Lawmakers in Olympia are considering a proposal that would create tougher regulations around youth labor in Washington. HB 1644 would set minimum penalties for youth labor violations and prohibit companies with multiple serious safety violations from hiring minors.
In 2023, a Washington teen lost both of his legs working on a construction site through a school program. An investigation by Cascade PBS found that public officials and the construction company disregarded safety rules leading up to the injury. Lizz Giordano is an investigative reporter at Cascade PBS. She joins us with details of the bill and her reporting.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Dave Miller:This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. A 16-year-old near Battle Ground, Washington lost both of his legs at a construction site accident in 2023. Last year, a 17-year-old in the state was injured while working on a logging crew. Now, lawmakers in Olympia are considering a proposal that would create tougher regulations around youth labor in Washington. Lizz Giordano is an investigative reporter at Cascade PBS. She’s been reporting on this for a while now, and she joins us with more details. Lizz, welcome to the show.
Lizz Giordano: Thanks for having me.
Miller: I want to start with the story of a boy you identified in your work only as Derrik. He lives outside of Battle Ground. Can you tell us what happened to him in June of 2023?
Giordano: Yeah. Derrik was working on a construction site as part of a school work program, and he was severely injured. He was using a piece of equipment, a walk-behind trencher, something that minors are never allowed to use. And he ended up becoming entrapped underneath and ended up losing both of his legs.
Miller: We’re going to get to the change in state youth labor laws that lawmakers are considering in just a second. But just to be clear, what happened to Derrik went against existing rules?
Giordano: Yeah.
Miller: Which ones?
Giordano: Prohibited machinery. There are certain jobs and tasks, like very dangerous ones, that minors are never allowed to do. They’re not allowed to use heavy equipment like trenchers, they’re not allowed to go log. There are some machines they can’t use in restaurants. Yeah, there’s certain tasks that the state determined are too dangerous for minors to do, and this was one of them.
Miller: Meanwhile, as I noted just briefly in my intro, just two days ago, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries announced another youth labor violation and fine. This one involved a 17-year-old who was injured while working as a logger. How common are workplace injuries for people under the age of 18?
Giordano: They’re becoming more common. Data shows that youth workers are more likely to get injured. They’re inexperienced. The data I used in my story found that employment since 2009, between 16- and 19-year-olds grew 38%, and worker compensation injury claims in that time period jumped 60% in younger workers.
Miller: So, an increase in both of those: more people 15, 16, 17 working, but a bigger increase than that in the number of injuries among these workers. How did people you talked to explain that?
Giordano: They talked about how younger workers are more inexperienced. They might be less likely to bring up an issue with their boss. They might be more intimidated. They’re less likely to know the kind of norms around workplaces. And in the construction industry, I found out that when you start at 18, you go through an apprenticeship program, in most cases – the unions often do this. And it’s just not something that young workers go through.
Miller: What would the bill that lawmakers in Olympia are considering do?
Giordano: The bill does two main things that Rep. Mary Fosse has brought forward. One, it establishes minimum penalties for violating youth labor law or if a youth gets hurt on the job. And it also prohibits companies from hiring minors who have a history of serious safety violations, I should say, or a history of youth labor violations.
Miller: What industries have come out against this bill?
Giordano: There hasn’t been a lot of people talking against it, criticism. But there was one representative from contractors associations that talked about how this bill would enact rigid fines that L&I has to impose, rather than letting L&I reduce penalties depending on the size of business, or if a business reworks safety plans and promises safety requirements or equipment. So they just argue against the rigid penalties.
Miller: Construction is one of the ones that has come up saying, hey, we’re not crazy about this bill. Is that one of the industries that has some of the higher rates of these injuries to begin with?
Giordano: Oh yeah, construction definitely does. I would say there is actually building trade unions in the construction trades that have come out for this bill. They want to see tougher safety regulations for minors on construction sites because they know how dangerous they can be.
Miller: I’m curious about that. Is it also the case that 17-year-olds, say, are not members of unions?
Giordano: I don’t know about that. I think it depends, I guess … I don’t know. I just know that Rotschy, the company that the kid was at, wasn’t a unionized company, so I think it depends. But if you’re a union worker and you get into a union apprenticeship job, you get a lot of safety training. And one thing I heard in the background and I never could be on the record about is that some people in the construction industry don’t think minors should ever be on a construction site. They just find it’s too dangerous and they find that safety training is really important to have.
Miller: You know, the boy who we talked about earlier, Derrik, who lost both of his legs, he was employed in a work-based learning program through the Battle Ground School District. What role do schools play in this conversation?
Giordano: According to program guidelines, schools are supposed to conduct a safety site visit before students start working on sites. They’re supposed to monitor safety. They’re supposed to keep track of learning agreements.
Miller: What’s happening with youth labor laws in other states around the country? We’ve been talking because in Washington right now, lawmakers in Olympia want to tighten labor rules for minors. What are you seeing in other states?
Giordano: I mean, we’re seeing in other states, especially red ones, the rolling back, especially during the tight labor market where companies are having trouble hiring – rolling back of safety regulations, rolling back of what youth workers can do, like loosening them, allowing them to do more things. Mostly red states are doing this.
Miller: Lizz Giordano, thanks very much.
Giordano: Thanks for having me.
Miller: Lizz Giordano is an investigative reporter at Cascade PBS. She joined us to talk about youth labor accidents in Washington and the proposal in the state legislature there to increase youth worker protections.
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