small businesses would 

have no way of documenting their 

participation in a WSP. 

Agency Need: Without this proposed 

information collection, WHD would 

have no means to determine if a WSP 

meets the regulatory requirements of the 

Reg. 3 modification under 

consideration. The proposed regulations 

would allow the Administrator of WHD 

to approve a WSP for a period of up to 

two years. Less frequent application 

would not allow WHD to ensure that 

approved programs do not interfere with 

the schooling of the minors or with their 

health and well-being. It would be 

difficult or impossible for WHD to 

determine the legal employment of 14- 

and 15-year-olds during school hours, 

were records relating to the 

participation of minors in a WSP under 

the proposed plan not maintained. 

Special Circumstances: There are no 

special circumstances involved in this 

information collection request. 

Payments or Gifts: DOL would offer 

no payments or gifts to respondents. 

Confidentiality: DOL would offer no 

assurances of confidentiality in 

association with this information 

collection. As a practical matter, WHD 

would only disclose information 

submitted in connection with an 

approval request or contained in records 

an educational agency or employer must 

maintain in accordance with the 

provisions of the Freedom of 

Information Act (5 U.S.C 552), the 

Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a), and their 

attendant regulations, 29 CFR parts 70 

and 71. 

Sensitive Questions: This information 

collection would contain no sensitive 

information. 

Hour Burden: Reporting Burdens: 

WSP Application: DOL estimates it 

would take approximately 2 hours for a 

school system to prepare the letter 

applying for WSP approval. DOL 

estimates that approximately 30 school 

systems would apply each year, for an 

annual burden of 60 hours. 

Written Participation Agreement: DOL 

estimates each written participation 

agreement between the teachercoordinator, employer, student, and 

parent or guardian of the student would 

take approximately one hour to 

complete. DOL estimates 50 students 

would participate under each WSP each 

year, and three parties (employers, 

students, and parents or guardians) 

would have no reporting burden 

because they would merely sign the 

document. 50 written agreements × one 

hour = 50 hours per WSP. 50 hours per 

WSP × 30 WSPs = 1500 hours annual 

burden. 60 hours for WSP applications 

+ 1500 hours for written participation 

agreements = 1560 annual reporting 

burden hours. 

Recordkeeping Burdens: DOL 

estimates it would take participating 

school systems one-half minute to file 

each WSP application and participating 

school systems and employers each 

would need approximately one-half 

minute to file each WSP written 

participation agreement, for a total 

annual burden of 25.25 hours ([30 

applications × (1500 written 

participation agreements × 2 

recordkeepers] × .5 minutes = 25.25 

hours). 30 school systems + 1500 

employers = 1530 respondents. 

Total Annual Reporting and 

Recordkeeping Burden—1583.25 Hours. 

DOL bases these burden estimates on 

experience garnered while 

administering WECEP. 

Absent any specific data on 

compensation of respondents in these 

educational institutions and 

participating employers, DOL has used 

the April 2006 average annual hourly 

rate for production or nonsupervisory 

workers on educational and health 

services payrolls of $17.22 to estimate 

respondent costs. See The Employment 

Situation, DOL, Bureau of Labor 

Statistics, July 2006, Table B–3, http:// 

www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ 

empsit_08042006.pdf. Accordingly, 

DOL estimates annual respondent costs 

would be $27,263.57 (1583.25 hours × 

$17.22). 

Cost Burden: DOL estimates the 

annual mailing and postage cost for 30 

applications would be $12.60 (30 

applications × [$.39 postage + $.03 per 

envelope]). 

Federal Costs: WHD estimates it 

would receive 30 applications per year 

and processing each application would 

take approximately 2 hours of analyst 

time and 1 hour of clerical time. The 

estimate includes analysis of each 

application and preparation of the letter 

granting or denying approval. 


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Analyzing-Processing: $29.47 (GS 11/ 

5, Washington, DC) × 2 hours × 30 

applications = $1768.20. 

Clerical: $17.92 (GS 6/5, Washington, 

DC) × 1 hour × 30 applications = 

$537.60. 

Total Estimated Annual Federal 

Cost—$2305.80. 

Burden Changes: The proposed 

regulation would result in a program 

change with an estimated increased 

public burden of 1583 hours. This is a 

new collection that would be required 

by a proposed revision of 29 CFR part 

570. 

Publication: DOL would not publish 

this information. 

Displaying OMB Expiration Date: DOL 

plans to use no forms on which to place 

an expiration date for this proposed 

information collection. 

Certification Requirements: DOL does 

not seek any exceptions to the 

certification requirements. 

Request for comments: The public is 

invited to provide comments on this 

information collection requirement so 

that the Department may: 

(1) Evaluate whether the proposed 

collections of information are necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; 

(2) Evaluate the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimates of the burdens of the 

collections of information, including the 

validity of the methodology and 

assumptions used; 

(3) Enhance the quality, utility and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and 

(4) Minimize the burden of the 

collections of information on those who 

are to respond, including through the 

use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology, 

e.g., permitting electronic submission of 

responses. 

Written comments should be sent to 

the Office of Information and Regulatory 

Affairs, Office of Management and 

Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for 

Employment Standards Administration, 

U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, 

DC 20503. 

V. Executive Order 12866; Small 

Business Regulatory Enforcement 

Fairness Act; Regulatory Flexibility 

This proposed rule is being treated as 

a ‘‘significant regulatory action’’ within 

the meaning of E.O. 12866 because of its 

importance to the public and the 

Department’s priorities. Therefore, the 

Office of Management and Budget has 

reviewed this proposed rule. However, 

because this proposed rule is not 

‘‘economically significant’’ as defined in 

section 3(f)(1) of E.O. 12866, it does not 

require a full economic impact analysis 

under section 6(a)(3)(C) of the Order. 

The new information collection, 

recordkeeping, and reporting 

requirements subject to the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501, 

et seq.) that would be imposed should 

the proposed work-study program be 

enacted are discussed above. 

It is well established that several 

characteristics of youth place adolescent 

workers at increased risk of injury and 

death. Lack of experience in the work 

place and in assessing risks, and 

developmental factors—physical, 

cognitive, and psychological—all 

contribute to the higher rates of 

occupational injuries and deaths 

experienced by young workers. CFOI 

data reflect that during the period of 

1994–2004, 15-year-olds experienced an 

occupational fatality rate of 4.7 fatalities 

per 100,000 workers—a rate that was 

greater than that experienced by all 

workers aged 15 and older. Older 

working youth share similar risks. The 

NIOSH Report noted that the fatality 

rate for adolescents aged 16 and 17 was 

5.1 per 100,000 full-time equivalent 

workers for the 10-year period 1980–89 

[Castillo et al. 1994], while the rate for 

adults aged 18 and older was 6.1. As 

NIOSH stated, ‘‘[t]his relatively small 

difference in rates is cause for concern 

because youth under age 18 are 

employed less frequently in especially 

hazardous jobs.’’ NIOSH also estimates 

that youth work injuries exceed 200,000 

each year, and of that number, 77,000 

are serious enough to warrant treatment 

in hospital emergency rooms. The 

NIOSH statistics show that, despite the 

fact that workers aged 15 through 17 are 

generally restricted from employment in 

hazardous occupations such as mining, 

motor-vehicle driving, logging, 

sawmilling, and construction, they have 

a higher rate of injuries requiring 

emergency room treatment than any 

other age group except 18- and 19-yearolds (who are not restricted from 

performing such work). The economic 

and social costs associated with the 

deaths and serious injuries of young 

workers are substantial. 

The Department considers the 

issuance of this proposed rule as an 

important and necessary step in its 

ongoing review of the criteria for 

permissible child labor employment, a 

review which strives to balance the 

potential benefits of transitional, staged 

employment opportunities for youth 

with the necessary protections for their 

education, health and safety. Because 

youth often overcome the effects of 

those characteristics that initially place 

them at increased risk of injury and 

death in the workplace only through the 

maturation process, it is believed that 

requiring older workers to perform those 

tasks that present greater risks to 

younger workers actually eliminates 

injuries and deaths—rather than 

delaying them or transferring them to 

the older workers. 

Additionally, this document proposes 

to revise the child labor regulations in 

response to a statutory amendment 

enacted by the Congress that permits 

certain youth between the ages of 14 

and 18 years of age who are excused 

from compulsory school attendance 

beyond the eighth grade to be employed 

under specific conditions inside and 

outside places of business that use 

machinery to process wood products. 

Affecting both the Reg. 3 occupations 

standards and HOs 4 and 5, this 

statutory provision would be available 

to a very small number of minors and 

therefore is expected to have little or no 

economic impact. The Department 

believes that only a few minors have 

obtained employment in such 

occupations since the amendment was 

enacted and doubts that the number will 

increase. Moreover, the amendment’s 

strong safety—affecting requirements 

that such youth not operate or assist in 

the operation of power-driven 

woodworking machines, use personal 

protective equipment to prevent 

exposure to excessive levels of noise 

and sawdust, and be protected from 

wood particles and other flying debris 

within the workplace, should 

significantly reduce potential costs 

resulting from accidents and injuries to 

minors on the job. 

Implementing the Department’s 

proposal to revise subpart G of the child 

labor regulations, General Statements of 

Interpretation of the Child Labor 

Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards 

Act of 1938, as Amended, to incorporate 

all the regulatory changes made since 

this subpart was last revised in 1971, 

would simply provide compliance 

guidance on the youth employment 

provisions detailed in earlier subparts of 

570 and therefore imposes no economic 

costs. 

The additional changes being 

proposed are also expected to have little 

or no direct cost impact. The proposed 

changes affecting the types of 

occupations and industries in which 14- 

and 15-year-olds may or may not be 

employed, as well as the periods and 

conditions of such employment (Reg. 3 

occupations and hours standards), are 

largely clarifications of existing 

provisions or enforcement positions, 

though new occupations involving work 


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of a mental or creative nature, 

lifeguarding, and the loading of personal 

hand tools onto motor vehicles, would 

be added to the list of permitted 

occupations. The proposals to revise 

several of the nonagricultural HOs—to 

implement specific recommendations 

made by NIOSH or that arise from the 

Department’s enforcement experience—

would, in all but one instance involving 

the use of certain countertop mixers 

(HO 11), require employers to assign 

older workers to perform tasks that may 

currently be performed by 16- and 17- 

year-olds. 

