Current Events > Teen Dies in Sawmill Accident Wisconsin

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/06/boy-16-dies-sawmill-accident-wisconsin?CMP=fb_us#Echobox=1688660581

A 16-year-old boy has died following an industrial accident at a sawmill in Wisconsin.
Police received an early-morning call last Thursday regarding an unresponsive teenager at Florence Hardwoods, a sawmill in northern Wisconsin, according to the Florence county sheriffs office. Deputies and paramedics transported the teenager to a local hospital before transferring him to Milwaukee childrens hospital.
The boy, whom authorities have not identified by name, died from his injuries on Saturday. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been notified about the incident and an investigation is taking place.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, friends, students and co-workers, the sheriffs department said.
A GoFundMe page appears to have been set up for the family following the incident, saying: Our small community is in absolute shock.
This tremendous loss will bring new life to seven more people, including his mother, the page added in reference to the teenagers status as an organ donor.
Fourteen states across the country including Wisconsin have introduced proposals to roll back child labor protections.
The trend reflects a coordinated multi-industry push to expand employer access to low-wage labor and weaken state child labor laws in ways that contradict federal protections, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
In a statement to the Guardian, Skip Mark, a University of Rhode Island professor specializing in labor and human rights, noted the prevalence of child labor in the countrys agriculture industry.
The US Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 helped limit child labor in many ways. However, it did and still does not apply to the agricultural sector, where most child labor in the US and most child injuries and deaths occur, said Mark. Child labor is most common in agriculture where children are maimed, killed, exposed to dangerous chemicals, underpaid, and weve known about these issues for decades.
He added: Child labor is hard to measure, and most estimates are terrible and should not be taken at face value. Governments dont want to report how bad child labor is because it makes them look bad.
Businesses dont want to report that they have hired children because then they would have to pay fines. Children and their parents dont want to report child labor because they need the job to support themselves and would lose their job if it was reported.
Terri Gerstein, the director of the Project on State and Local Enforcement at the Harvard Law School Center for Labor and a Just Economy, echoed similar sentiments.
To stop violations of child labor laws, we need more funding for enforcement, higher penalties, and clear, attainable ways to hold lead corporations accountable for violations in their supply chains, Gerstein told the Guardian.
In a recent testimony to the Senate judiciary committee, Gerstein laid out various law reform measures surrounding the issue.
Those include creating a private right of action for child labor violations, creating and funding a right to counsel for unaccompanied minors in their immigration cases which would increase the chances of detecting child labor violations, as well as adding liquidated or compensatory damages to the child labor statute which would help compensate victims for their experiences.

Who could've possibly seen this coming? No one wants to work anymore so states are forced to rely on child labor, "There's No Way To Prevent This!"

Fuck capitalism

Wasn't there another death in a factory not long ago of a young teen?

But we were assured minors wouldn't be allowed to work dangerous jobs when they rolled back child labor laws.

Republicans read this and are gleeful at another successful sacrifice to their god of greed and cruelty.

Wisconsin republicans are trying their hardest to make this happen more often, and also make it easier to sweep under the rug

steve_madsci posted...

Businesses dont want to report that they have hired children because then they would have to pay fines.

If they think the fines are steep, just wait until they see the payouts for when a minor they employed is killed...

Republican plan for stopping mass shootings: Get all teens out of school and into the work force, where they can die there instead.

inb4 that asshat from 261 who claims this type of shit builds kids esteem & character.

brestugo posted...

inb4 that asshat from 261 who claims this type of shit builds kids esteem & character.

Which one, there's like 70 who'd say this

brestugo posted...

inb4 that asshat from 261 who claims this type of shit builds kids esteem & character.

Nothing builds character or self esteem more than being killed at a job you have no business being put in, after all.

Another sacrifice on the altar of god money.

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Yeah, I remember a kid in 5th grade. His dad had some type of farming accident where he lost some limbs. Terrible stuff.

Actually that story had a decent ending I just remembered. His dad was the second double hand transplant in the United States and the first to receive a transplant up to the elbow. I'm glad they were able to help him.

https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-news/chesterfield-man-who-lost-hands-in-farming-accident- recovers-from-double-hand-transplant-i-took-the-negative-and-made-it-positive

I forget which state it was that repealed a law requiring a child's parent giving permission for them to work at 14 - basically letting a child decide - and Prismblade among others were arguing how a child knows best what they want (and potential dangers) at that age..

