The following employments and occupations are prohibited for all minors.

1. (1) Occupations in or about plants or establishments manufacturing or storing explosives or articles containing explosive components.
2. (2) Occupations of motor-vehicle driver and outside helper. Incidental and occasional driving by 17-year-olds is permissible if all of the following criteria are met: The minor holds a state driver's license valid for the type of driving involved in the job performed and the minor has no record of any moving violations at the time of hire; driving is restricted to daylight hours; such driving is only occasional, and is incidental to the minor's employment; the automobile or truck does not exceed 6,000 pounds gross vehicle weight; the minor has completed a state-approved driver education course; and the vehicle is equipped with seat belts and the employer has instructed the minor that such belts must be used. The driving does not involve: The towing of vehicles; route deliveries or route sales; the transportation for hire of property, goods, or passengers; urgent, time-sensitive deliveries; or the transporting at any one time of more than three passengers, including the employees of the employer; the driving performed by the minor does not involve more than two trips away from the primary place of employment in any single day for the purpose of delivering goods of the minor's employer to a customer or for the purpose of transporting passengers; the driving takes place within a 30 mile radius of the minor's place of employment; occupations involving occasional operation of a bus are prohibited.
3. (3) All mining occupations.
4. (4) Occupations involving forest fire fighting and forest fire prevention, timber tract occupations, forestry service occupations, logging occupations, and occupations in the operation of any sawmill, lath mill, shingle mill, or cooperage-stock mill.
5. (5) Occupations involving operation or repair, oiling, cleaning, adjusting, or setting up of any power-driven wood-working machines.
6. (6) Occupations involving potential exposure to radioactive substances and to ionizing radiations.
7. (7) Occupations involving operation or repair, oiling, cleaning, adjusting, or setting up of power-driven hoisting apparatuses. This includes, but is not limited to, cranes, derricks, elevators, high-lift trucks, forklifts, hoists, and manlifts, but shall not include work in proximity to a ski-lift apparatus.
8. (8) Occupations involving operation or repair, oiling, cleaning, adjusting, or setting up of power-driven metal-forming, punching, and shearing machines.
9. (9) Occupations in the operation of power-driven meat-processing machines and occupations involving slaughtering, meat and poultry packing, processing, or rendering.
10. (10) Occupations involving operation or repair, oiling, cleaning, adjusting, or setting up of power-driven bakery machines.
11. (11) Occupations involving operation or repair, oiling, cleaning, adjusting, or setting up of power-driven paper-balers or other balers, garbage-compactors, trash-compactors or other compactors, and power-driven paper-products machines.
12. (12) Occupations involved in the manufacturing of brick, tile, and kindred products.
13. (13) Occupations involving operation or repair, oiling, cleaning, adjusting, or setting up of power-driven circular saws, band saws, guillotine shears, chain saws, reciprocating saws, wood chippers, and abrasive cutting discs.
14. (14) Occupations involved in wrecking, demolition, and shipbreaking operations.
15. (15) Occupations in roofing operations and work on or about a roof.
16. (16) Occupations in excavation operations.
17. (17) Occupations involving operation or repair, oiling, cleaning, adjusting, or setting up of or working in proximity to earth-moving machines or other heavy equipment including, but not limited to, graders, bulldozers, earth compactors, backhoes, excavators and tractors. Working in proximity shall mean working within the radius of movement of any portion of the machinery where one could be struck or otherwise injured.
18. (18) Work in establishments or workplaces being picketed during the course of a labor dispute.
19. (19) Work as a nurse's aide/assistant; unless the minor is a student in a bona fide state-certified nursing training program or has successfully completed such a program.
20. (20) Work as a maid or bellhop in motels or hotels, unless the minor is accompanied by a responsible adult whenever the work requires the minor to enter an assigned guest room, whether or not it is occupied at the time the minor is in the room. Minors may work in unassigned, unoccupied guest rooms unaccompanied by an adult.
21. (21) Work in sauna or massage parlors, body painting or tattoo studios, or adult entertainment establishments.
22. (22) Duties involving the wearing of personal protective equipment as required by chapters 296-24 and 296-62 WAC as related to exposure to the hazards in subsection (25) of this section or hazardous noise exposure per chapter 296-817 WAC; except those duties where the only requirement is the wearing of gloves, boots, or eye protection if the duty is not otherwise prohibited by this section or by WAC 296-125-141. This subsection prohibitions shall not apply if a minor is a student in a bona fide health care career training or vocational education program or has successfully completed such a program.
23. (23) Occupations involving firefighting and fire suppression duties.
24. (24) Occupations where there is a risk of exposure to bodily fluids or transmission of infectious agents including, but not limited to, hepatitis and HIV, in accordance with standards established by chapter 296-823 WAC (Occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens), including lab work which entails the cleaning of medical equipment used to draw or store blood or other contaminated tissue; duties which involve venipuncture; and duties involving work with laundry from health care facilities; 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. State-certified lifeguards with first-aid training are exempt.
25. (25) Duties involving exposure to asbestos; or exposure to hazardous substances which are considered to be carcinogenic, corrosive, highly toxic, toxic sensitizers, or which have been determined to cause reproductive health effects or irreversible end organ damage; or exposure to atmospheric conditions that are immediately dangerous to life or health, including oxygen-deficient atmospheres. This does not include the handling of such substances in sealed containers in retail situations. This subsection prohibitions shall not apply to any consumer product or hazardous substance, as those terms are defined by the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2051 et seq.) and the federal Hazardous Substances Act (15 U.S.C. 1261 et seq.) and those statutes' regulations, where the employer of a minor can demonstrate that a product or substance is used in the workplace in the same manner as normal consumer use, and which use results in a duration and frequency of exposure that is not greater than exposures experienced by consumers using the product or substance in conformity with the manufacturer's instructions, provided that such exposures are not otherwise prohibited by subsection (22) of this section.
26. (26) In selling to passing motorists on the public right-of-way candy, flowers, or other merchandise or commodities. Selling to motorists from a window counter is not prohibited.
27. (27) Occupations as a flagger on any public road or highway and work which involves directing moving motor vehicles in or around warehouses or loading/unloading areas including, but not limited to, loading docks, transfer stations, or landfills.
28. (28) Work performed in or about boiler or engine rooms.
29. (29) All work performed more than 10 feet above ground or floor level.
30. (30) Work in freezers, meat coolers, and all work in preparing meats for sale (wrapping, sealing, labeling, weighing, pricing, and stocking are permitted if work is performed away from meat-cutting and preparation areas). Occasional entry into freezers or coolers only momentarily to retrieve items shall not be prohibited.
31. (31) Service occupations if a minor works past 8:00 p.m., unless the minor is supervised by a responsible adult employee who is on the premises at all times.

[Statutory Authority: RCW 49.12.121 and 49.30.060. WSR 26-11-048 (Order 25-21), s 296-125-131, filed 5/19/26, effective 7/1/26.]