Legislation Would Set Minimum Age for Operators
Corey Connors, manager, government relations

Congressman Edward Markey (D-Mass.) has introduced legislation that would require operators of power-driven amusement rides to be at least 18 years of age. If passed, H.R. 4190, the “Amusement Park Ride Child Labor Act of 2004,” would force the secretary of labor to declare that operating power-driven rides is particularly hazardous for people between 16 and 18. This declaration would create a new Hazardous Occupation (HO) order under the Fair Labor Standards Act. There are currently 17 recognized HO orders restricting 16- and 17-year-olds from performing certain occupations, including coal mining, wrecking and demolition operations, and jobs that would expose workers to radioactive substances.

Altering the HOs in this manner would be unprecedented. Though Congress legislated on hazardous orders during its 104th and 105th sessions, both bills provided exemptions to lower the age of a previously defined HO in certain circumstances. Never has Congress required the secretary of labor, who is solely responsible for designating an occupation to be hazardous for young adults, to simply declare an occupation to be hazardous. Under the current regulatory system regarding child labor, the secretary issues HOs only after a public hearing has been held and advice has been received from industry representatives and the public.

The department of labor regularly reviews HOs and often funds government studies of them. In May 2002, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) issued such a report recommending changes to the department of labor’s Hazardous Occupation orders. NIOSH compiled and analyzed data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, and the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), the same data sources that Markey cited in his introductory remarks on H.R. 4190. Though NIOSH recommended the introduction of 17 new HOs, and the amendment of 15 current orders, it did not conclude that the operation of a power-driven amusement ride was potentially hazardous for a 16- or 17-year-old employee.

Passage of this bill is unlikely, leading some to believe this legislation is simply another means for Markey to allege safety improprieties within the parks and attractions industry. For years, he has introduced legislation that would grant the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) jurisdiction over fixed-site amusement parks without demonstrating how federal regulation would make parks and attractions safer for guests. In this instance, Markey does not present any empirical data that would suggest a correlation between an increased occurrence of guest or employee injury and operator age.

Most troubling is Markey’s continued misrepresentation of facts. When introducing H.R. 4190, he indicated that 800 employees are injured operating amusement park rides every year, and that “114 employees died while attending to amusement and recreation facilities between 1992 and 2002.” The number of injuries Markey cites is extrapolated from a CPSC sample of 54 injuries collected by the NEISS hospital system between 1998 and 2002. Of the 54 injuries in the survey, only 5.5 percent were ride personnel, ages 16 and 17, who were injured at a fixed-site amusement facility. Only 18 of the 54 total injuries in the sample occurred at a fixed-site park.

Similarly, the reference to 114 employee fatalities at amusement and recreation facilities includes deaths at not just fixed-site parks, but also fairs, carnivals, shooting ranges, ski resorts, sport and health clubs, golf courses, ice rinks, bowling centers, and casinos. The number of occupational deaths attributable specifically to fixed-site parks during that period is 19, a number that includes employees of all ages and instances that were not ride related. To suggest that fixed-site facilities have a safety record akin to HOs such as mining (1,718 fatalities between 1992-2002; 23,000 annual injuries), logging and sawmilling (1,754 fatalities between 1992-2002; 20,800 annual injuries), or metalworking (388 fatalities between 1992-2002; 21,900 annual injuries) is irresponsible and completely unfounded.

Perhaps the question of whether 16- and 17-year-olds should be permitted to operate power-driven amusement rides is most appropriately answered at the same level of government that determines at what age a young person may operate an “untracked” motor vehicle on America’s highways. Numerous states have codified, even augmented, the department of labor’s requirement that an individual be at least 16 years of age to operate an amusement ride. In all, 29 states have codified a minimum age for ride personnel, and three more states have established additional requirements for amusement ride employees.

In an industry in which both guest and employee safety are demonstrated consistently, it makes little sense to allocate limited federal resources to fix that which is not broken.