Hiring Persons Under Age 18 – Know The Laws Of Your Province

Hiring students and young people to work at your organization can be a win-win, especially in a tight labour market. But it also requires careful legal maneuvering. Provincial employment standards, OHS, education and other laws impose strict limits on employment of persons who are under age 18, especially during the school year. Requirements vary with regard to:

  • How old a person must be to work in general;
  • How old a person must be to perform certain kinds of jobs that may pose risks to their health, safety and general welfare;
  • Whether employers must obtain permits and/or parental consent to hire a young person;
  • The hours during which young people may and may not work; and
  • The safety and training that employers must provide to young employees.

Alberta, B.C. and Québec have the strictest requirements; by contrast, the laws governing employment of persons under age 18 are vague and sketchy in Ontario and Yukon. All of the other jurisdictions fall somewhere in the middle. Here’s a summary of the rules that apply in all parts of Canada. Go to the OHS Insider website for a compliance game plan for hiring young employees that’s tailored to the legal requirements.

Employment of Young Persons Under Age 18 Requirements by Jurisdiction

  1. Employer may employ a person under age 18 in any office or plant, in any transportation, communication, maintenance or repair service, or in any construction work or other employment in a federal work, undertaking or business only if: (a) the person isn’t required under the law of the province in which they’re ordinarily resident, to be in attendance at school; and (b) the work: (i) is not carried on underground in a mine, (ii) would not cause them to be employed in or enter a place that they are prohibited from entering under the Explosives Regulations, 2013, (iii) is not work as a nuclear energy worker as defined in the Nuclear Safety and Control Act, (iv) is not work that they’re from doing under the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 by reason of age, and (v) is not likely to endanger their health or safety; and
  2. Employer may not cause or permit an employee under age 18 to work between 11 p.m. on one day and 6 a.m. on the following day (Canada Labour Code Regs., Sec. 10)

General:

  1. Illegal to employ or allow a person who’s required to attend school under the Education Act to work during normal school hours unless the individual is enrolled in an off‑campus education program provided under the Education Act;  and
  2. Illegal to employ a person under age 15 without the written consent of the person’s parent or guardian and the approval of the Director, unless the unless (a) the individual is enrolled in an off‑campus education program provided under the Education Act; and (b) the requirements of the Reg. are met (Employment Standards Code, Secs. 65 + 66) 3.

Age 12 & under: Employment Standards Director may issue a permit for individual who’s 12 or younger only for employment in an “artistic endeavour,” which may authorize employment during normal school hours and must include a condition that the employer pay the individual for a minimum number of hours of work determined by the Director at no less than the minimum wage (ESC Regs., Sec. 51.3(1))

Age 13/14 (“adolescents”):

  1. Employer may employ an adolescent without a permit outside of normal school hours if: (a) the adolescent is employed as a (i) delivery person of small wares for a retail store, (ii) clerk or messenger in an office, (iii) clerk in a retail store, (iii.1) food service employee in a restaurant or other establishment where food is prepared and served or sold, (iii.2)    janitorial assistant or office cleaner, (iii.3) coach for a recreational athletic club or association, (iii.4) tutor, (iv) delivery person for the distribution of newspapers, flyers or handbills, or (v) worker in an occupation approved by the Director, and (b) the employment is not or is not likely to be injurious to the adolescent’s life, health, education or welfare, and (c) the adolescent’s parent or guardian gives employer written consent to the employment;
  2. An employer that employs an adolescent as a food service employee must ensure that the adolescent works with and is in the continuous presence of at least one other employee 18 years old or older or, if the employer is an individual, the employer;
  3. Section 66 of the Code requiring a permit to hire somebody under age 18 doesn’t apply to the employment of an adolescent outside of normal school hours;
  4. Illegal to employ an adolescent: (a) for longer than 2 hours outside of normal school hours on a day during which the adolescent is required to attend school, or (b) for longer than 8 hours on a day during which the adolescent is not required to attend school;
  5. Illegal to employ an adolescent to work for any employment between 9:00 p.m. to following 6:00 a.m.;
  6. A permit for employment in an artistic endeavor may authorize: (a) employment for periods that exceed the hours referred to in subsection (4) above, as well as employment between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., and (b) employment during normal school hours (ESC Regs., Sec. 52)

Age 15/16/17 (“young persons”):

  1. Illegal to employ a young person from 9:00 p.m. to the following 12:01 a.m.;
  2. No employer may employ a young person in any employment on or in connection with any of the following premises unless the young person works with and is in the continuous presence of at least one other individual 18 years old or older: (a) the premises of any retail business selling (i) food or beverages, whether alcoholic or not, or (ii) any other commodities, goods, wares or merchandise; (b) the premises of a retail business in which gasoline, diesel fuel, propane or any other product of petroleum or natural gas is sold; (c) a hotel, motel or other place that provides overnight accommodation to the public;
  3. Same limitations apply to employment between 12:01 a.m. and the following 6 a.m.; and
  4. Employers of premises not subject to the above limitations may employ a young person for work from 12:01 a.m. to the following 6:00 a.m., only if: (a) a parent or guardian of the young person gives the prospective employer written consent to the employment, and (b) during the employment the young person works with and is in the continuous presence of at least one individual 18 years old or older (ESC Regs., Sec. 53)