Proposals resulting from the NIOSH 

recommendations include the 

expansion of HO 4 to prohibit the 

employment of minors in forest 

firefighting and fire prevention 

activities; the revision of HO 7 to 

prohibit the employment of minors in 

the tending, servicing, and repairing of 

hoisting equipment and the addition of 

such equipment as cherry pickers, 

scissor lifts, bucket trucks, aerial 

platforms, and hoists of less than one 

ton capacity to the list of prohibited 

equipment; and the expansion of HO 10 

to prohibit the employment of minors in 

poultry slaughtering and processing 

occupations. Revisions to HO 12 to 

prohibit the employment of minors in 

the operation of balers and compactors 

not currently covered by the HO, and 

the expansion of HO 14 to add 

additional power-driven equipment to 

the list of equipment minors may not 

operate, are also being proposed as a 

result of the NIOSH Report 

recommendations. The Department’s 

enforcement experience has led it to 

propose to incorporate certain longstanding enforcement positions 

involving the definitions of 

remanufacturing departments of 

sawmills (HO 4), high-lift trucks (HO 7), 

and the cleaning of power-driven meat 

processing equipment (HO 10). The 

Department is also proposing, based on 

its enforcement experience, that HO 11 

be amended to incorporate the 

Department’s long-standing position 

permitting 16- and 17-year-olds, under 

certain conditions, to operate certain 

pizza-dough rollers, and that HO 14 be 

expanded to prohibit the employment of 

minors to operate reciprocating saws. 

The Department believes that 

implementation of the proposed rule 

would not reduce the overall number of 

safe, positive, and legal employment 

opportunities available to young 

workers. In fact, employment 

opportunities for 14- and 15-year-olds 

would increase with implementation of 

the proposals to (1) create a limited 

exemption for certain work-study 

programs and (2) allow those permitted 

occupations listed in § 570.34(a) to be 

performed in certain industries in 

addition to retail, food service, and 

gasoline service establishments. 

Although, as mentioned above, some 

employers would be required in most 

cases to replace younger workers with 

older workers were the Department’s 

proposals implemented, the impact 

would be minimal as relatively few 

minors are currently employed to 

perform these occupations. But the 

Department believes that adoption of 

these proposals is important as they are 

essential to fulfilling its charge of 

keeping working youth safe by 

prohibiting occupations that are 

particular hazardous or detrimental to 

their health or well-being. Any costs 

that might result from using older 

employees to perform the previously 

permitted tasks would be more than 

offset by reduced health and 

productivity costs resulting from 

accidents and injuries to minors on the 

job. Rules that limit permissible job 

activities for working youth to those that 

are safe do not, by themselves, impose 

significant added costs on employers, in 

our view. In fact, ensuring that 

permissible job opportunities for 

working youth are safe, healthy, and not 

detrimental to their education, as 

required by the statute, produces many 

positive benefits in addition to fewer 

occupational injuries and deaths, 

including reduced health and 

productivity costs that employers may 

otherwise incur because of higher 

accident and injury rates to young and 

inexperienced workers. In any event, 

the direct, incremental costs that would 

be imposed by this proposed rule are 

expected to be minimal. Collectively, 

they would not have an annual effect on 

the economy of $100 million or more or 

adversely affect in a material way the 

economy or its individual sectors, 

productivity, jobs, the environment, 

public health or safety, or state, local, or 

tribal governments or communities. 

Therefore, this proposed rule is not 

‘‘economically significant’’ and no 

regulatory impact analysis has been 

prepared. 

The Department has similarly 

concluded for the same reasons noted 

above that this proposed rule is not a 

‘‘major rule’’ requiring approval by the 

Congress under the Small Business 

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 

1996 (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.). It would not 

likely result in (1) an annual effect on 

the economy of $100 million or more; 

(2) a major increase in costs or prices for 

consumers, individual industries, 

federal, state, or local government 

agencies, or geographic regions; or (3) 

significant adverse effects on 

competition, employment, investment, 

productivity, innovation, or on the 

ability of U.S.-based enterprises to 

compete with foreign-based enterprises 

in domestic or export markets. 

This proposed rule is also not 

expected to have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities under the Regulatory Flexibility 

Act for the reasons discussed above. The 

Department has certified to this effect to 

the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the 

U.S. Small Business Administration. 

Therefore, no Regulatory Flexibility 

Analysis is required. 

VI. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

For purposes of the Unfunded 

Mandates Reform Act of 1995, 2 U.S.C. 

1532, this proposed rule does not 

include any federal mandate that may 

result in excess of $100 million in 

expenditures by state, local and tribal 

governments in the aggregate or by the 

private sector. 

VII. Executive Order 13132 

(Federalism) 

The proposed rule does not have 

federalism implications as outlined in 

E.O. 13132 regarding federalism. The 

proposed rule does not have substantial 

direct effects on the states, on the 

relationship between the national 

government and the states, or on the 

distribution of power and 

responsibilities among the various 

levels of government. 

VIII. Executive Order 13175, Indian 

Tribal Governments 

This proposed rule was reviewed 

under the terms of E.O. 13175 and 

determined not to have ‘‘tribal 

implications.’’ The proposed rule does 

not have ‘‘substantial direct effects on 

one or more Indian tribes, on the 

relationship between the federal 

government and Indian tribes, or on the 

distribution of power and 

responsibilities between the federal 

government and Indian tribes.’’ As a 

result, no tribal summary impact 

statement has been prepared. 

IX. Effects on Families 

The undersigned hereby certify that 

this proposed rule will not adversely 

affect the well-being of families, as 

discussed under section 654 of the 

Treasury and General Government 

Appropriations Act, 1999. 

X. Executive Order 13045, Protection of 

Children 

E.O. 13045, dated April 23, 1997 (62 

FR 19885), applies to any rule that (1) 

is determined to be ‘‘economically 

significant’’ as defined in E.O. 12866, 


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and (2) concerns an environmental 

health or safety risk that the 

promulgating agency has reason to 

believe may have a disproportionate 

effect on children. This proposal is not 

subject to E.O. 13045 because it is not 

economically significant as defined in 

E.O. 12866. In addition, although this 

proposed rule impacts the youth 

employment provisions of the FLSA and 

the employment of adolescents and 

young adults, it does not impact the 

environmental health or safety risks of 

children. 

XI. Environmental Impact Assessment 

A review of this proposal in 

accordance with the requirements of the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.; the 

regulations of the Council on 

Environmental Quality, 40 CFR 1500 et 

seq.; and the Departmental NEPA 

procedures, 29 CFR part 11, indicates 

that the proposed rule will not have a 

significant impact on the quality of the 

human environment. There is, thus, no 

corresponding environmental 

assessment or an environmental impact 

statement. 

XII. Executive Order 13211, Energy 

Supply 

This proposed rule is not subject to 

E.O. 13211. It will not have a significant 

adverse effect on the supply, 

distribution or use of energy. 

XIII. Executive Order 12630, 

Constitutionally Protected Property 

Rights 

This proposal is not subject to E.O. 

12630, because it does not involve 

implementation of a policy ‘‘that has 

takings implications’’ or that could 

impose limitations on private property 

use. 

XIV. Executive Order 12988, Civil 

Justice Reform Analysis 

This proposed rule was drafted and 

reviewed in accordance with E.O. 12988 

and will not unduly burden the federal 

court system. The proposed rule was: (1) 

Reviewed to eliminate drafting errors 

and ambiguities; (2) written to minimize 

litigation; and (3) written to provide a 

clear legal standard for affected conduct 

and to promote burden reduction. 

List of Subjects in 29 CFR Part 570 

Child labor, Child Labor occupations, 

Employment, Government, 

Incorporation by reference, 

Intergovernmental relations, 

Investigations, Labor, Law enforcement, 

Minimum age. 

Signed at Washington, DC this 10th day of 

April, 2007. 

Victoria A. Lipnic, 

Assistant Secretary, Employment Standards 

Administration. 

Paul DeCamp, 

Administrator, Wage and Hour Division. 

For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, the DOL proposes to amend 

Title 29, part 570, of the Code of Federal 

Regulations as follows: 

PART 570—CHILD LABOR 

REGULATIONS, ORDERS AND 

STATEMENTS OF INTERPRETATION 

1. The authority citation for part 570 

subpart C continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 29 U.S.C. 203(l), 212, 213(c)(7). 

2. Sections 570.31 through 570.35 are 

proposed to be revised to read as 

follows: 

§ 570.31 Secretary’s determinations 

concerning the employment of minors 14 

and 15 years of age. 

The employment of minors between 

14 and 16 years of age in the 

occupations, for the periods, and under 

the conditions specified in § 570.34 and 

§ 570.35, does not interfere with their 

schooling or with their health and wellbeing and shall not be deemed to be 

oppressive child labor. 

§ 570.32 Effect of this subpart. 

This subpart concerns the 

employment of youth between 14 and 

16 years of age in nonagricultural 

occupations; standards for the 

employment of minors in agricultural 

occupations are detailed in subpart E–

1. The employment (including suffering 

or permitting to work) by an employer 

of minors 14 and 15 years of age in 

occupations detailed in § 570.34, for the 

periods and under the conditions 

specified in § 570.35, shall not be 

deemed to be oppressive child labor 

within the meaning of the Fair Labor 

Standards Act of 1938. Employment that 

is not specifically permitted is 

prohibited. 

§ 570.33 Occupations that are prohibited 

to minors 14 and 15 years of age. 

The following occupations, which is 

not an exhaustive list, constitute 

oppressive child labor within the 

meaning of the Fair Labor Standards Act 

of 1938 when performed by minors who 

are 14 and 15 years of age: 

(a) Manufacturing, mining, or 

processing occupations, including 

occupations requiring the performance 

of any duties in work rooms or work 

places where goods are manufactured, 

mined or otherwise processed, except as 

permitted in § 570.34 of this subpart. 

(b) Occupations that the Secretary of 

Labor may, pursuant to section 3(l) of 

the Fair Labor Standards Act, find and 

declare to be hazardous for the 

employment of minors between 16 and 

18 years of age or detrimental to their 

health or well-being. 

