Washington State’s child labor rules prohibit minors from working in certain jobs or using certain types of tools and equipment. Prohibited duties vary depending on the worker’s age and whether the job is in an agricultural or non-agricultural industry.

All Youth Under 18 Years Old

The following jobs and duties are prohibited for minors working in any non-agricultural or agricultural industries:

  • Wrecking, demolition, or mechanical excavation.
  • Roofing or working on or around a roof.
  • Working where a strike, labor dispute, or lockout exists.
  • Slaughtering, using power-driven meat processing machines, meat and poultry packing, processing or rendering.
  • Any work including operation, repair, oiling, cleaning, adjusting, or setting up of:
    • Power-driven wood-working machines.
    • Circular saws, band saws, chain saws, guillotine shears, reciprocating saws, wood chippers, or abrasive cutting discs.
    • Power-driven metal forming, punching, or shearing machines.

Non-Agricultural Jobs

All minors

All minors working in non-agricultural industries are prohibited from doing the following:

  • Forest firefighting, forest fire prevention, timber tract occupations, forestry service occupations, or logging occupations.
  • Firefighting and fire suppression duties.
  • Sawmill, lath mill, shingle mill, or cooperage-stock mill work.
  • Manufacturing brick, tile, or kindred products.
  • Any work in the operation, repair, oiling, cleaning, adjusting, or setting up of power-driven:
    • Hoisting apparatuses, including, but not limited to cranes, derricks, elevators, high-lift trucks, forklifts, hoists, and manlifts.
    • Earth-moving machines or heavy equipment. This includes, but isn’t limited to, graders, bulldozers, earth compactors, backhoes, excavators, and tractors.
    • Bakery machines, such as a Hobart mixer.
    • Paper-balers, other balers, garbage compactors, other compactors, and paper-products machines.
  • Performing duties where exposure to hazardous substances or noise necessitates the wearing of personal protective equipment.
  • Performing duties with risk of exposure to asbestos, hazardous substances, or atmospheric conditions that are dangerous to life or health.
  • Working as a flagger on any public road or highway and work which involves directing moving motor vehicles.
  • Work in or around boiler or engine rooms.
  • Working more than 10 feet off the ground or floor level.
  • Working in freezers, meat coolers, and all work in preparing meats for sale.
  • Work in service occupations past 8 p.m. without being supervised by a responsible adult who is on the premises at all times.
  • Occupations involving potential exposure to radioactive substances or ionizing radiations.
  • Work as a nurse's aide or nurse’s assistant, unless the minor is a student in a bona fide state-certified nursing training program or has successfully completed such a program.
  • Performing duties with risk of exposure to bodily fluids or transmission of infectious agents, unless the minor is a student in a bona fide health care career training or vocational education program or has successfully completed such a program.
  • Working in plants or establishments manufacturing or storing explosives.
  • Motor vehicle driver or outside helper. Incidental and occasional driving by a 17-year-old may be permissible if all of the criteria outlined in WAC 296-125-131 (2) is met.
  • Mining occupations.
  • Work as a maid or bellhop in assigned rooms at hotels or motels, unless accompanied by a responsible adult.
  • Working in saunas, massage parlors, body painting, tattoo studios, or adult entertainment establishments.
  • Selling items to passing motorists on a public roadway.

For all prohibited duties for minors working in non-agricultural jobs see WAC 296-125-131.

    Minors under the age of 16

    Minors under the age of 16 working in non-agricultural industries are prohibited from doing the following:

    • Manufacturing or processing operations, or work performed in workrooms where goods are manufactured, processed, or mined.
    • Occupations involving operation or repair, oiling, cleaning, adjusting, or setting up of or working in proximity to any power-driven machinery.
    • Operation of a motor vehicle or working as helpers on a motor vehicle.
    • Outside window washing.
    • All work involving ladders, scaffolds or their substitutes.
    • Cooking or baking occupations.
    • Youth peddling, waving signs or place-cards to attract potential customers, unless performed directly in front of the place of business.
    • Loading or unloading goods from motor vehicles, railroad cars, or conveyors.
    • Working in any public messenger service.
    • Working in transportation of people or property, warehouse and storage, communications and public utilities, or construction, including demolition and repair.
    • Maintenance or repair of retail, food service, or gasoline service station establishments.
    • Working in amusement parks, street carnivals, and traveling shows.
    • Catching and cooping of poultry in preparation for transport or for market.

