US DOL: Lowering a safety bar = operating heavy equipment

[AaronFM]

Seems like a broad brush for "operating a lift". I wonder if this is an overzealous inspector or a test against a smaller resort to initiate a change to the DOL regulations.

Inspector questions Gunstock's use of teen ski instructors

GILFORD — A U.S. Department of Labor inspector has questioned Gunstock Mountain Resort’s practice of allowing teen ski instructors to assist students onto ski lifts, maintaining that by lowering the

www.unionleader.com

 

[crabjoe]

I skimmed over it but it sure seemed silly.. The worst thing about what I saw was that the resort was looking to use H-2B visas to bring in workers.

Another silly rule that's causing teens to not have job opportunities.

 

[no edge]

Well it's similar to closing the car door is operating the car.

 

[slowrider]

Let's take away bicycles while we're at it.

 

[Brad J]

Ridiculous !!!!!!, I know many teen ski area workers and there experiences made them more confident young adults. I am curious why Gunstock ???, wouldn’t happen at Waterville Valley

 

[scott43]

Let's take away bicycles while were at it.

Those things are dangerous...

 

[slowrider]

Those things are dangerous...

Especially in the hands of an adult.

 

[scott43]

Especially in the hands of an adult.

Hold my beer...

 

[Henry]

And...safety bars are not universally installed on all chair lifts in the U.S. Would it be better for Gunstock to remove all the bars?

It seems that a device to automatically lower the safety bars as the chairs leave the loading area would be cheaper than foreign workers, housing, etc.

All the chairs I've ridden in B.C. and Alberta have safety bars, even retrofitted on to older chairs. Regulation or insurance requirement?

In Europe the bars are a must-do. I've had a Swiss liftie stop the lift when the people in front of me didn't pull their bar down soon enough to suit him. In Austria I've seen the top stations with rows of red lights--leave the bar down--that change to green when the chair is close enough to "safely" raise the bar. I think it is lights with dual lenses--red from one angle, green from another.

Japan is about as lackadaisical as the U.S. about safety bars.

We agree--that inspector needs ____________ (fill in the blank).

 

[QueueCT]

The issue is age ranges. For under 18 year olds the prohibition around machinery includes: "Does not apply to chair-lifts at ski resorts or electric and pneumatic lifts used to raise cars in garages and gasoline service stations."

But for 14-15 year olds there is a specific list of jobs that age group can perform and a list of things that age group can't do. Per the DOL (emphasis in the original):

Child Labor Regulation No. 3, 29 C.F.R. §§ 570.33 lists some of the jobs that 14- and 15-year-olds may not hold​

Child Labor Regulation No. 3, 29 C.F.R. §§ 570.34 lists those jobs that 14- and 15-year-olds may hold. WHAT IS NOT PERMITTED IS PROHIBITED​

What's interesting is that teaching is only permitted when related to an intellectual or creative field. There is no provision permitting athletic instruction or "coaching." In addition, the list of items prohibited to 14-15 years includes the tending of power equipment and does not have the chair lift exclusion that exists for the under 18s.

The DOL finding as related to 14-15 year olds at Gunstock seems to be on solid footing from a regulatory standpoint, not necessarily about whether lowering the restraining bar is actually tending power machinery (though I haven't looked at any prior cases in this area) but being a ski instructor is probably not considered teaching in an intellectual or creative field. The examples given in the regulation gives specific examples of tutoring, fine arts, computer programming, etc.

Whether the regulations are reasonable and should be changed is a whole different ball of wax.

 

[James]

Wonder how it applies to VT where it’s a State law to lower the bar.

 

[Wilhelmson]

Seems dumb to me; when I was 14 I drove a forklift, climbed ladders, and occasionally drove vehicles at work. The problem is when a kid in a lesson gets hurt falling off the lift and people start to question the ski management, even though it wasn't the teen's fault.

 

[Rich McP]

Well it's similar to closing the car door is operating the car.

Putting on your seatbelt and checking to see if the younger next to you has put on theirs.

 

[crgildart]

How about flipping down the seat boards on the lift at Vail?

 

[Carolinacub]

I wonder if this is an overzealous inspector

I'm not sure about overzealous. It could just be that the inspector is stupid.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Two thoughts. What happened to "live free or die"? Also, is it illegal fro 14-15 year olds to mow lawns in NH?

 

[LiquidFeet]

Heres's what that article says.
https://www.unionleader.com/news/bu...cle_f4668aa8-0a4b-5778-9e16-ab8f1940f274.html

"A U.S. Department of Labor inspector has questioned Gunstock Mountain Resort’s practice of allowing teen ski instructors to assist students onto ski lifts, maintaining that by lowering the safety bar, the instructors are effectively “operating” the lift."

I think this means the teens are standing there next to the liftie, or have replaced the liftie, and they lower the bar from the side of the chair as kids too short to reach the bar themselves ride up. This is the liftie's job. The teens are doing the liftie's job. They are not riding the lift themselves with the kids, but standing next to the chair putting down the occasional bar when short kids can't reach the bar themselves. If I'm right, then this reasonably qualifies as "youths tending motorized equipment."

The additional part where the article says "The inspector also questioned the practice of allowing 14- to 15-year-old employees to ride the lift unaccompanied" is hard to believe. As we all know, teenagers ride lifts safely all the time unaccompanied. Little kids do too, but they need someone to lower the bar for them. Teens are tall enough and mature enough to not need any assistance at all. Why would they be disallowed from riding a lift alone?

Did the inspector really "question" the practice of "allowing" teens to ride the lift alone? That sentence was written by the reporting journalist. I'm thinking the journalist is not a skier and simply read the source material wrong, leading to a misinterpretation. If the inspector actually was worried about employed teens riding the lift alone, then at least the inspector qualified it as a "question" and not a declaration.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

We have a lot of instructors that are used as "shuttlers". Their job is to ride up the lift with kids that are under 6 years old, lower the bar and keep them on the lift. Interestingly, Vail Resorts will let 16 and 17 year olds do this, but not 14-15 year olds.

 

[LiquidFeet]

^^ That makes sense. So they can't ride with the kids to keep them safe if they are under 16.

 

[Johnny V.]

Wonder how it applies to VT where it’s a State law to lower the bar.

As in New York also................