(c) Occupations that involve 

operating, tending, setting up, adjusting, 

cleaning, oiling, or repairing hoisting 

apparatus. 

(d) Work performed in or about boiler 

or engine rooms or in connection with 

the maintenance or repair of the 

establishment, machines, or equipment. 

(e) Occupations that involve 

operating, tending, setting up, adjusting, 

cleaning, oiling, or repairing any powerdriven machinery, including but not 

limited to lawn mowers, golf carts, 

trimmers, cutters, weed-eaters, edgers, 

food slicers, food grinders, food 

choppers, food processors, food cutters, 

and food mixers. Youth 14 and 15 years 

of age may, however, operate office 

equipment pursuant to § 570.34(a) and 

vacuum cleaners and floor waxers 

pursuant to § 570.34(h). 

(f) The operation of motor vehicles; 

the service as helpers on such vehicles 

except those tasks permitted by 

§ 570.34(k); and the riding on a motor 

vehicle, inside or outside of an enclosed 

passenger compartment, except as 

permitted by § 570.34(o). 

(g) Outside window washing that 

involves working from window sills, 

and all work requiring the use of 

ladders, scaffolds, or their substitutes. 

(h) All baking and cooking activities 

except that cooking which is permitted 

by § 570.34(c). 

(i) Work in freezers and meat coolers 

and all work in the preparation of meats 

for sale except as permitted by 

§ 570.34(j). This section, however, does 

not prohibit the employment of 14- and 

15-year-olds whose duties require them 

to occasionally enter freezers only 

momentarily to retrieve items. 

(j) Youth peddling, which entails the 

selling of goods or services to customers 

at locations other than the youthemployer’s establishment, such as the 

customers’ residences or places of 

business, or public places such as street 

corners or public transportation 

stations. Prohibited activities associated 

with youth peddling not only include 

the attempt to make a sale or the actual 

consummation of a sale, but also the 

preparatory and concluding tasks 

normally performed by a youth peddler 

in conjunction with his or her sales 

such as the loading and unloading of 

vans or other motor vehicles, the 

stocking and restocking of sales kits and 

trays, the exchanging of cash and checks 

with the employer, and the 


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transportation of minors to and from the 

various sales areas by the employer. 

Youth peddling does not include the 

activities of persons who, as volunteers 

and without compensation, sell goods or 

services on behalf of eleemosynary 

organizations or public agencies. 

(k) Loading and unloading of goods or 

property onto or from motor vehicles, 

railroad cars, or conveyors, except the 

loading and unloading of personal nonpower-driven hand tools, personal 

protective equipment, and personal 

items to and from motor vehicles as 

permitted by § 570.34(k). 

(l) Catching and cooping of poultry for 

preparation for transport or for market. 

(m) Public messenger service. 

(n) Occupations in connection with: 

(1) Transportation of persons or 

property by rail, highway, air, water, 

pipeline, or other means; 

(2) Warehousing and storage; 

(3) Communications and public 

utilities; 

(4) Construction (including 

demolition and repair); except such 

office work (including ticket office) or 

sales work in connection with 

paragraphs (n)(1), (2), (3), and (4) of this 

section, as does not involve the 

performance of any duties on trains, 

motor vehicles, aircraft, vessels, or other 

media of transportation or at the actual 

site of construction operations. 

§ 570.34 Occupations that may be 

performed by minors 14 and 15 years of 

age. 

This subpart authorizes only the 

following occupations in which the 

employment of minors 14 and 15 years 

of age is permitted when performed for 

periods and under conditions 

authorized by § 570.35 and not 

involving occupations prohibited by 

§ 570.33 or performed in areas or 

industries prohibited by § 570.33. 

(a) Office and clerical work, including 

the operation of office machines. 

(b) Work of a mental or artistically 

creative nature such as, but not limited 

to, computer programming, the writing 

of software, teaching or performing as a 

tutor, serving as a peer counselor or 

teacher’s assistant, singing, the playing 

of a musical instrument, and drawing, 

as long as such employment complies 

with all the other provisions contained 

in §§ 570.33, 570.34, and 570.35. 

Artistically creative work is limited to 

work in a recognized field of artistic or 

creative endeavor. 

(c) Cooking with electric or gas grills 

which does not involve cooking over an 

open flame (Note: This provision does 

not authorize cooking with equipment 

such as rotisseries, broilers, pressurized 

equipment including fryolators, and 

cooking devices that operate at 

extremely high temperatures such as 

‘‘Neico broilers’’). Cooking is also 

permitted with deep fryers that are 

equipped with and utilize a device 

which automatically lowers the baskets 

into the hot oil or grease and 

automatically raises the baskets from the 

hot oil or grease. 

(d) Cashiering, selling, modeling, art 

work, work in advertising departments, 

window trimming, and comparative 

shopping. 

(e) Price marking and tagging by hand 

or machine, assembling orders, packing, 

and shelving. 

(f) Bagging and carrying out 

customers’ orders. 

(g) Errand and delivery work by foot, 

bicycle, and public transportation. 

(h) Clean up work, including the use 

of vacuum cleaners and floor waxers, 

and the maintenance of grounds, but not 

including the use of power-driven 

mowers, cutters, trimmers, edgers, or 

similar equipment. 

(i) Kitchen work and other work 

involved in preparing and serving food 

and beverages, including operating 

machines and devices used in 

performing such work. Examples of 

permitted machines and devices 

include, but are not limited to, 

dishwashers, toasters, dumbwaiters, 

popcorn poppers, milk shake blenders, 

coffee grinders, automatic coffee 

machines, devices used to maintain the 

temperature of prepared foods (such as 

warmers, steam tables, and heat lamps), 

and microwave ovens that are used only 

to warm prepared food and do not have 

the capacity to warm above 140 °F. 

Minors are permitted to clean kitchen 

equipment (not otherwise prohibited), 

remove oil or grease filters, pour oil or 

grease through filters, and move 

receptacles containing hot grease or hot 

oil, but only when the equipment, 

surfaces, containers and liquids do not 

exceed a temperature of 100 °F. 

(j) Cleaning vegetables and fruits, and 

the wrapping, sealing, labeling, 

weighing, pricing, and stocking of items, 

including vegetables, fruits, and meats, 

when performed in areas physically 

separate from a freezer or meat cooler. 

(k) The loading onto motor vehicles 

and the unloading from motor vehicles 

of the light, non-power-driven, hand 

tools and personal protective equipment 

that the minor will use as part of his or 

her employment at the work site; and 

the loading onto motor vehicles and the 

unloading from motor vehicles of 

personal items such as a back pack, a 

lunch box, or a coat that the minor is 

permitted to take to the work site. Such 

light tools would include, but not be 

limited to, rakes, hand-held clippers, 

shovels, and brooms. Such light tools 

would not include items like trash, sales 

kits, promotion items or items for sale, 

lawn mowers, or other power-driven 

lawn maintenance equipment. Such 

minors would not be permitted to load 

or unload safety equipment such as 

barriers, cones, or signage. 

(l)(1) Lifeguard. The employment of 

15-year-olds (but not 14-year-olds) to 

perform permitted lifeguard duties at 

traditional swimming pools and water 

amusement parks (including such water 

park facilities as wave pools, lazy rivers, 

specialized activity areas that may 

include water falls and sprinkler areas, 

and baby pools; but not including the 

elevated areas of power-driven water 

slides) when such youth have been 

trained and certified by the American 

Red Cross, or a similar certifying 

organization, in aquatics and water 

safety. 

(2) Definitions. As used in this 

section: 

Permitted lifeguard duties, as used in 

this subpart, include the rescuing of 

swimmers in danger of drowning, the 

monitoring of activities at poolside to 

prevent accidents, the teaching of water 

safety, and providing assistance to 

patrons. Lifeguards may also help to 

maintain order and cleanliness in the 

pool and pool areas, give swimming 

instructions, conduct or officiate at 

swimming meets, and administer first 

aid. Additional lifeguard duties may 

include checking in and out items such 

as towels and personal items such as 

rings, watches and apparel. Permitted 

duties for 15-year-olds include the use 

of a ladder to access and descend from 

the lifeguard chair; the use of hand tools 

to clean the pool and pool area; and the 

testing and recording of water quality 

for temperature and/or pH levels, using 

all of the tools of the testing process 

including adding chemicals to the test 

water sample. Fifteen-year-olds 

employed as lifeguards are, however, 

prohibited from entering or working in 

any mechanical room or chemical 

storage areas, including any areas where 

the filtration and chlorinating systems 

are housed. The term permitted 

lifeguard duties does not include the 

operation or tending of power-driven 

equipment including power-driven 

elevated water slides often found at 

water amusement parks and some 

swimming pools. Minors under 16 years 

of age may not be employed as 

dispatchers or attendants at the top of 

elevated water slides performing such 

tasks as maintaining order, directing 

patrons as to when to depart the top of 

the slide, and ensuring that patrons 

have begun their ‘‘ride’’ safely. Properly 

certified 15-year-old lifeguards may, 


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however, be stationed at the 

‘‘splashdown pools’’ located at the 

bottom of the elevated water slides to 

perform those permitted duties listed in 

this subsection. 

Traditional swimming pool, as used 

in this subpart, means a water tight 

structure of concrete, masonry, or other 

approved materials located either 

indoors or outdoors, used for bathing or 

swimming and filled with a filtered and 

disinfected water supply, together with 

buildings, appurtenances and 

equipment used in connection 

therewith, excluding elevated ‘‘water 

slides.’’ Not included in the definition 

of a traditional swimming pool would 

be such natural environment swimming 

facilities as rivers, streams, lakes, 

reservoirs, wharfs, piers, canals, or 

oceanside beaches. 

Water amusement park means an 

establishment that not only 

encompasses the features of a traditional 

swimming pool, but may also include 

such additional attractions as wave 

pools; lazy rivers; specialized activities 

areas such as baby pools, water falls, 

and sprinklers; and elevated water 

slides. Not included in the definition of 

a water amusement park would be such 

natural environment swimming 

facilities as rivers, streams, lakes, 

reservoirs, wharfs, piers, canals, or 

oceanside beaches. 

