http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-09 ... -21924.pdf
The newly enacted FLSA section
13(c)(2) stated that ‘‘[t]he provisions of
section 12 relating to child labor shall
apply to an employee below the age of
sixteen employed in agriculture in any
occupations that the Secretary of Labor
finds and declares to be particularly
hazardous for the employment of
children below the age of sixteen,
except where such employee is
employed by his parent or by a person
standing in place of his parent on a farm
owned or operated by such parent or
person.’’ It is important to note that the
amendment created a minimum age of
16 for the permissible performance of
hazardous work in agricultural
occupations, although 18 remained the
minimum age for the performance of
hazardous work in nonagricultural
employment. This statutory difference
remains to this day.
The Department issued an ‘‘interim’’
Hazardous Occupations Order in
Agriculture on November 1, 1967,
which listed 16 Ag H.O.s (see 32 FR
15479). Secretary of Labor Willard
Wirtz, in his statement which
accompanied the Order, wrote ‘‘
n
issuing this Order, the Labor
Department enters a new field of
regulation—safety for youth employed
in agriculture. According to the National
Safety Council figures, the death rate for
agricultural workers is exceeded only by
those for miners and construction
workers. The agricultural revolution of
the past thirty years has mechanized the
farm and increased the use of chemicals.
Today the farm has many, if not more,
hazards than industry.’’
The Interim Order was effective from
January 1, 1968 to January 1, 1970. The
Interim Order was prepared in
consultation with farm organizations,
farm business groups, farm safety
experts, Federal and state government
agencies, and agricultural colleges. A
public hearing on the Order was held on
May 18, 1967 and written and oral
comments were received and reviewed.
The Interim Order prohibited the
employment of farm workers under 16
years of age in the following activities:
handling or using explosives or certain
farm chemicals; serving as a flagman for
aircraft; driving vehicles on public roads
or driving buses; operating, driving, or
riding farm tractors or hooking up their
power accessories with the motor
running; doing certain jobs on specified
farm tilling, handling, harvesting, and
processing equipment; operating power
post-hole diggers and post drivers;
working with power-saws; engaging in
timbering operations on trees over a 6-
inch diameter; working from ladders or
scaffolds at more than 20 feet; working
in certain gas-tight enclosures or in silos
with their top unloaders in the
operating position; and performing any
work in confined areas with stud horses,
dairy bulls, and boars.
The Interim Order noted that minors
under 16 who were employed by a
parent or by a person acting in place of
a parent on a farm owned or operated
by such parent or person were exempt
from the Ag H.O.s. It also created an
exemption for student-learners under
the age of 16 who were enrolled in a
bona fide cooperative vocational
program in agriculture under certain
conditions.
On June 6, 1968, the Department
modified the Interim Order to permit
14- and 15-year-olds to drive tractors
and operate other farm machinery
provided they completed a formal
training program in the safe use of such
equipment coordinated by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s Federal
Extension Service and its cooperative
units. The modification was published
in the Federal Register on June 11, 1968
(see 33 FR 8542). The Interim Order was
again amended on June 27, 1969 to
permit 14- and 15-year-old vocationalagricultural
students to operate tractors
and certain other farm equipment after
completing training in the safe use of
such equipment. This exemption was
requested by the Division of Vocational
and Technical Education, Office of
Education, U.S. Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare. This
modification was published in the
Federal Register on July 4, 1969 (see 34
FR 11263
