Just what did the Labor Department do? They issued "Subpart E–1—Occupations in Agriculture Particularly Hazardous for the Employment of Children Below the Age of 16". That's right the Labor Department established new rules for children working in Agriculture, children younger than 16 years of age.
How dare the Labor Department interfere with the operations of a family farm, and the historic rites of passage for rural youth. And that is where the demagoguery comes in. These regulations do not affect family farms! Specifically, §570.70 (b), which is listed at the top of the regulation under the heading "Exception" says "This subpart shall not apply to the employment of a child below the age of 16 by his parent or by a person standing in the place of his parent on a farm owned or operated by such parent or person."
Brownback and Attorney General Derek Schmidt, an official statement from Brownback's office reported, said that "they both benefited from spending time working on family members’ farms.
However, the proposed rule threatens this Kansas tradition."
See, https://governor.ks.gov/frontpagenews/2011/12/01/governor-brownback-attorney-general-schmidt-say-federal-proposal-bad-for-kansas-agriculture.
However, the proposed rule threatens this Kansas tradition."
See, https://governor.ks.gov/frontpagenews/2011/12/01/governor-brownback-attorney-general-schmidt-say-federal-proposal-bad-for-kansas-agriculture.
I expect the State's top lawyer to read the rule before he opens his mouth and demonstrates why he wasn't a very good choice for the job he holds. If Brownback's staff was as eager to get good information to the Governor as they are in haranguing high school students for the content of their Twitter accounts then Brownback wouldn't look so bad for the second time in a week.
The Governor's statement said that Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Dale Rodman, Secretary of Commerce Pat George and Secretary of Labor Karin Brownlee voiced similar concerns in a separate letter.
Here is the list of what children may no longer do as agricultural employees.
a) Findings and declarations of fact as to specific occupations. The following occupations in agriculture are particularly hazardous for the employment of children below the age of 16:
(1) Operating a tractor of over 20 PTO horsepower, or connecting or disconnecting an implement or any of its parts to or from such a tractor.
(2) Operating or assisting to operate (including starting, stopping, adjusting, feeding, or any other activity involving physical contact associated with the operation) any of the following machines:
(i) Corn picker, cotton picker, grain combine, hay mower, forage harvester, hay baler, potato digger, or mobile pea viner;
(ii) Feed grinder, crop dryer, forage blower, auger conveyor, or the unloading mechanism of a nongravity-type self-unloading wagon or trailer; or
(iii) Power post-hole digger, power post driver, or nonwalking type rotary tiller.
(3) Operating or assisting to operate (including starting, stopping, adjusting, feeding, or any other activity involving physical contact associated with the operation) any of the following machines:
(i) Trencher or earthmoving equipment;
(ii) Fork lift;
(iii) Potato combine; or
(iv) Power-driven circular, band, or chain saw.
(4) Working on a farm in a yard, pen, or stall occupied by a:
(i) Bull, boar, or stud horse maintained for breeding purposes; or
(ii) Sow with suckling pigs, or cow with newborn calf (with umbilical cord present)
(5) Felling, bucking, skidding, loading, or unloading timber with butt diameter of more than 6 inches.
(6) Working from a ladder or scaffold (painting, repairing, or building structures, pruning trees, picking fruit, etc.) at a height of over 20 feet.
(7) Driving a bus, truck, or automobile when transporting passengers, or riding on a tractor as a passenger or helper.
(8) Working inside:
(i) A fruit, forage, or grain storage designed to retain an oxygen deficient or toxic atmosphere;
(ii) An upright silo within 2 weeks after silage has been added or when a top unloading device is in operating position;
(iii) A manure pit; or
(iv) A horizontal silo while operating a tractor for packing purposes.
(9) Handling or applying (including cleaning or decontaminating equipment, disposal or return of empty containers, or serving as a flagman for aircraft applying) agricultural chemicals classified under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (7 U.S.C. 135 et seq. ) as Category I of toxicity, identified by the word “poison” and the “skull and crossbones” on the label; or Category II of toxicity, identified by the word “warning” on the label;
(10) Handling or using a blasting agent, including but not limited to, dynamite, black powder, sensitized ammonium nitrate, blasting caps, and primer cord; or
(11) Transporting, transferring, or applying anhydrous ammonia.