(m)(1) Employment inside and outside 

of places of business where machinery 

is used to process wood products. The 

employment of a 14- or 15-year-old who 

by statute or judicial order is exempt 

from compulsory school attendance 

beyond the eight grade inside or outside 

places of business where machinery is 

used to process wood products if: 

(i) The youth is supervised by an 

adult relative of the youth or is 

supervised by an adult member of the 

same religious sect or division as the 

youth; 

(ii) The youth does not operate or 

assist in the operation of power-driven 

woodworking machines; 

(iii) The youth is protected from wood 

particles or other flying debris within 

the workplace by a barrier appropriate 

to the potential hazard of such wood 

particles or flying debris or by 

maintaining a sufficient distance from 

machinery in operation; and 

(iv) The youth is required to use, and 

uses, personal protective equipment to 

prevent exposure to excessive levels of 

noise and saw dust. 

(2) Compliance. Compliance with the 

provisions of paragraphs (m)(1)(iii) and 

(m)(1)(iv) of this section will be 

accomplished when the employer is in 

compliance with the requirements of the 

applicable governing standards issued 

by the U.S. Department of Labor’s 

Occupational Safety and Health 

Administration (OSHA) or, in those 

areas where OSHA has authorized the 

state to operate its own Occupational 

Safety and Health Plan, the applicable 

standards issued by the Office charged 

with administering the State 

Occupational Safety and Health Plan. 

(3) Definitions. As used in this 

section: 

Inside or outside places of business 

shall mean the actual physical location 

of the establishment employing the 

youth, including the buildings and 

surrounding land necessary to the 

business operations of that 

establishment. 

Operate or assist in the operation of 

power-driven woodworking machines 

shall mean the operating of such 

machines, including supervising or 

controlling the operation of such 

machines, feeding material into such 

machines, helping the operator feed 

material into such machines, unloading 

materials from such machines, and 

helping the operator unload materials 

from such machines. The term also 

includes the occupations of setting-up, 

adjusting, repairing, oiling, or cleaning 

such machines. 

Places of business where machinery is 

used to process wood products shall 

mean such permanent workplaces as 

sawmills, lath mills, shingle mills, 

cooperage stock mills, furniture and 

cabinet making shops, gazebo and shed 

making shops, toy manufacturing shops, 

and pallet shops. The term shall not 

include construction sites, portable 

sawmills, areas where logging is being 

performed, or mining operations. 

Power-driven woodworking machines 

shall mean all fixed or portable 

machines or tools driven by power and 

used or designed for cutting, shaping, 

forming, surfacing, nailing, stapling, 

wire stitching, fastening or otherwise 

assembling, pressing, or printing wood, 

veneer, trees, logs, or lumber. 

Supervised by an adult relative or is 

supervised by an adult member of the 

same religious sect or division as the 

youth has several components. 

Supervised means that the youth’s onthe-job activities must be directed, 

monitored, overseen, and controlled by 

certain named adults. Such supervision 

must be close, direct, constant, and 

uninterrupted. An adult shall mean an 

individual who is at least eighteen years 

of age. A relative shall mean the parent 

(or someone standing in the place of a 

parent), grandparent, sibling, uncle, or 

aunt of the young worker. A member of 

the same religious sect or division as the 

youth refers to an individual who 

professes membership in the same 

religious sect or division to which the 

youth professes membership. 

(n) Work in connection with cars and 

trucks if confined to the following: 

dispensing gasoline and oil; courtesy 

service; car cleaning, washing and 

polishing by hand; and other 

occupations permitted by this section, 

but not including work involving the 

use of pits, racks, or lifting apparatus, or 

involving the inflation of any tire 

mounted on a rim equipped with a 

removable retaining ring. 

(o) Work in connection with riding 

inside passenger compartments of motor 

vehicles except as prohibited by 

§§ 570.33(f) or 570.33(j), or when a 

significant reason for the minor being a 

passenger in the vehicle is for the 

purpose of performing work in 

connection with the transporting-or 

assisting in the transporting of-other 

persons or property. The transportation 

of the persons or property does not have 

to be the primary reason for the trip for 

this exception to apply. Each minor 

riding as a passenger in a motor vehicle 

must have his or her own seat in the 

passenger compartment; each seat must 

be equipped with a seat belt or similar 

restraining device; and the employer 

must instruct the minors that such belts 

or other devices must be used. 

§ 570.35 Hours of work and conditions of 

employment permitted for minors 14 and 15 

years of age. 

(a) Hours standards. Except as 

provided in paragraph (c) of this 

section, employment in any of the 

permissible occupations to which this 

subpart is applicable shall be confined 

to the following periods: 

(1) Outside of school hours; 

(2) Not more than 40 hours in any 1 

week when school is not in session; 

(3) Not more that 18 hours in any 1 

week when school is in session; 

(4) Not more than 8 hours in any 1 

day when school is not in session; 

(5) Not more than 3 hours in any 1 

day when school is in session, including 

Fridays; 

(6) Between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. in any 

1 day, except during the summer (June 

1 through Labor Day) when the evening 

hour will be 9 p.m. 

(b) Definition. As used in this section: 

Week as used in this subpart means a 

standard calendar week of 12:01 a.m. 

Sunday through midnight Saturday, not 

an employee’s workweek as defined in 

§ 778.105 of this title. 

Exceptions. (1) School is not 

considered to be in session, and 

exceptions from the hours limitations 

standards listed in paragraphs (a)(1), (3), 

and (5) of this section are provided, for 

any youth 14 or 15 years of age who: 


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(i) Has graduated from high school; 

(ii) Has been excused from 

compulsory school attendance by the 

state or other jurisdiction once he or she 

has completed the eighth grade and his 

or her employment complies with all 

the requirements of the state school 

attendance law; 

(iii) Has a child to support and 

appropriate state officers, pursuant to 

state law, have waived school 

attendance requirements for this minor; 

(iv) Is subject to an order of a state or 

federal court prohibiting him or her 

from attending school; or 

(v) Has been permanently expelled 

from the local public school he or she 

would normally attend. 

(2) In the case of minors 14 and 15 

years of age who are employed to 

perform sports-attending services at 

professional sporting events, i.e., 

baseball, basketball, football, soccer, 

tennis, etc., the requirements of 

paragraphs (a)(2) through (a)(6) of this 

section shall not apply, provided that 

the duties of the sports-attendant 

occupation consist of pre- and postgame or practice setup of balls, items 

and equipment; supplying and 

retrieving balls, items and equipment 

during a sporting event; clearing the 

field or court of debris, moisture, etc., 

during play; providing ice, drinks, 

towels, etc., to players during play; 

running errands for trainers, managers, 

coaches, and players before, during, and 

after a sporting event; and returning 

and/or storing balls, items and 

equipment in club house or locker room 

after a sporting event. For purposes of 

this exception, impermissible duties 

include grounds or field maintenance 

such as grass mowing, spreading or 

rolling tarpaulins used to cover playing 

areas, etc.; cleaning and repairing 

equipment; cleaning locker rooms, 

showers, lavatories, rest rooms, team 

vehicles, club houses, dugouts or 

similar facilities; loading and unloading 

balls, items and equipment from team 

vehicles before and after a sporting 

event; doing laundry; and working in 

concession stands or other selling and 

promotional activities. 

(3) Exceptions from certain of the 

hours standards contained in 

paragraphs (a)(1) and (a)(3) of this 

section are provided for the 

employment of minors who are enrolled 

in and employed pursuant to a schoolsupervised work-experience and career 

exploration program as detailed in 

§ 570.35a. 

(4) Exceptions from certain of the 

hours standards contained in 

paragraphs (a)(1) and (a)(5) of this 

section are provided for the 

employment of minors who are 

participating in a work-study program 

designed as described in § 570.35b. 

3. In § 570.35a paragraph (c)(3) is 

proposed to be revised to read as 

follows: 

§ 570.35a Work experience and career 

exploration programs. 

* * * * * 

(c) * * * 

(3) Occupations other than those 

permitted under § 570.34, except upon 

approval of a variation by the 

Administrator of the Wage and Hour 

Division in acting on the program 

application of the State Educational 

Agency. The Administrator shall have 

discretion to grant requests for special 

variations if the applicant demonstrates 

that the activity will be performed 

under adequate supervision and training 

(including safety precautions) and that 

the terms and conditions of the 

proposed employment will not interfere 

with the health or well-being or 

schooling of the minor enrolled in an 

approved program. The granting of a 

special variation is determined on a 

case-by-case basis. 

* * * * * 

4. A new § 570.35b is proposed to be 

added and to read as follows: 

§ 570.35b Work-study programs. 

(a) This section varies the provisions 

contained in § 570.35(a)(1) and (a)(5) for 

the employment of minors 14 and 15 

years of age who are enrolled in and 

employed pursuant to a schoolsupervised and school-administered 

work-study program that meets the 

requirements of paragraph (b) of this 

section, in the occupations permitted by 

§ 570.34, and for the periods and under 

the conditions specified in paragraph (c) 

of this section. With these safeguards, 

such employment is found not to 

interfere with the schooling of the 

minors or with their health and wellbeing and therefore is not deemed to be 

oppressive child labor. 

(b)(1) A school-supervised and 

school-administered work-study 

program shall meet the educational 

standards established and approved by 

the State Educational Agency in the 

respective state. 

(2) The superintendent of the public 

or private school system supervising 

and administering the work-study 

program shall file with the 

Administrator of the Wage and Hour 

Division a letter of application for 

approval of the work-study program as 

one not interfering with schooling or 

with the health and well-being of the 

minors involved and therefore not 

constituting oppressive child labor. The 

application shall be filed at least sixty 

days before the start of the school year 

and must include information 

concerning the criteria listed in 

paragraph (b)(3) of this section. The 

Administrator of the Wage and Hour 

Division shall approve the application, 

or give prompt notice of any denial and 

the reasons therefor. 

(3) The criteria to be used in 

consideration of applications under this 

section are the following: 

(i) Eligibility. Any student 14 or 15 

years of age, enrolled in a college 

preparatory curriculum, whom 

authoritative personnel from the school 

attended by the youth identify as being 

able to benefit from the program shall be 

able to participate. 

