Child labor bills receive legislative panel’s support

AUGUSTA – Two bills aimed at preventing the kind of accident that nearly killed a Sullivan boy last summer received unanimous votes of support Tuesday from the Legislature’s labor committee.

One bill would make Maine’s child labor laws applicable to public entities as well as private businesses and organizations, while the other would prohibit minors from working in situations that require special safety equipment or training. Juveniles, with some exceptions, would not be allowed to work in confined spaces or above a certain height if the latter bill is passed into law.

George Schaefer, then 16, of Sullivan was cleaning out a 16-foot-tall concrete tank last summer at the University of Maine Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research in Franklin when he started to suffocate from hydrogen sulfide fumes generated by sludge in the bottom of the tank.

William O’Coin, 43, of Ellsworth climbed into the tank to rescue his co-worker but died after he also was overwhelmed by the fumes. Schaefer, a student at Sumner Memorial High School in Sullivan, spent several weeks in the hospital after the accident but has mostly recovered.

Members of the Legislature’s Joint Labor Committee said Tuesday they were surprised to learn after the accident that state entities such as the University of Maine have been exempt from child labor and safety laws that apply to private businesses and organizations.

“I’m dumbfounded,” Rep. Paul Hatch, D-Skowhegan, said. “I’ve been around paper mills for 35 years, and this is probably the most important thing that is pressed upon employees.”

Sen. Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport, the Senate chair of the committee, introduced the bill that would make child labor laws applicable to state entities.

“Presently, Maine child labor laws don’t apply to public sector laws,” Edmonds said. “That didn’t seem cricket to me.”

Rep. Robert Duplessie, D-Westbrook, introduced the bill that would prohibit minors from working in confined spaces. He told the committee that between 1983 and 1993, there were 109 deaths nationwide resulting from confined-space accidents.

Sen. Kenneth Blais, R-Litchfield, said the university acknowledged it had violated its own rules in not identifying confined work spaces at the site and establishing procedures for working in those spaces.

He cautioned that more laws are not the answer to the problem, but said he would not oppose the bill. “I don’t disagree with these changes to the law,” Blais said.

The committee made an exception in Duplessie’s bill that would allow minors to work in confined spaces or at certain heights as long as it is for public safety or national security purposes.

The committee also voted unanimously Tuesday in support of a bill regulating the number of hours in any given time period that minors are allowed to work.

The bill, submitted by Rep. Christopher O’Neil, D-Saco, had proposed to lengthen the amount of time minors are allowed to work, but it was amended Tuesday to keep the existing time limits.