Section 20. Hazardous occupations

This section identifies the occupations on farms, in gardens, and in orchards which are particularly hazardous for minors under 16 years of age. No employer shall employ, suffer, or permit a minor under 16 years of age to work in any of the following occupations, deemed to be particularly hazardous, except as provided in 16VAC15-50-30:

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:

a. Corn picker, cotton picker, grain combine, hay mower, forage harvester, hay baler, potato digger, or mobile pea viner;

b. Feed grinder, crop dryer, forage blower, auger conveyor, or the unloading mechanism of a nongravity-type self-unloading wagon or trailer; or

c. 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:

a. Earthmoving equipment;

b. Fork lift;

c. Potato combine; or

d. Chain saw.

4. Working on a farm in a yard, pen, or stall occupied by:

a. A bull, boar, or stud horse maintained for breeding purposes; or

b. A sow with suckling pigs, or cow with newborn calf (with umbilical cord present).

5. Working from a ladder at a height of over 20 feet for purposes such as pruning trees, picking fruit, etc.

6. Driving a bus, truck, or automobile when transporting passengers, or riding on a tractor as a passenger or helper.

7. Working inside:

a. A fruit, forage, or grain storage designed to retain an oxygen deficient or toxic atmosphere;

b. An upright silo within two weeks after silage has been added or when a top unloading device is in operating position;

c. A manure pit; or

d. A horizontal silo while operating a tractor for packing purposes.

8. 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 USC § 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;

9. Handling or using a blasting agent including, but not limited to, dynamite, black powder, sensitized ammonium nitrate, blasting caps, and primer cord; or

10. Transporting, transferring, or applying anhydrous ammonia.

Historical Notes

Derived from VR425-01-81:1 § 2, eff. July 13, 1994.

Statutory Authority

§§ 40.1-6(3), 40.1-100 A 9, and 40.1-114 of the Code of Virginia.