(b) Occupational definitions. In applying machinery, equipment, or facility terms used in paragraph (a) of this section, the Wage and Hour Division will be guided by the definitions contained in the current edition of Agricultural Engineering, a dictionary and handbook, Interstate Printers and Publishers, Danville, Ill. Copies of this dictionary and handbook are available for examination in Regional Offices of the Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor.
[35 FR 221, Jan. 7, 1970. Redesignated at 36 FR 25156, Dec. 29, 1971]
This reasonable list is followed by more exceptions. They are the 4-H exceptions which basically carves out wiggle room for student learners, permits students to operate certain machinery after they have passed the tests listed in the 4-H manual, and then details the 4-H learning curve. Here it is from §570.72.
a) Student-learners. The findings and declarations of fact in §570.71(a) shall not apply to the employment of any child as vocational agriculture student-learner in any of the occupations described in paragraph (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), or (6) of §570.71(a) when each of the following requirements are met:
(1) The student-learner is enrolled in a vocational education training program in agriculture under a recognized State or local educational authority, or in a substantially similar program conducted by a private school;
(2) Such student-learner is employed under a written agreement which provides; (i) that the work of the student-learner is incidental to his training; (ii) that such work shall be intermittent, for short periods of time, and under the direct and close supervision of a qualified and experienced person; (iii) that safety instruction shall be given by the school and correlated by the employer with on-the-job training; and (iv) that a schedule of organized and progressive work processes to be performed on the job have been prepared;
(3) Such written agreement contains the name of the student-learner, and is signed by the employer and by a person authorized to represent the educational authority or school; and
(4) Copies of each such agreement are kept on file by both the educational authority or school and by the employer.
(b) Federal Extension Service. The findings and declarations of fact in §570.71(a) shall not apply to the employment of a child under 16 years of age in those occupations in which he has successfully completed one or more training programs described in paragraph (b) (1), (2), or (3) of this section provided he has been instructed by his employer on safe and proper operation of the specific equipment he is to use; is continuously and closely supervised by the employer where feasible; or, where not feasible, in work such as cultivating, his safety is checked by the employer at least at midmorning, noon, and midafternoon.
(1) 4–H tractor operation program. The child is qualified to be employed in an occupation described in §570.71(a)(1) provided:
(i) He is a 4–H member;
(ii) He is 14 years of age, or older;
(iii) He is familiar with the normal working hazards in agriculture;
(iv) He has completed a 10-hour training program which includes the following units from the manuals of the 4–H tractor program conducted by, or in accordance with the requirements of, the Cooperative Extension Service of a land grant university:
( a ) First-year Manual:
Unit 1—Learning How to be Safe;
Unit 4—The Instrument Panel;
Unit 5—Controls for Your Tractor;
Unit 6—Daily Maintenance and Safety Check; and
Unit 7—Starting and Stopping Your Tractor;
( b ) Second-year Manual:
Unit 1—Tractor Safety on the Farm;
( c ) Third-year Manual:
Unit 1—Tractor Safety on the Highway;
Unit 3—Hitches, Power-take-off, and Hydraulic Controls;
(v) He has passed a written examination on tractor safety and has demonstrated his ability to operate a tractor safely with a two-wheeled trailed implement on a course similar to one of the 4–H Tractor Operator's Contest Courses; and
(vi) His employer has on file with the child's records kept pursuant to part 516 of this title (basically, name, address, and date of birth) a copy of a certificate acceptable by the Wage and Hour Division, signed by the leader who conducted the training program and by an Extension Agent of the Cooperative Extension Service of a land grant university to the effect that the child has completed all the requirements specified in paragraphs (b)(1) (i) through (v) of this section.
(2) 4–H machine operation program. The child is qualified to be employed in an occupation described in §570.71(a)(2) providing:
(i) He satisfies all the requirements specified in paragraphs (b)(2)(i) through (v) of this section;
(ii) He has completed an additional 10-hour training program on farm machinery safety, including 4–H Fourth-Year Manual, Unit 1, Safe Use of Farm Machinery;
(iii) He has passed a written and practical examination on safe machinery operation; and
(iv) His employer has on file with the child's records kept pursuant to part 516 of this title (basically, name, address, and date of birth) a copy of a certificate acceptable by the Wage and Hour Division, signed by the leader who conducted the training program and by an Extension Agent of the Cooperative Extension Service of a land grant university, to the effect that the child has completed all of the requirements specified in paragraphs (b)(2) (i) through (iii) of this section.