Seems unrelated to recent law changes, tbh. Seems weird to shoehorn it in.

COVxy posted...

Seems unrelated to recent law changes, tbh. Seems weird to shoehorn it in.

If you were addressing me, I brought it up as "kids are old enough to know the dangers of the job" argument came up there and is directly pertinent here

Anyone involved in the hiring of that teen, and all executive should be thrown in prison, if not executed

Stuff like this is already legal in Iowa as part of "work study" for HS students. IIRC versions of the Iowa bill specifically included permissions for 14 yr olds to work mining and logging industries so you know it's only a matter of time

Mammon is pleased.

Ruvan22 posted...

If you were addressing me, I brought it up as "kids are old enough to know the dangers of the job" argument came up there and is directly pertinent here

I was saying it's weird that the article pivots so strongly to the labor laws when this 16 year old would have been able to work this job regardless.

COVxy posted...

I was saying it's weird that the article pivots so strongly to the labor laws when this 16 year old would have been able to work this job regardless.

Ahh gotcha sorry - are 16 year olds allowed to operate all machinery at saw mills?

Ruvan22 posted...

Ahh gotcha sorry - are 16 year olds allowed to operate all machinery at saw mills?

I'm saying that it seems that the labor law shit is completely unrelated to the kids death. It seems like the second half was written, and then they needed a tragedy to start the story with a hook so they went looking for tragedies that vaguely seemed like they matched.

COVxy posted...

I was saying it's weird that the article pivots so strongly to the labor laws when this 16 year old would have been able to work this job regardless.

Republicans wanting to even further weaken child labor laws seems completely relevant to a story about a child dying while working with dangerous equipment

Thematically, I suppose, given enough argument. But not causally, which is kinda what you would expect from a news article like this.

Even though it happened in Wisconsin, this is what red states removing/reducing child labor laws are going to also be bringing about.

Ruvan22 posted...

Ahh gotcha sorry - are 16 year olds allowed to operate all machinery at saw mills?

No, it's against Federal Law (Fair Labor Standards Act) for minors under the age of 18 to operate most machinery in sawmills. There are a few jobs minors can do, but most of those jobs should be well clear of dangerous machinery while it's in operation. That's why OSHA is investigating for child labor violations.

COVxy posted...

I'm saying that it seems that the labor law shit is completely unrelated to the kids death. It seems like the second half was written, and then they needed a tragedy to start the story with a hook so they went looking for tragedies that vaguely seemed like they matched.

steve_madsci posted...

No, it's against Federal Law (Fair Labor Standards Act) for minors under the age of 18 to operate most machinery in sawmills. There are a few jobs minors can do, but most of those jobs should be well clear of dangerous machinery while it's in operation. That's why OSHA is investigating for child labor violations.

If labor laws in Wisconsin specific to operating heavy machinery by minors were reduced/loosened, it seems directly applicable to the article's first half?

The reality is that it was against labor laws to begin with to work large machinery (and small machinery, I think when I was working as a prep chef/dish washer at 14 I wasn't technically allowed to use the meat slicer or the dough machine), but machinery restrictions are very very frequently ignored. The loosening of laws has nothing to do with this.

COVxy posted...

The reality is that it was against labor laws to begin with to work large machinery (and small machinery, I think when I was working as a prep chef/dish washer at 14 I wasn't technically allowed to use the meat slicer or the dough machine), but machinery restrictions are very very frequently ignored. The loosening of laws has nothing to do with this.

The point is violations have been increasing, and the fact many states are flirting with ignoring Federal regulations suggest violations will continue to increase

Ruvan22 posted...

I forget which state it was that repealed a law requiring a child's parent giving permission for them to work at 14

Arkansas. My favorite is Iowa allowing children as young as 14 to work in meat processing plants and mines while simultaneously giving businesses immunity to lawsuits filed by children (or their families) if they're injured or killed on the job.

COVxy posted...

The reality is that it was against labor laws to begin with to work large machinery (and small machinery, I think when I was working as a prep chef/dish washer at 14 I wasn't technically allowed to use the meat slicer or the dough machine), but machinery restrictions are very very frequently ignored. The loosening of laws has nothing to do with this.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your argument.. to me restrictions/regulations being ignored can be a direct precursor to them being loosened, as the employers/organizations see them "getting in the way" advocate for those same restrictions/regulations to be loosened?