OHS Limitations: Employer must not allow a worker who’s under age 18 to use or be involved in the use of ionizing designated radiation equipment or an ionizing radiation source unless: (a) the worker is a student undergoing a course of instruction involving the use of such equipment or source, and (b) the use forms part of that course and is conducted under the direct supervision of a competent worker (OHS Code, Sec. 291.6(2))

General:

  1. Illegal to employ a person under age 14 without the employment standards director’s OK;
  2. Illegal to employ a person who’s 14 or 15: (i) to perform light work without the written consent of the parent or guardian, or (ii) to perform any other work without the director’s permission and subject to the director’s conditions; and
  3. Illegal to employ a child under age 16 or age 18 to perform “hazardous work,” as set forth in the regulations (see the subsections below) (Employment Standards Act, Secs. 9 + 9.1)

Under age 15: Illegal to employ a child under age 15 without the written consent of the parent or guardian (Emp. Stds. Regs., Sec. 45.04)

Work hours & conditions of children age 12/13/14: 1. Illegal to require or let a child age 12 to 14 to work on a school day at a time when the child is scheduled to attend or: (a) more than 4 hours on a school day, (b) more than 7 hours on a day that’s not a school day, unless the employer receives prior written approval from the director, (c) more than 20 hours in a week that has 5 school days, and (d) in any case, more than 35 hours in a week; 2. Employer must ensure that a child age 12 to 14 works only under the direct and immediate supervision of a person who’s 19 or older, except if the child is employed as a sitter or home care worker (Emp. Stds. Regs., Secs. 45.2 to 45.4) and 3. Special rules apply to work by children in the entertainment industry.

Limitations for “light work”: 1. ESA limitations on hiring children under age 16 don’t apply to a child ages 12, 13, 14 or 15 as long as: (a) the employer doesn’t require or allow the child to perform work listed as not “light work,” i.e., (i) repairing, maintaining or operating machinery, tools or other equipment that could harm the health or development of a child age 14 or 15; (ii) entering or working at a place in which a minor isn’t legally permitted to enter or work; (iii ) entering or working at a site of construction, heavy manufacturing, heavy industrial work or other work that could harm the health or development of a child age 14 or 15; (iv) handling, preparing, selling, serving or otherwise being in contact with, or being exposed to, a good or service that a minor cannot legally distribute, purchase, use or consume; (v) lifting, carrying or moving an item or animal, if doing so puts the child at risk of a musculoskeletal injury; or (vi) using, handling, applying or being exposed to a hazardous substance, as defined in the Workers Compensation Act; (b) any of the following circumstances apply: (i) a member of the child’s immediate family is a controlling shareholder, sole proprietor or partner of the business or farm that employs the child; (ii) the child is employed, in relation to a sports or recreational activity for children less than 16 years of age, as a camp assistant, assistant coach, referee or umpire; 2. Light work that children ages 12, 13, 14 or 15 may perform  includes: (a) administrative and secretarial work; (b) the following work at premises selling, or providing, goods or services to customers: (i) assembling, sorting and packaging orders; (ii) bagging and carrying customers’ orders; (iii) laying out displays; (iv) price marking, labelling and tagging goods; (v) stocking shelves; (vi) unpacking, counting, recording, packing and weighing goods; (c) the following work at premises preparing, selling or serving food or beverages: (i) preparing food; (ii) busing tables; (iii) dishwashing; (iv) hosting duties; (v)setting up and taking down tables, chairs, trays, dishes, beverage dispensers and other dining room or buffet equipment, furniture and supplies; (d) setting up, taking down, retrieving and storing sports and recreation equipment; (e) child care; (f) cleaning and tidying; (g) laundry and ironing; (h) the following yard and maintenance work: (i) clearing leaves; (ii) clearing snow; (iii) cutting grass; (i) painting, other than spray painting; (j) repairing items; (k) gardening; (l) gathering and hand harvesting; (m) work related to the care of domesticated animals; (n) packing, moving and unpacking household goods; (o) delivering goods; (p)troubleshooting user issues with technology; 3. Occupations in which light work may be done by children ages 12, 13, 14 and 15 include: (a) cashier; (b) computer programmer; (c) golf caddy; (d) lifeguard or assistant lifeguard;

(e) messenger or courier; (f) peer counsellor; (g) performing artist; (h) recreation or community program attendant; (i) referee or umpire; (j) salesperson, other than a door-to-door salesperson; (k) server of food or drink or both; (l) sports or recreational coach or assistant coach; (m) sports or recreational instructor; (n) summer or day camp leader, counsellor, assistant or attendant; (o) tutor or instructor; (p) visual artist or graphic designer; (q) writer, editor or similar occupation in communication (Emp. Std. Regs., Div. 4)

