This proposal likewise did not seem feasible. Based on visits to representative sawmills, there are no apparent operations that could take place in a separate walled-off room within a sawmill. Even at 150 feet away from the equipment or in a physically separate part of a sawmill building, youths may still be exposed to some danger. No. 4 was explicitly based not just on hazards from the equipment, but on hazards inherent in the sawmill operations, such as falling lumber. The injury rates in these industries are high.
Sawmills are dangerous places to work, even for adults.
Most were killed when they were either struck by an object or caught in a piece of equipment. The rate of injury in the lumber and wood products industry, which includes sawmills, is likewise high. A five year average of non-fatal injuries and illness in sawmills suggests nearly 8,000 workers annually suffer injuries severe enough to warrant a day away from work. Young workers' inexperience, smaller size, immaturity, and lack of training make employment in this industry even more dangerous for children. Even an adult presence in the workplace cannot always protect children from the split-second mistake that could cost them a finger, a hand, or worse.