(3) Tractor and machine operation program. The child is qualified to be employed in an occupation described in §570.71(a) (1) and (2) providing:
(i) He is 14 years of age, or older;
(ii) He has completed a 4-hour orientation course familiarizing him with the normal working hazards in agriculture;
(iii) He has completed a 20-hour training program on safe operation of tractors and farm machinery, which covers all material specified in paragraphs (b) (1)(iv) and (2)(ii) of this section.
(iv) He has passed a written examination on tractor and farm machinery safety, and has demonstrated his ability to operate a tractor with a two-wheeled trailed implement on a course similar to a 4–H Tractor Operator's Contest Course, and to operate farm machinery safely.
(v) His employer has on file with the child's records kept pursuant to part 516 of this title (basically, name, address and date of birth) a copy of a certificate acceptable by the Wage and Hour Division, signed by the volunteer leader who conducted the training program and by an Extension Agent of the Cooperative Extension Service of a land grant university, to the effect that all of the requirements of paragraphs (b)(2) (i) through (iv) of this section have been met.
(c) Vocational agriculture training. The findings and declarations of fact in §570.71(a) shall not apply to the employment of a vocational agriculture student under 16 years of age in those occupations in which he has successfully completed one or more training programs described in paragraph (c)(1) or (2) of this section and who has been instructed by his employer in the safe and proper operation of the specific equipment he is to use, who is continuously and closely supervised by his employer where feasible or, where not feasible, in work such as cultivating, whose safety is checked by the employer at least at midmorning, noon, and midafternoon, and who also satisfies whichever of the following program requirements are pertinent:
(1) Tractor operation program. The student is qualified to be employed in an occupation described in §570.71(a)(1) provided:
(i) He is 14 years of age, or older;
(ii) He is familiar with the normal working hazards in agriculture;
(iii) He has completed a 15-hour training program which includes the required units specified in the Vocational Agriculture Training Program in Safe Tractor Operation, outlined by the Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and acceptable by the U.S. Department of Labor. The training program is outlined in Special Paper No. 8, April 1969, prepared at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich., for the Office of Education. Copies of this training program outline are available for examination in the Regional Offices of the Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor, and a copy may be obtained from the Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, DC 20202.
(iv) He has passed both a written test and a practical test on tractor safety including a demonstration of his ability to operate safely a tractor with a two-wheeled trailed implement on a test course similar to that described in the Vocational Agriculture Training Program in Safe Tractor Operation, outlined by the Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; and
(v) His employer has on file with the child's records kept pursuant to part 516 of this title (basically, name, address, and date of birth) a copy of a certificate acceptable by the Wage and Hour Division, signed by the Vocational Agriculture teacher who conducted the program to the effect that the student has completed all the requirements specified in paragraphs (c)(1)(i) through (iv) of this section.
(2) Machinery operation program. The student is qualified to be employed in an occupation described in paragraph (2) of §570.71(a) provided he has completed the Tractor Operation Program described in paragraph (c)(1) of this section and:
(i) He has completed an additional 10-hour training program which includes the required units specified in the Vocational Agriculture Training Program in Safe Farm Machinery Operation, outlined by the Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and approved by the U.S. Department of Labor;
(ii) He has passed both a written test and a practical test on safe machinery operation similar to that described in the Vocational Agriculture Training Program in Safe Farm Machinery Operation, outlined by the Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; and
(iii) His employer has on file with the child's records kept pursuant to part 516 of this title (basically, name, address and date of birth) a copy of a certificate acceptable by the Wage and Hour Division, signed by the Vocational Agriculture teacher who conducted the program to the effect that student has completed all the requirements specified in paragraphs (c)(2)(i) and (ii) of this section.
(d) Agency review. The provisions of paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) of this section will be reviewed and reevaluated before January 1, 1972. In addition, determinations will be made as to whether the use of protective frames, crush resistant cabs, and other personal protective devices should be made a condition of these exemptions.
You can read these regulations,on the e-cfr, for yourself at: http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=48d6ee3b99d3b3a97b1bf189e1757786&rgn=div5&view=text&node=29:3.1.1.1.30&idno=29#29:3.1.1.1.30.5.
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