If there were no governmental action in labor laws, do you think this kid still would have died? If the answer is yes, then you agree with my argument, that they are causally unrelated.

I think this is primarily lazy reporting. Someone wrote up a peice on the labor law issue, their editor said it wasn't catchy enough, so they framed it first in the tragedy to make people think "yes, a kid died, these labor laws are important". Like the first thing you should notice is that the journalist didn't even try to related the two halves of the story. It's all implied.

It's just lazy and slimy.

This tremendous loss will bring new life to seven more people, including his mother, the page added in reference to the teenagers status as an organ donor.

I get what they mean, but I feel like the way this was worded was pretty bad. Almost like What a bountiful harvest!

COVxy posted...

If there were no governmental action in labor laws, do you think this kid still would have died? If the answer is yes, then you agree with my argument, that they are causally unrelated.

You stating a negative and an absolute which seems overly reductionist? Governmental action could have prevented this kid's death (as other laws have contributed to preventing other children's deaths, which makes it casual. Again I could be misunderstanding your argument, so would you mind restating it?

I think this is primarily lazy reporting. Someone wrote up a peice on the labor law issue, their editor said it wasn't catchy enough, so they framed it first in the tragedy to make people think "yes, a kid died, these labor laws are important". Like the first thing you should notice is that the journalist didn't even try to related the two halves of the story. It's all implied.

It's just lazy and slimy.

Writing/reporting seems a connected but distinct issue - I am NOT a journalist and do NOT have extensive training in writing news/informational articles. That being said, starting with an incident and then describing a contributing factor is pretty common in local/state news I've read. Would you say the article would have better composed with Argument Example Conclusion format?

Fourteen states across the country including Wisconsin have introduced proposals to roll back child labor protections.
The trend reflects a coordinated multi-industry push to expand employer access to low-wage labor and weaken state child labor laws in ways that contradict federal protections, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

COVxy posted...

Seems unrelated to recent law changes, tbh. Seems weird to shoehorn it in.

COVxy posted...

If there were no governmental action in labor laws, do you think this kid still would have died? If the answer is yes, then you agree with my argument, that they are causally unrelated

You're moving the goalposts here. The argument was never if labor laws caused the accident it's whether the trend of ignoring laws (and ignoring laws is %100 responsible for this accident) is related to the trend of loosening labor restrictions

IOW, this accident happened because businesses like to ignore child labor laws. Republicans are loosening child labor restrictions because businesses (ie donors) like to ignore child labor laws. The two are related

Ruvan22 posted...

You stating a negative and an absolute which seems overly reductionist? Governmental action could have prevented this kid's death (as other laws have contributed to preventing other children's deaths, which makes it casual. Again I could be misunderstanding your argument, so would you mind restating it?

If Republicans were not currently trying to loosen child labor laws, would the kid still have died?

darkace77450 posted...

But we were assured minors wouldn't be allowed to work dangerous jobs when they rolled back child labor laws.

What!? REPUBLICANS LIED!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

COVxy posted...

If Republicans were not currently trying to loosen child labor laws, would the kid still have died?

Maybe? Are you saying causation requires a direct 1 to 1 effect?

COVxy posted...

The reality is that it was against labor laws to begin with to work large machinery (and small machinery, I think when I was working as a prep chef/dish washer at 14 I wasn't technically allowed to use the meat slicer or the dough machine), but machinery restrictions are very very frequently ignored. The loosening of laws has nothing to do with this.

There's no indication that kid died from being mangled by a saw, in the article itself, the sheriff's report, the gofundme, or the obituary.

Kids shouldn't work

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

There is a big push in that direction, yeah. And regardless of whether or not it directly caused what happened here, this is a prime example of why we shouldn't be loosening restrictions. Should be making the exact opposite moves actually

Also welcome back wtf

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Yep, guess we're going to have to expect more of these incidents. It's sad.

Sounds like something youd read about in 1923. What a dangerous first job.

From the article:

This tremendous loss will bring new life to seven more people, including his mother, the page added in reference to the teenagers status as an organ donor.

Is his mother receiving one of his organs?

psideresider posted...

Sounds like something youd read about in 1923. What a dangerous first job.

Johhny Cash's brother was killed in a sawmill.