(ii) Instructional schedule. Every 

youth shall receive, every school year he 

or she participates in the work-study 

program, at least the minimum number 

of hours of classroom instruction, as 

required by the State Educational 

Agency responsible for establishing 

such standards, to complete a fullyaccredited college preparatory 

curriculum. Such classroom instruction 

shall include, every year the youth 

participates in the work-study program, 

training in workplace safety and state 

and federal youth employment 

provisions and rules. 

(iii) Teacher-coordinator. Each school 

participating in a work-study program 

shall designate a teacher-coordinator 

under whose supervision the program 

will operate. The teacher-coordinator 

shall generally supervise and coordinate 

the work and educational aspects of the 

program and make regularly scheduled 

visits to the workplaces of the 

participating students. The teachercoordinator shall ensure that minors 

participating in a work-study program 

are employed in compliance with all 

applicable provisions of this part and 

section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards 

Act. 

(iv) Written participation agreement. 

No student shall participate in the workstudy program until there has been 

made a written agreement signed by the 

teacher-coordinator, the employer, and 

the student. The agreement shall also be 

signed or otherwise consented to by the 

student’s parent or guardian. The 

agreement shall detail the objectives of 

the work-study program; describe the 

specific job duties to be performed by 

the participating minor as well as the 

number of hours and times of day that 

the minor will be employed each week; 

affirm that the participant will receive 

the minimum number of hours of classroom instruction as required by the 

State Educational Agency for the 

completion of a fully-accredited college 

preparatory curriculum; and affirm that 


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the employment of the minor will be in 

compliance with the youth employment 

provisions of both this part and the laws 

of the state where the work will be 

performed, and the applicable minimum 

wage provisions contained in section 6 

of the FLSA. 

(v) Other provisions. Any other 

provisions of the program providing 

safeguards ensuring that the 

employment permitted under this 

section will not interfere with the 

schooling of the minors or with their 

health and well-being may also be 

submitted for use in considering the 

application. 

(4) Every public or private school 

district having students in a work-study 

program approved pursuant to these 

requirements, and every employer 

employing students in a work-study 

program approved pursuant to these 

requirements, shall comply with the 

following: 

(i) Permissible occupations. No 

student shall be assigned to work in any 

occupation other than one permitted 

under § 570.34 of this chapter. 

(ii) Records and reports. A copy of the 

written agreement for each student 

participating in the work-study program 

shall be kept by both the employer and 

the school supervising and 

administering the program for a period 

of three years from the date of the 

student’s enrollment in the program. 

Such agreements shall be made 

available upon request to the 

representatives of the Administrator of 

the Wage and Hour Division for 

inspection, transcription, and/or 

photocopying. 

(c) Employment of minors enrolled in 

a program approved pursuant to the 

requirements of this section shall be 

confined to not more that 18 hours in 

any one week when school is in session, 

a portion of which may be during school 

hours, in accordance with the following 

formula that is based upon a continuous 

four-week cycle. In three of the four 

weeks, the participant is permitted to 

work during school hours on only one 

day per week, and for no more than for 

eight hours on that day. During the 

remaining week of the four-week cycle, 

such minor is permitted to work during 

school hours on no more than two days, 

and for no more than for eight hours on 

each of those two days. The 

employment of such minors would still 

be subject to the time of day and 

number of hours standards contained in 

§§ 570.35(a)(2), (a)(3), (a)(4), and (a)(6). 

To the extent that these provisions are 

inconsistent with the provisions of 

§ 570.35, this section shall be 

controlling. 

(d) Programs shall be in force and 

effect for a period to be determined by 

the Administrator of the Wage and Hour 

Division, but in no case shall be in effect 

for longer than two school years from 

the date of their approval by the 

Administrator of the Wage and Hour 

Division. A new application for 

approval must be filed at the end of that 

period. Failure to meet the requirements 

of this section may result in withdrawal 

of the approval. 

Subpart E—Occupations Particularly 

Hazardous for the Employment of 

Minors Between 16 and 18 Years of 

Age or Detrimental to Their Health or 

Well-Being 

5. The authority citation for subpart E 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 29 U.S.C. 203(l), 212, 213(c). 

6. In § 570.54, the section heading and 

paragraphs (a) introductory text, (a)(1), 

(a)(2) introductory text, and (b) are 

proposed to be revised, and a new 

paragraph (c) is proposed to be added, 

to read as follows: 

§ 570.54 Forest firefighting and forest fire 

prevention occupations, logging 

occupations, and occupations in the 

operation of any sawmill, lath mill, shingle 

mill, or cooperage stock mill (Order 4). 

(a) Finding and declarations of fact. 

All occupations in forest firefighting 

and forest fire prevention, logging, and 

the operation of any sawmill, lath mill, 

shingle mill, or cooperage stock mill are 

particularly hazardous for the 

employment of minors between 16 and 

18 years of age, except the following: 

(1) Exceptions applying to logging: 

(i) Work in offices or in repair or 

maintenance shops. 

(ii) Work in the construction, 

operation, repair, or maintenance of 

living and administrative quarters of 

logging camps. 

(iii) Peeling of fence posts, pulpwood, 

chemicalwood, excelsior wood, 

cordwood, or similar products when not 

done in conjunction with and at the 

same time and place as other logging 

occupations declared hazardous by this 

section. 

(iv) Work in the feeding or care of 

animals. 

(2) Exceptions applying to the 

operation of any permanent sawmill or 

the operation of any lath mill, shingle 

mill, or cooperage stock mill: Provided, 

That these exceptions do not apply to a 

portable sawmill the lumber yard of 

which is used only for the temporary 

storage of green lumber and in 

connection with which no office or 

repair or maintenance shop is ordinarily 

maintained: And further provided, That 

these exceptions do not apply to work 

which entails entering the sawmill 

building, except for minors who meet 

the requirements of the limited 

exemption discussed in §§ 570.34(m) 

and 570.54(c): 

* * * * * 

(b) Definitions. As used in this 

section: 

All occupations in forest firefighting 

and forest fire prevention shall include 

the controlling and extinguishing of 

fires, the wetting down of areas or 

extinguishing of spot fires, the 

patrolling of burned areas to assure the 

fire has been extinguished, and the 

piling and burning of slash. The term 

shall also include the following tasks 

when performed in conjunction with, or 

in support of, efforts to extinguish an 

actual fire: the clearing of fire trails or 

roads; the construction, maintenance, 

and patrolling of firelines; acting as a 

fire lookout or fire patrolman; and tasks 

associated with the operation of a 

temporary firefighting base camp. The 

prohibition concerning the employment 

of youth in forest firefighting and fire 

prevention would apply to all forest 

locations and buildings located within 

the forest, not just where logging or 

sawmilling takes place. 

All occupations in logging shall mean 

all work performed in connection with 

the felling of timber; the bucking or 

converting of timber into logs, poles, 

piles, ties, bolts, pulpwood, chemical 

wood, excelsior wood, cordwood, fence 

posts, or similar products; the 

collecting, skidding, yarding, loading, 

transporting and unloading of such 

products in connection with logging; the 

constructing, repairing, and maintaining 

of roads, railroads, flumes, or camps 

used in connection with logging; the 

moving, installing, rigging, and 

maintenance of machinery or equipment 

used in logging; and other work 

performed in connection with logging. 

All occupations in the operation on 

any sawmill, lath mill, shingle mill, or 

cooperage-stock mill shall mean all 

work performed in or about any such 

mill in connection with storing of logs 

and bolts; converting logs or bolts into 

sawn lumber, lathers, shingles, or 

cooperage stock; storing drying, and 

shipping lumber, laths, shingles, 

cooperage stock, or other products of 

such mills; and other work performed in 

connection with the operation of any 

sawmill, lath mill, shingle mill, or 

cooperage-stock mill. The term shall not 

include work performed in the planingmill department or other 

remanufacturing departments of any 

sawmill or remanufacturing plant not a 

part of a sawmill. 


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Inside or outside places of business 

shall mean the actual physical location 

of the establishment employing the 

youth, including the buildings and 

surrounding land necessary to the 

business operations of that 

establishment. 

Operate or assist in the operation of 

power-driven woodworking machines 

shall mean operating such machines, 

including supervising or controlling the 

operation of such machines, feeding 

material into such machines, helping 

the operator feed material into such 

machines, unloading materials from 

such machines, and helping the 

operator unload materials from such 

machines. The term also includes the 

occupations of setting-up, adjusting, 

repairing, oiling, or cleaning such 

machines. 

Places of business where machinery is 

used to process wood products shall 

mean such permanent workplaces as 

sawmills, lath mills, shingle mills, 

cooperage stock mills, furniture and 

cabinet making shops, gazebo and shed 

making shops, toy manufacturing shops, 

and pallet shops. The term shall not 

include construction sites, portable 

sawmills, areas where logging is being 

performed, or mining operations. 

Power-driven woodworking machines 

shall mean all fixed or portable 

machines or tools driven by power and 

used or designed for cutting, shaping, 

forming, surfacing, nailing, stapling, 

wire stitching, fastening or otherwise 

assembling, pressing, or printing wood, 

veneer, trees, logs, or lumber. 

Remanufacturing department shall 

mean those departments of a sawmill 

where lumber products such as boxes, 

lawn furniture, and the like are 

remanufactured from previously cut 

lumber. The kind of work performed in 

such departments is similar to that done 

in planning mill departments in that 

rough lumber is surfaced or made into 

other finished products. The term is not 

intended to denote those operations in 

sawmills where rough lumber is cut to 

dimensions. 

Supervised by an adult relative or is 

supervised by an adult member of the 

same religious sect or division as the 

youth, as a term, has several 

components. Supervised refers to the 

requirement that the youth’s on-the-job 

activities be directed, monitored, and 

controlled by certain named adults. 

Such supervision must be close, direct, 

constant, and uninterrupted. An adult 

shall mean an individual who is at least 

eighteen years of age. A relative shall 

mean the parent (or someone standing 

in place of a parent), grandparent, 

sibling, uncle, or aunt of the young 

worker. A member of the same religious 

sect or division as the youth refers to an 

individual who professes membership 

in the same religious sect or division to 

which the youth professes membership. 