    For all prohibited duties for minors under the age of 16 working in non-agricultural jobs see WAC 296-125-141.

    Agricultural Jobs

    All minors 

    All minors working in agricultural industries are prohibited from doing the following:

    • Handling, mixing, loading, or applying agricultural chemicals classified as Category I or II of toxicity.
    • Handling or using blasting agents, such as dynamite, black powder, sensitized ammonium nitrate, blasting caps, and primer cord.
    • Transporting, transferring, or applying anhydrous ammonia.
    • Operating or assisting to operate, including starting, stopping, adjusting, feeding, or any other activity involving physical contact associated with the operation of power-driven:
      • Earthmoving machines, including, but not limited to trenchers, power post-hole diggers, power post drivers, or non-walking type rotary tillers.
      • Hoisting apparatuses, which includes, but is not limited to, forklifts.

    • Working from a ladder or scaffold at a height above 10 feet.
    • Riding in or working near a vehicle driven by a person without a valid driver’s license or under the age of 16.
    • Harvesting any crops to which agricultural chemicals have been applied, before the preharvest interval or within 14 days after the application if no preharvest interval has been established.
    • Where weights in excess of 20 pounds are to be lifted, carried, pushed, or pulled as a normal part of an employee's responsibility, the employer must instruct minors on correct weight-lifting techniques before starting the work and display a poster illustrating correct weight-lifting techniques.

    Minors Under The Age of 16

    Minors under the age of 16 working in agricultural industries are prohibited from doing the following:

    • Operating a tractor over 20 PTO horsepower or connecting and disconnecting attachments from such a tractor.
    • Operating or assisting to operate (including starting, stopping, adjusting, feeding, or any other activity involving physical contact associated with the operation) any of the following machines: Corn picker, cotton picker, grain combine, hay mower, forage harvester, hay baler, potato digger, mobile pea viner, feed grinder, crop dryer, forage blower, auger conveyor, potato combine, or the unloading mechanism of a nongravity-type self-unloading wagon or trailer.
    • Working on a farm in a yard, pen, or stall occupied by a bull, boar, stud horse maintained for breeding purposes, sow with suckling pigs, or a cow with newborn calf (with umbilical cord present).
    • Felling, bucking, skidding, loading, or unloading timber with butt diameter of more than six inches.
    • Driving a bus, truck, or automobile when transporting passengers.
    • Riding on a tractor as a passenger or helper.
    • Working inside:
      • A fruit, forage, or grain storage designed to retain an oxygen deficient or toxic atmosphere.
      • An upright silo within two weeks after silage has been added or when a top unloading device is in operating position.
      • A manure pit.
      • A horizontal silo while operating a tractor for packing purposes.
    • Working in manufacturing or processing operations, including food processing.
    • Transportation, warehouse, storage or construction.
    • Work in or around engine or boiler rooms.
    • Working in freezers, meat coolers, and all work preparing meats for sale.
    • Loading and unloading goods or property onto or from conveyors.

    For all prohibited duties for minors working in agricultural jobs see WAC 296-122-110:

    Visit Safety & Health for more information on ways to keep teens safe in the workplace.

    Note: Registered apprenticeships and student-learners in an approved Career Technical Education (CTE) Worksite Learning program may be granted limited exemptions from some of these prohibitions. See https://lni.wa.gov/workers-rights/youth-employment/variances#student-learner-variance for more information.

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