Job Killing Regulations in Agriculture – An Example Republicans May Not Want to Use

Of Course, They May Not Care That Much About Child Safety



What Could Go Wrong Here?



One of the legacies of the 1930’s depression era labor laws is that farm labor was in some cases is exempted from the regulation of safety.  Now the U. S. Department of Labor is considering a revision of labor regulations with respect to workers 15 and under, those people many of us call “children”.  For example

According to Purdue University, 26 people died in U.S. grain-elevator accidents in 2010. Six of the fatalities involved children under the age of 16. . . agriculture still has the second-highest fatality rate among youth workers, and a fatality rate that is nearly six times the average across all industries.

What kinds of child killing job killing regulations does the Labor Department have in mind?

Under the proposed changes, laborers who are hired to do such things as drive most tractors or work in tobacco fields would have to be at least 16 years old. Workers who toil in tobacco fields can be exposed to unsafe levels of nicotine, a problem called green-tobacco sickness

And incredible as it may seem, some do-gooders want the regulations to go even further.



It' just a farm implement



child-safety advocates want Washington to get tougher than current labor law, which allows 16-year-olds to perform jobs on the farm that regulators deem too hazardous for them to do off the farm at that age, such as handling dynamite, chainsaws and pesticides.

Well we all know that Conservatives care deeply about future generations and are fighting government deficits to keep from placing burdens on our children and grandchildren.  So one hopes that even Conservatives would support the chainsaw regulations. 




Enjoying the 2nd Amendment
right to bear chainsaws

 

In News that did not happen, an NRA spokesman said that “Not allowing 16 year olds to use a chainsaw makes them highly vulnerable to a chainsaw attack that they could not defend themselves against.  Didn’t you people see ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, do you want  your children helpless against those weapons?”