(c) Exemptions. (1) The provisions 

contained in paragraph (a)(2) of this 

section that prohibit youth between 16 

and 18 years of age from performing any 

work that entails entering the sawmill 

building do not apply to the 

employment of a youth who is at least 

14 years of age and less than 18 years 

of age and who by statute or judicial 

order is exempt from compulsory school 

attendance beyond the eighth grade, if: 

(i) The youth is supervised by an 

adult relative or by an adult member of 

the same religious sect or division as the 

youth; 

(ii) The youth does not operate or 

assist in the operation of power-driven 

woodworking machines; 

(iii) The youth is protected from wood 

particles or other flying debris within 

the workplace by a barrier appropriate 

to the potential hazard of such wood 

particles or flying debris or by 

maintaining a sufficient distance from 

machinery in operation; and 

(iv) The youth is required to use, and 

uses, personal protective equipment to 

prevent exposure to excessive levels of 

noise and saw dust. 

(2) Compliance with the provisions of 

paragraphs (c)(1)(iii) and (iv) of this 

section will be accomplished when the 

employer is in compliance with the 

requirements of the applicable 

governing standards issued by the U.S. 

Department of Labor’s Occupational 

Safety and Health Administration 

(OSHA) or, in those areas where OSHA 

has authorized the state to operate its 

own Occupational Safety and Health 

Plan, the applicable standards issued by 

the Office charged with administering 

the State Occupational Safety and 

Health Plan. 

7. In § 570.55, paragraph (b) is 

proposed to be revised to read as 

follows: 

§ 570.55 Occupations involved in the 

operation of power-driven woodworking 

machines (Order 5). 

* * * * * 

(b) Definitions. As used in this 

section: 

Off-bearing shall mean the removal of 

material or refuse directly from a saw 

table or from the point of operation. 

Operations not considered as off-bearing 

within the intent of this section include: 

(1) The removal of material or refuse 

from a circular saw or guillotine-action 

veneer clipper where the material or 

refuse has been conveyed away from the 

saw table or point of operation by a 

gravity chute or by some mechanical 

means such as a moving belt or 

expulsion roller; and 

(2) The following operations when 

they do not involve the removal of 

materials or refuse directly from a saw 

table or point of operation: The carrying, 

moving, or transporting of materials 

from one machine to another or from 

one part of a plant to another; the piling, 

stacking, or arranging of materials for 

feeding into a machine by another 

person; and the sorting, tying, bundling, 

or loading of materials. 

Power-driven woodworking machines 

shall mean all fixed or portable 

machines or tools driven by power and 

used or designed for cutting, shaping, 

forming, surfacing, nailing, stapling, 

wire stitching, fastening or otherwise 

assembling, pressing or printing wood, 

veneer, trees, logs, or lumber. 

* * * * * 

8. In § 570.58, paragraphs (a) 

introductory text, (a)(1), (a)(2), and (b) 

are proposed to be revised to read as 

follows: 

§ 570.58 Occupations involved in the 

operation of power-driven hoisting 

apparatus (Order 7). 

(a) Findings and declaration of fact. 

The following occupations involved in 

the operation of power-driven hoisting 

apparatus are particularly hazardous for 

minors between 16 and 18 years of age: 

(1) Work of operating, tending, riding 

upon, working from, repairing, 

servicing, or disassembling an elevator, 

crane, derrick, hoist, or high-lift truck, 

except operating or riding inside an 

unattended automatic operation 

passenger elevator. 

(2) Work of operating, tending, riding 

upon, working from, repairing, 

servicing, or disassembling a manlift or 

freight elevator, except 16- and 17-yearolds may ride upon a freight elevator 

operated by an assigned operator. 

* * * * * 

(b) Definitions. As used in this 

section: 

Crane shall mean a power-driven 

machine for lifting and lowering a load 

and moving it horizontally, in which the 

hoisting mechanism is an integral part 

of the machine. The term shall include 

all types of cranes, such as cantilever 

gantry, crawler, gantry, hammerhead, 

ingot pouring, jib, locomotive, motortruck, overhead traveling, pillar jib, 

pintle, portal, semi-gantry, semi-portal, 

storage bridge, tower, walking jib, and 

wall cranes. 

Derrick shall mean a power-driven 

apparatus consisting of a mast or 

equivalent members held at the top by 

guys or braces, with or without a boom, 

for use with a hoisting mechanism or 

operating ropes. The term shall include 


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all types of derricks, such as A-frame, 

breast, Chicago boom, gin-pole, guy, and 

stiff-leg derrick. 

Elevator shall mean any power-driven 

hoisting or lowering mechanism 

equipped with a car or platform which 

moves in guides in a substantially 

vertical direction. The term shall 

include both passenger and freight 

elevators (including portable elevators 

or tiering machines), but shall not 

include dumbwaiters. 

High-lift truck shall mean a powerdriven industrial type of truck used for 

lateral transportation that is equipped 

with a power-operated lifting device 

usually in the form of a fork or platform 

capable of tiering loaded pallets or skids 

one above the other. Instead of a fork or 

a platform, the lifting device may 

consist of a ram, scoop, shovel, crane, 

revolving fork, or other attachments for 

handling specific loads. The term shall 

mean and include highlift trucks known 

under such names as fork lifts, fork 

trucks, fork lift trucks, tiering trucks, 

skid loaders, skid-steer loaders, Bobcat 

loaders, or stacking trucks, but shall not 

mean low-lift trucks or low-lift platform 

trucks that are designed for the 

transportation of but not the tiering of 

materials. 

Hoist shall mean a power-driven 

apparatus for raising or lowering a load 

by the application of a pulling force that 

does not include a car or platform 

running in guides. The term shall 

include all types of hoists, such as base 

mounted electric, clevis suspension, 

hook suspension, monorail, overhead 

electric, simple drum, and trolley 

suspension hoists. 

Manlift shall mean a device intended 

for the conveyance of persons that 

consists of platforms or brackets 

mounted on, or attached to, an endless 

belt, cable, chain or similar method of 

suspension; with such belt, cable or 

chain operating in a substantially 

vertical direction and being supported 

by and driven through pulleys, sheaves 

or sprockets at the top and bottom. The 

term shall also include truck- or 

equipment-mounted aerial platforms 

commonly referred to as scissor lifts, 

boom-type mobile elevating work 

platforms, work assist vehicles, cherry 

pickers, basket hoists, and bucket 

trucks. 

* * * * * 

9. In § 570.59, the section heading is 

proposed to be revised to read as 

follows: 

§ 570.59 Occupations involved in the 

operation of power-driven metal forming, 

punching, and shearing machines (Order 8). 

* * * * * 

10. In § 570.61, the section heading 

and paragraphs (a)(4), (b), and (c)(1) are 

proposed to be revised to read as 

follows: 

§ 570.61 Occupations in the operation of 

power-driven meat-processing machines 

and occupations involving slaughtering, 

meat and poultry packing, processing, or 

rendering (Order 10). 

(a) * * * 

(4) All occupations involved in the 

operation or feeding of the following 

power-driven machines, including 

setting-up, adjusting, repairing, or oiling 

such machines or the cleaning of such 

machines or the individual parts or 

attachments of such machines, 

regardless of the product being 

processed by these machines (including, 

for example, the slicing in a retail 

delicatessen of meat, poultry, seafood, 

bread, vegetables, or cheese, etc.): meat 

patty forming machines, meat and bone 

cutting saws, meat slicers, knives 

(except bacon-slicing machines), 

headsplitters, and guillotine cutters; 

snoutpullers and jawpullers; skinning 

machines; horizontal rotary washing 

machines; casing-cleaning machines 

such as crushing, stripping, and 

finishing machines; grinding, mixing, 

chopping, and hashing machines; and 

presses (except belly-rolling machines). 

* * * * * 

(b) Definitions. As used in this 

section: 

Boning occupations means the 

removal of bones from meat cuts. It does 

not include work that involves cutting, 

scraping, or trimming meat from cuts 

containing bones. 

Curing cellar includes a workroom or 

workplace which is primarily devoted 

to the preservation and flavoring of 

meat, including poultry, by curing 

materials. It does not include a 

workroom or workplace solely where 

meats are smoked. 

Hide cellar includes a workroom or 

workplace where hides are graded, 

trimmed, salted, and otherwise cured. 

Killing floor includes a workroom, 

workplace where such animals as cattle, 

calves, hogs, poultry, sheep, lambs, 

goats, buffalo, deer, or horses are 

immobilized, shackled, or killed, and 

the carcasses are dressed prior to 

chilling. 

Retail/wholesale or service 

establishments include establishments 

where meat or meat products, including 

poultry, are processed or handled, such 

as butcher shops, grocery stores, 

restaurants and quick service food 

establishments, hotels, delicatessens, 

and meat locker (freezer-locker) 

companies, and establishments where 

any food product is prepared or 

processed for serving to customers using 

machines prohibited by paragraph (a) of 

this section. 

Rendering plants means 

establishments engaged in the 

conversion of dead animals, animal 

offal, animal fats, scrap meats, blood, 

and bones into stock feeds, tallow, 

inedible greases, fertilizer ingredients, 

and similar products. 

Slaughtering and meat packing 

establishments means places in or about 

which such animals as cattle, calves, 

hogs, poultry, sheep, lambs, goats, 

buffalo, deer, or horses are killed, 

butchered, or processed. The term also 

includes establishments which 

manufacture or process meat or poultry 

products, including sausage or sausage 

casings from such animals. 

(c) * * * 

(1) The killing and processing of 

rabbits or small game in areas physically 

separated from the killing floor. 

* * * * * 

11. In § 570.62, paragraph (a)(2) is 

proposed to be revised, and a new 

paragraph (b) is proposed to be added, 

to read as follows: 

§ 570.62 Occupations involved in the 

operation of bakery machines (Order 11). 

(a) * * * 

(2) The occupation of setting up or 

adjusting a cookie or cracker machine. 

