Teen Health-Worker Proposal Didn’t Get Risk Assessment
A controversial Labor Department proposal to ease restrictions for teenage workers in health-care settings will be published Sept. 27, without updated scientific research about the risks.
The proposal would allow 16- and 17-year-olds who work in nursing homes or hospitals to operate, without supervision, machines that lift patients from beds.
The proposal references a 2011 report on patient lifts and teen workers by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. It said teens who use the lifts risk musculoskeletal injuries, but it also said the devices are safer to use than manually lifting someone.
“The Department believes that it is incongruous for 16- and 17-year-olds to be prohibited from independently operating power-driven patient lifts but permitted to manually lift patients without any restrictions,” the DOL said in its analysis. “Such a framework creates incentives that are inconsistent with worker and patient safety.”
Four Democrats in the House released a statement Sept. 26 saying: “It appears the Department of Labor submitted this proposal without any input from National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). In fact, the proposal directly ignores previous expert warnings about the danger of allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to use this equipment by themselves.”
Reps. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) signed the letter.
A DOL spokeswoman said the department “received input from NIOSH as it drafted” the proposed rule. She didn’t respond to a followup request for clarification on what that input entailed.
Critics Say Teens, Patients Will Suffer
Worker advocates are reacting with alarm.
“Let’s be clear this proposal will endanger young workers as well as nursing home patients,” Debbie Berkowitz, worker health and safety program director at the National Employment Law Project, told Bloomberg Law.
Berkowitz served for six years in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration under President Barack Obama. She said the DOL included the input of NIOSH every time changes were made to rules regulating minors’ jobs and safety.
“The administration is ignoring its own scientists and worker safety experts,” Berkowitz said.
Change Addresses Worker Shortage
The DOL and the business and health-care communities say this deregulation will broaden employment opportunities for young workers.
“This proposal is consistent with the Department’s efforts to safely promote workforce development opportunities for youth, while still maintaining worker safety,” the DOL said in its statement.
The change will “encourage interest in long term care careers, which is particularly important given the workforce shortage in the profession,” the American Health Care Association said in a statement to Bloomberg Law.
The proposed rule will be open for public comment for 60 days
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