While writing this column for PRO each month is a challenge, nothing compares to the trials I face in one of my other jobs … being the mom of two boys.
At ages 12 and 9 their summer “jobs” have been pretty much limited to dog walking, weed pulling and a little bit of lawn mowing, but I already obsess about their safety; imploring them to watch for cars when crossing the street and reminding them to wear their bicycle helmets when they hit the road.
I anticipate a time in the not-too-distant future when their seasonal employment will be somewhat more dangerous and I won’t have any control over the situation. My mind flashes back to college friends who worked construction in the summer and were required to operate heavy equipment without any meaningful training. In their youth they thought it was a blast; now they realize they are lucky to be alive.
Then there’s this newspaper reporter I know who manages to be a darn quick typist despite only having nine fingers. He lost one the summer he came home from college to work in a brewery and his foreman neglected to tell him wearing his class ring on the job wasn’t a good idea. The ring got caught in the mechanism of a bottling machine.
I hope when the time comes for my boys to seek real summer employment they have bosses and co-workers who are more concerned about safety than my friends’ bosses were. In fact, I hope their future employers are as concerned about their safety as I am, though I’m not sure if any employer worries as much about a person’s safety as a mother does.
THE NUMBERS
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration estimates that each year, about 6 million young people, ages 16-19, join the national workforce by taking summer jobs. They work in service-oriented jobs and other fields. These jobs provide them with work experience and a paycheck, while also contributing to the national economy. Unfortunately these jobs will also provide some of them with traumatic injuries … or worse. On average, OSHA reports, three teens die every week due to a workplace injury.
Does that mean you shouldn’t take the risk and hire teens? No. It means you need to make sure you have created a culture of safety for all workers, including teens and temporary summer help. You’ve got to take the time to properly train summer help and you’ve got to communicate safety policies and procedures to teens. Remember, this may be their first real job. Advice you think is intuitive, like “don’t wear a ring around industrial equipment,” might not be obvious to them.
And the old adage, “don’t send a boy to do a man’s job” rings true, too. There are many age and job restrictions for people under 18. Here are just a few examples: Minors under age 18 are not allowed to operate certain power equipment you may have in your yard, including backhoes, skid loaders, forklifts and cranes.
Even if your summer employees are over 18 and can legally operate the above-mentioned equipment, that doesn’t mean they know how to do so safely if no one has taught them.
DO’S AND DON’TS
Different rules apply for different industries and some rules may be different when it comes to employing your own children. For some basic guidelines however, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health offers the following “do’s” and “don’ts” for hiring young people:
• Know the laws and check on your compliance.
• Do not hire someone younger than 16 except for office or sales work.
• Train young workers on what job tasks they can and cannot legally do.
• Do not give young workers tasks that require power tool use or heavy equipment operation.
• Make sure young workers get clear instructions for each and every task.
• Do not allow young workers to do tasks for which they are not trained or that violate the law.
• Make sure young workers know the federal and state youth employment rules.
• Do not establish work schedules that violate laws. Federal laws, and some state laws, prohibit certain young workers from working too long or too late.
• Ask young workers to demonstrate they understand what was taught to them.
• Do not assume young workers understand what they have been told.
• Provide young workers with appropriate and properly sized personal protective equipment, such as steel-toed shoes and hardhats.
• Provide adequate supervision.
• Correct mistakes.
• Stress safety to supervisors.
• Encourage supervisors to set a good example for safety attitudes and safe work habits.
• Do not let young workers work alone.
LEARN MORE
For more information, look at OSHA’s teen worker Web pages (www.osha.gov/SLTC/teenworkers) and the federal Department of Labor’s Web site on the topic: www.youthrules.dol.gov. Advise your teen employees to check out these sites too.
Make it a productive, safe summer for your entire company and especially your young workers. Make sure they return to school this fall with all 10 typing fingers. They will thank you; their mothers will thank you.