(b) Exceptions. (1) This section shall 

not apply to the operation, including the 

setting up, adjusting, repairing, oiling 

and cleaning, of lightweight, small 

capacity, portable counter-top powerdriven food mixers that are, or are 

comparable to, models intended for 

household use. For purposes of this 

exemption, a lightweight, small capacity 

mixer is one that is not hardwired into 

the establishment’s power source, is 

equipped with a motor that operates at 

no more than 1⁄2 horsepower, and is 

equipped with a bowl with a capacity of 

no more than five quarts. 

(2) This section shall not apply to the 

operation of pizza-dough rollers, a type 

of dough sheeter, that: have been 

constructed with safeguards contained 

in the basic design so as to prevent 

fingers, hands, or clothing from being 

caught in the in-running point of the 

rollers; have gears that are completely 

enclosed; and have microswitches that 

disengage the machinery if the backs or 

sides of the rollers are removed. This 

exception applies only when all the 

safeguards detailed in this paragraph are 

present on the machine, are operational, 

and have not been overridden. This 

exception does not apply to the setting 

up, adjusting, repairing, oiling or 

cleaning of such pizza-dough rollers. 


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12. In § 570.63, the section heading 

and paragraphs (a)(2) and (b) are 

proposed to be revised, and new 

paragraphs (a)(3) and (a)(4) are proposed 

to be added, to read as follows: 

§ 570.63 Occupations involved in the 

operation of paper-products machines, 

balers, and compactors (HO 12). 

(a) * * * 

(2) The occupations of operation or 

assisting to operate any baler that is 

designed or used to process materials 

other than paper. 

(3) The occupations of operation or 

assisting to operate any compactor that 

is designed or used to process materials 

other than paper. 

(4) The occupations of setting up, 

adjusting, repairing, oiling, or cleaning 

any of the machines listed in paragraphs 

(a)(1), (2), and (3) of this section. 

(b) Definitions. As used in this 

section: 

Applicable ANSI Standard means the 

American National Standard Institute’s 

Standard ANSI Z245.5–1990 

(‘‘American National Standard for 

Refuse Collection, Processing, and 

Disposal—Baling Equipment—Safety 

Requirements’’) for scrap paper balers or 

the American National Standard 

Institute’s Standard ANSI Z245.2–1992 

(‘‘American National Standard for 

Refuse Collection, Processing, and 

Disposal Equipment—Stationary 

Compactors—Safety Requirements’’) for 

paper box compactors. Additional 

applicable standards are the American 

National Standard Institute’s Standard 

ANSI Z245.5–1997 (‘‘American National 

Standard for Equipment Technology 

and Operations for Wastes and 

Recyclable Materials—Baling 

Equipment—Safety Requirements’’) for 

scrap paper balers or the American 

National Standard Institute’s Standard 

ANSI Z245.2–1997 (‘‘American National 

Standard for Equipment Technology 

and Operations for Wastes and 

Recyclable Materials—Stationary 

Compactors—Safety Requirements’’) for 

paper box compactors, which the 

Secretary has certified to be at least as 

protective of the safety of minors as 

Standard ANSI Z245.5–1990 for scrap 

paper balers or ANSI Z245.2–1992 for 

paper box compactors. The ANSI 

standards for scrap paper balers and 

paper box compactors govern the 

manufacture and modification of the 

equipment, the operation and 

maintenance of the equipment, and 

employee training. These ANSI 

standards are incorporated by reference 

in this paragraph and have the same 

force and effect as other standards in 

this part. Only the mandatory 

provisions (i.e., provisions containing 

the word ‘‘shall’’ or other mandatory 

language) of these standards are adopted 

as standards under this part. These 

standards are incorporated by reference 

as they exist on the date of the approval; 

if any changes are made in these 

standards which the Secretary finds to 

be as protective of the safety of minors 

as the current standards, the Secretary 

will publish a Notice of the change of 

standards in the Federal Register. These 

incorporations by reference were 

approved by the Director of the Federal 

Register in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 

552(a) and 1 CFR part 51. Copies of 

these standards are available for 

purchase from the American National 

Standards Institute (ANSI), 23 West 

43rd St., Fourth Floor, New York, NY 

10036. In addition, these standards are 

available for inspection at the National 

Archives and Records Administration 

(NARA) and at the Occupational Safety 

and Health Administration’s Docket 

Office, Room N–2625, U.S. Department 

of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, 

NW., Washington, DC 20210, or any of 

its regional offices. For information on 

the availability of this material at 

NARA, call 202–741–6030, or go to: 

http://www.archives.gov/ 

federal_register/ 

code_of_federal_regulations/ 

ibr_locations.html. 

Baler that is designed or used to 

process materials other than paper 

means a powered machine designed or 

used to compress materials other than 

paper and cardboard boxes, with or 

without binding, to a density or form 

that will support handling and 

transportation as a material unit without 

requiring a disposable or reusable 

container. 

Compactor that is designed or used to 

process materials other than paper 

means a powered machine that remains 

stationary during operation, designed or 

used to compact refuse other than paper 

or cardboard boxes into a detachable or 

integral container or into a transfer 

vehicle. 

Operating or assisting to operate 

means all work that involves starting or 

stopping a machine covered by this 

section, placing materials into or 

removing materials from a machine, 

including clearing a machine of jammed 

materials, paper, or cardboard, or any 

other work directly involved in 

operating the machine. The term does 

not include the stacking of materials by 

an employee in an area nearby or 

adjacent to the machine where such 

employee does not place the materials 

into the machine. 

Paper box compactor means a 

powered machine that remains 

stationary during operation, used to 

compact refuse, including paper boxes, 

into a detachable or integral container or 

into a transfer vehicle. 

Paper products machine means all 

power-driven machines used in (1) 

remanufacturing or converting paper or 

pulp into a finished product, including 

preparing such materials for recycling; 

or (2) preparing such materials for 

disposal. The term applies to such 

machines whether they are used in 

establishments that manufacture 

converted paper or pulp products, or in 

any other type of manufacturing or 

nonmanufacturing establishment. The 

term also applies to those machines 

which, in addition to paper products, 

process other material for disposal. 

Scrap paper baler means a powered 

machine used to compress paper and 

possibly other solid waste, with or 

without binding, to a density or form 

that will support handling and 

transportation as a material unit without 

requiring a disposable or reusable 

container. 

* * * * * 

13. In § 570.65, the section heading 

and paragraphs (a)(2) and (b) are 

proposed to be revised, and a new 

paragraph (a)(3) is proposed to be 

added, to read as follows: 

§ 570.65 Occupations involving the 

operation of circular saws, band saws, 

guillotine shears, chain saws, reciprocating 

saws, and wood chippers (Order 14). 

(a) * * * 

(2) The occupations of operator of or 

helper on the following power-driven 

fixed or portable machines: 

(i) Chain saws. 

(ii) Wood chippers. 

(iii) Reciprocating saws. 

(3) The occupations of setting-up, 

adjusting, repairing, oiling, or cleaning 

circular saws, band saws, guillotine 

shears, chain saws, wood chippers, and 

reciprocating saws. 

(b) Definitions. As used in this 

section: 

Band saw shall mean a machine 

equipped with an endless steel band 

having a continuous series of notches or 

teeth, running over wheels or pulleys, 

and used for sawing materials. 

Chain saw shall mean a machine that 

has teeth linked together to form an 

endless chain used for cutting materials. 

Circular saw shall mean a machine 

equipped with a thin steel disc having 

a continuous series of notches or teeth 

on the periphery, mounted on shafting, 

and used for sawing materials. 

Guillotine shear shall mean a machine 

equipped with a moveable blade 

operated vertically and used to shear 

materials. The term shall not include 

other types of shearing machines, using 


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3Both of these exemptions are contained in 

section 13(d) of the FLSA. 

4Section 3(d) defines ‘employer’ as including 

‘‘any person acting directly or indirectly in the 

interest of an employer in relation to an employee 

and includes a public agency, but does not include 

any labor organization (other than when acting as 

an employer) or anyone acting in the capacity of 

officer or agent of such labor organization.’’

a different form of shearing action, such 

as alligator shears or circular shears. 

Helper shall mean a person who 

assists in the operation of a machine 

covered by this section by helping place 

materials into or remove them from the 

machine. 

Operator shall mean a person who 

operates a machine covered by this 

section by performing such functions as 

starting or stopping the machine, 

placing materials into or removing them 

from the machine, or any other 

functions directly involved in operation 

of the machine. 

Reciprocating saw shall mean a 

machine equipped with a moving blade 

that alternately changes direction on a 

linear cutting axis used for sawing 

materials. 

Wood chipper shall mean a machine 

equipped with a feed mechanism, 

knives mounted on a rotating chipper 

disc or drum, and a power plant used 

to reduce to chips or shred such 

materials as tree branches, trunk 

segments, landscape waste, and other 

materials. 

* * * * * 

Subpart G—General Statements of 

Interpretation of the Child Labor 

Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards 

Act of 1938, as Amended 

14. The authority citation for subpart 

G continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 52 Stat. 1060–1069 as amended; 

29 U.S.C. 201–219. 

15. In § 570.103, paragraph (c) is 

proposed to be revised to read as 

follows: 

§ 570.103 Comparison with wage and hour 

provisions. 

* * * * * 

(c) Another distinction is that the 

exemptions provided by the Act from 

the minimum wage and/or overtime 

provisions are more numerous and 

differ from the exemptions granted from 

the child labor provisions. There are 

only eight specific child labor 

exemptions of which only two apply to 

the minimum wage and overtime pay 

requirements as well. These are the 

exemptions for employees engaged in 

the delivery of newspapers to the 

consumer and homeworkers engaged in 

the making of wreaths composed 

principally of evergreens.3 With these 

two exceptions, none of the specific 

exemptions from the minimum wage 

and/or overtime pay requirements 

applies to the child labor provisions. 

However, it should be noted that the 

exclusion of certain employers by 

section 3(d)4 of the Act applies to the 

child labor provisions as well as the 

wage and hours provisions. 

16. Sections 570.118 through 570.120 

are proposed to be revised to read as 

follows: 

§ 570.118 Sixteen-year minimum. 

