Youth on Habitat Work Sites
There are SO many things youth can do on site and for Habitat in general! We are happy to work with families and groups are even easier! We can even help develop curriculum for your school or church group! There are some restrictions for the safety of the children, please read below for details.
For more specific ideas please contact us or check out HFHI’s youth webpage!
HFHMC allows volunteer workers 14 years and older on our work sites. Children under 14 years of age are not not be allowed on the work sites during construction. Children of Habitat Partner/Owners are no exception.
Federal Regulations
No one under the age of 18 is permitted to do any work that the Secretary of Labor has determined to be hazardous for children. Also, Federal Regulations specifically prohibit children between 14 and 15 years of age from working in general construction. However, those between 14 and 15 years of age may engage in limited activities such as clearing lots, landscaping and painting. Youth between 16 and 17 years of age may perform general construction work, but may not engage in activities considered ultra hazardous: the use of power tools and motor vehicles or demolition, roofing and excavation operations.
Exceptions to the above rules: students in apprenticeship or vocational programs may engage in the normally prohibited hazardous activities if supervised
by one of their teachers or a qualified instructor.
HFHMC Policies
The safety and well-being of youth involved with our affiliate is vitally important. As such we must stick to these policies for the safety of all on-site.All youth must have parent signed liability form on file with Habitat prior to volunteering.
No one under 14 year of age is permitted on our work sites during construction. Youth under 14 should contact our office to schedule other projects to be done off-site or to be done when construction has been completed. All of these projects must be scheduled with our volunteer department. Youth under 14 who show up on the construction site will be asked to leave.
Youth ages 14 and 15 may do limited work: clearing, landscaping, painting. These youth MUST work one on one with an adult in charge. This one-to-one ratio must be kept throughout the youths volunteer time. These students cannot use power tools or go on roofs or ladders
Youth ages 16 and 17 are permitted to do general non-hazardous construction. They must be accompanied by an adult and must be working with an adult but the ration can be slightly higher than 1 to 1. These students can not use ultra-hazardous power tools or go on roofs.
Only 18 year olds and above may be assigned ultra hazardous tasks including roofing and ultra hazardous power tools such as saws and nailers.
HFHMC encourages youth to engage in pre-fab work in our warehouse, painting, clearing, landscaping, cleaning, fund-raising (church appeals, car-washes, walk-a-thons, rent-a-teen programs), help with house dedications, provide food at work sites, help with our annual 5K Home-Run Race, etc. Youth are also encouraged to volunteer at the ReStore!
