FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 25, 1995
CONTACT: Dana Hagerty 202/225-2165
WASHINGTON, DC -- This week, Congressman Collin C. Peterson (DFL-7th District) supported Corrections Day legislation that would eliminate federal regulations which prevent 16 and 17 year old grocery store employees from throwing cardboard boxes into compacting or baling machines. As a member of the Speaker's Advisory Committee on Corrections, Congressman Peterson was instrumental in bringing this legislation to the floor.
"This bill will eliminate an unnecessary and cumbersome workplace regulation in the retail grocery business," Peterson said. "For 16 and 17 year old young men and women throughout Minnesota, this legislation could improve their opportunity for landing that first job."
Currently, the Department of Labor's Hazardous Occupation Order number 12 requires that cardboard baling machines only be loaded by employees 18 years of age and older. Under the legislation which passed the House, 16 and 17 year old grocery store employees will be allowed to throw cardboard boxes into a baling machine when the doors to the machine are locked open, and the machine itself is turned off, with the key removed and in the possession of an adult supervisor.
"Under current regulations, every time an underage employee walks past the baling machine and decides to toss a cardboard box into the opening, he or she is exposing his or her employer to a maximum fine of ten thousand dollars," Peterson said. "This bill delivers a common sense solution to a real world problem."