The Act sets a 16-year-age minimum 

for employment in manufacturing or 

mining occupations, though under 

FLSA section 13(c)(7), certain youth 

between the ages of 14 and 18 may, 

under specific conditions, be employed 

inside and outside of places of business 

that use power-driven machinery to 

process wood products. Furthermore, 

the 16-year-age minimum for 

employment is applicable to 

employment in all other occupations 

unless otherwise provided by regulation 

or order issued by the Secretary. 

§ 570.119 Fourteen-year minimum. 

With respect to employment in 

occupations other than manufacturing 

and mining and in accordance with the 

provisions of FLSA section 13(c)(7), the 

Secretary is authorized to issue 

regulations or orders lowering the age 

minimum to 14 years where he or she 

finds that such employment is confined 

to periods that will not interfere with 

the minors’ schooling and to conditions 

that will not interfere with their health 

and well-being. Pursuant to this 

authority, the Secretary has detailed in 

§ 570.33 the most commonly asked 

about occupations in which the 

employment of 14- and 15-year-olds is 

not permitted and in § 570.34 those 

occupations in which 14- and 15-yearolds may be employed when the work 

is performed outside school hours and 

is confined to other specified limits. The 

Secretary has also set forth, in § 570.35, 

additional conditions that limit the 

periods during which 14- and 15-yearolds may be employed. The 

employment of minors under 14 years of 

age is not permissible under any 

circumstances if the employment is 

covered by the child labor provisions 

and not specifically exempt. 

§ 570.120 Eighteen-year minimum. 

To protect young workers from 

hazardous employment, the FLSA 

provides for a minimum age of 18 years 

in occupations found and declared by 

the Secretary to be particularly 

hazardous or detrimental to health or 

well-being for minors 16 and 17 years of 

age. Hazardous occupations orders are 

the means through which occupations 

are declared to be particularly 

hazardous for minors. Since 1995, the 

promulgation and amending of the 

hazardous occupations orders has been 

placed solely within the purview of the 

Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 

U.S.C. 551 et seq. The effect of these 

orders is to raise the minimum age for 

employment to 18 years in the 

occupations covered. Seventeen orders, 

published in subpart E of this part, have 

thus far been issued under the FLSA 

and are now in effect. 

17. In § 570.122, it is proposed to add 

new paragraphs (e), (f), (g), and (h) that 

are proposed to read as follows: 

§ 570.122 General. 

* * * * * 

(e) Employment of homeworkers 

engaged in the making of evergreen 

wreaths, including the harvesting of the 

evergreens or other forest products used 

in making such wreaths. 

(f) Employment of 16- and 17-yearolds to load, but not operate or unload, 

certain scrap paper balers and paper box 

compactors under specified conditions. 

(g) Employment of 17-year-olds to 

perform limited driving of cars and 

trucks during daylight hours under 

specified conditions. 

(h) Employment of youths between 

the ages of 14 and 18 years who, by 

statute or judicial order, are excused 

from compulsory school attendance 

beyond the eighth grade, under 

specified conditions, in places of 

business that use power-driven 

machinery to process wood products. 

18. It is proposed to remove the center 

heading ‘‘Enforcement’’ and revise 

§ 570.127 to read as follows: 

§ 570.127 Homeworkers engaged in the 

making of evergreen wreaths. 

FLSA section 13(d) provides an 

exemption from the child labor 

provisions, as well as the minimum 

wage and overtime provisions, for 

homeworkers engaged in the making of 

wreaths composed principally of natural 

holly, pine, cedar, or other evergreens 

(including the harvesting of the 

evergreens or other forest products used 

in making such wreaths). 

§ 570.128 [Redesignated as § 570.141] 

19. Section 570.128 is proposed to be 

redesignated as § 570.141 and a new 

§ 570.128 is proposed to be added to 

read as follows: 

§ 570.128 Loading of certain scrap paper 

balers and paper box compactors. 

Section 13(c)(5) of the FLSA provides 

for an exemption from the child labor 


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provisions for the employment of 16- 

and 17-year-olds to load, but not operate 

or unload, certain power-driven scrap 

paper balers and paper box compactors 

under certain conditions. The 

provisions of this exemption, which are 

contained in HO 12 (§ 570.63), include 

that the scrap paper baler or compactor 

meet an applicable standard established 

by the ANSI identified in the statute, or 

a more recent ANSI standard that the 

Secretary of Labor has found and 

declared to be as protective of the safety 

of young workers as the ANSI standard 

named in the statute. In addition, the 

scrap paper baler or paper box 

compactor must include an on-off 

switch incorporating a key-lock or other 

system and the control of the system 

must be maintained in the custody of 

employees who are at least 18 years of 

age. The on-off switch of the scrap paper 

baler or paper box compactor must be 

maintained in an off position when the 

machine is not in operation. 

Furthermore, the employer must also 

post a notice on the scrap paper baler or 

paper box compactor that conveys 

certain information, including the 

identification of the applicable ANSI 

standard that the equipment meets, that 

16- and 17-year-old employees may only 

load the scrap paper baler or paper box 

compactor, and that no employee under 

the age of 18 may operate or unload the 

scrap paper baler or paper box 

compactor. 

§ 570.129 [Redesignated as § 570.142] 

20. Section 570.129 is proposed to be 

redesignated as § 570.142 and a new 

§ 570.129 is proposed to be added to 

read as follows: 

§ 570.129 Limited driving of automobiles 

and trucks by 17-year-olds. 

Section 13(c)(6) of the FLSA provides 

an exemption for 17-year-olds, but not 

16-year-olds, who, as part of their 

employment, perform the occasional 

and incidental driving of automobiles 

and trucks on public highways under 

specified conditions. These specific 

conditions, which are contained in HO 

2 (§ 570.52), include that the automobile 

or truck may not exceed 6,000 pounds 

gross vehicle weight, the driving must 

be restricted to daylight hours, the 

vehicle must be equipped with a seat 

belt or similar restraining device for the 

driver and for any passengers, and the 

employer must instruct the employee 

that such belts or other devices must be 

used. In addition, the 17-year-old must 

hold a State license valid for the type of 

driving involved in the job, have 

successfully completed a Stateapproved driver education course, and 

have no records of any moving 

violations at the time of his or her hire. 

The exemption also prohibits the minor 

from performing any driving involving 

the towing of vehicles; route deliveries 

or route sales; the transportation for hire 

of property, goods, or passengers; 

urgent, time-sensitive deliveries; or the 

transporting of more than three 

passengers at any one time. The 

exemption also places limitations on the 

number of trips the 17-year-old may 

make each day and restricts the driving 

to a thirty mile radius of the minor’s 

place of employment. 

21. It is proposed that a new § 570.130 

be added to read as follows: 

§ 570.130 Employment of certain youth 

inside and outside of places of business 

that use power-driven machinery to process 

wood products. 

Section 13(c)(7) of the FLSA provides 

a limit exemption from the child labor 

provisions for certain youths between 

the ages of 14 and 18 years who, by 

statute or judicial order, are excused 

from compulsory school attendance 

beyond the eighth grade, that permits 

their employment inside and outside of 

places of business that use power-driven 

machinery to process wood products. 

The provisions of this exemption are 

contained in subpart C of this part 

(§ 570.34(m)) and HO 4 (§ 570.54). 

Although the exemption allows certain 

youths between the ages of 14 and 18 

years to be employed inside and outside 

of places of business that use powerdriven machines to process wood 

products, it does so only if such youths 

do not operate or assist in the operation 

of power-driven woodworking 

machines. The exemption also requires 

that the youth be supervised by an adult 

relative or by an adult member of the 

same religious sect as the youth. The 

youth must also be protected from wood 

particles or other flying debris within 

the workplace by a barrier appropriate 

to the potential hazard of such wood 

particles or flying debris or by 

maintaining a sufficient distance from 

machinery in operation. For the 

exemption to apply, the youth must also 

be required to use personal protective 

equipment to prevent exposure to 

excessive levels of noise and sawdust. 

22. It is proposed that new §§ 570.131 

through 570.139 be added and reserved. 

§§ 570.131 through 570.139 (Reserved). 

23. It is proposed that a center 

heading and new § 570.140 be added to 

read as follows: 

Enforcement 

§ 570.140 General. 

(a) Section 15(a)(4) of the Act makes 

any violation of the provisions of 

sections 12(a) or 12(c) unlawful. Any 

such unlawful act or practice may be 

enjoined by the United States District 

Courts under section 17 upon court 

action, filed by the Secretary pursuant 

to section 12(b) and, if willful will 

subject the offender to the criminal 

penalties provided in section 16(a) of 

the Act. Section 16(a) provides that any 

person who willfully violates any of the 

provisions of section 15 shall upon 

conviction thereof be subject to a fine of 

not more than $10,000, or to 

imprisonment for not more than six 

months, or both. No person shall be 

imprisoned under this subsection 

except for an offense committed after 

the conviction of such person for a prior 

offense under this subsection. 

(b) In addition, FLSA section 16(e) 

states that any person who violates the 

provisions of FLSA section 12, relating 

to child labor, or any regulations issued 

under that section, shall be subject to a 

civil penalty, currently not to exceed 

$11,000 for each employee who was the 

subject of such a violation. Part 579 of 

this chapter, Child Labor Violations—

Civil Money Penalties, provides for the 

issuance of the notice of civil money 

penalties for any violation of FLSA 

section 12 relating to child labor. Part 

580 of this chapter, Civil Money 

Penalties—Procedures for Assessing and 

Contesting Penalties, describes the 

administrative process for assessment 

and resolution of the civil money 

penalties. When a civil money penalty 

is assessed against an employer for a 

youth employment violation, the 

employer has the right, within 15 days 

after receipt of the notice of such 

penalty, to file an exception to the 

determination that the violation or 

violations occurred. When such an 

exception is filed with the office making 

the assessment, the matter is referred to 

the Chief Administrative Law Judge, 

and a formal hearing is scheduled. At 

such a hearing, the employer or an 

attorney retained by the employer may 

present such witnesses, introduce such 

evidence and establish such facts as the 

employer believes will support the 

exception. The determination of the 

amount of any civil money penalty 

becomes final if no exception is taken to 

the administrative assessment thereof, 

or if no exception is filed to the decision 

and order of the administrative law 

judge. 

[FR Doc. E7–7053 Filed 4–16–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–27–P 


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