Hazardous work that a person must be at least age 16 to do includes: (a) construction work; (b) carrying out silviculture activities in the forest industry: (c) forest firefighter work; (d) work at a place requiring use of a fall protection system under OHS regulations (Emp. Stds. Regs., Sec. 45.26(a))

Hazardous work that a person must be at least age 18 to do includes: (a) carrying out tree falling and logging” in the forest industry: (b) operating a chainsaw; (c) the following work in a production process in a processing facility that processes fish, poultry or any other animal: (i) killing or scalding animals; (ii) moving an animal, other than fish or poultry, from a holding pen to a location in which the animal will be killed; (iii) operating machinery used for processing, including canning machinery, but not including (A) other machinery used for packaging, (B) scales, or (C) meat slicers; (iv) operating a loader crane; (d) the following work in the oil and gas industry: (i) drilling; (ii) well servicing; (e) power line construction work or maintenance work that involves potential electrical hazards; (f) work in a production process at a paper mill or pulp mill; (g) work in a production process at a wood processing facility, including a shake mill, shingle mill or sawmill; (h) work in a production process at a foundry, metal processing or metal fabrication operation, refinery or smelter; (i) work in a confined space other than entering a walk-in freezer or cooler to place or retrieve an item; (j) work in an underground working; (k) work that involves exposure to ionizing radiation that exceeds the exposure limits set in section 7.19 of the OHS Regs.; (l) work in a silica process; (m) work in which a worker is or may be exposed to potentially harmful levels of RCS dust; (n) work in relation to asbestos that constitutes a moderate risk work activity or high risk work activity as defined in the OHS Regs.; and (o) work in which a worker is or might be exposed to an air contaminant that exceeds the limits set out in section 8.32 (a) to (c) of the OHS Regs. (Emp. Stds. Regs., Sec. 45.26(b))

Additional limitations under OHS Regs.:

  1. Person must be at least age 16 to serve as a first aid attendant (OHS Regs., Sec. 3.15(a));
  2. Person must be at least age 19 to work alone or in isolation at a late night retail establishment where there’s a risk of violence (OHS Regs., Sec. 4.22.1(2.1)(g)(i)); and
  3. Person must be at least 16 to mix, load or apply a moderately or very toxic pesticide for use in a workplace or clean or maintain equipment used in the operations (OHS Regs., Sec. 6.77(1)(a))

Under age 13: Illegal to employ a person who’s under age 13 (ESC, Sec. 84(1))

Age 13/14/15: Illegal to employ young person under age 16:

  1. Unless the young person provides the employer a work readiness certificate that: (a) certifies that the young person has completed a work readiness course approved by the director; and (b) includes a signed consent of the young person’s parent to the employment;
  2. Between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., or for more than 20 hours during a week of school (ESC, Sec. 84.1 and 84.2);
  3. On a construction site, in an industrial or manufacturing production process,  in work involving scaffolding or swing stages, in work involving the use of a ladder or substitute at heights greater than 1.5 metres, in work on a drilling or servicing rig, in arboriculture, if the work involves the use of dangerous tools or machinery, or in work involving the handling or use of herbicides or pesticides;
  4. Illegal to hire a young person under age 14 to work in food preparation, if the work involves the use of dangerous tools or machinery; and
  5. Illegal to require or allow a young person under age 16 to perform work unless the young person is directly supervised by an adult who’s in or at the same workplace (ESC Regs., Secs. 25 and 26.1)

Age 16/17: Illegal to require or allow a young person under age 18:

  1. To work alone between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. (ESC, Sec. 84.3); or
  2. In forestry, an underground mine, open pit quarry, saw mill or pulp mill, any operation involving confined space entry, asbestos removal, food preparation if work involves use of dangerous tools or equipment, on scaffolding or swing stages, on ladders or platforms risk of falling over 1.5 metres, on a drilling or service rig, in arboriculture if the work involves use of dangerous tools or equipment, or in work involving handling of dangerous pesticides or herbicides (ESC Regs., Sec. 25)

Under age 16: Illegal to employ a person who under age 16: (a) in employment that is or likely to be unwholesome or harmful to the person’s health, welfare or moral or physical development; (b) for more than 6 hours in any day; (c) for more than 3 hours on any school day; (d) on any day for a period which, when added to the time required for attendance at school on that day, would require the person to spend more than a total of 8 hours attending school and working; (e) between the hour of 10 o’clock in the afternoon of any day and the hour of 6 o’clock in the forenoon of the following day (ESA, Sec. 39)

Under age 14: Illegal to employ a person under age 14: (a) in any “industrial undertaking,” defined as including an undertaking in which articles are manufactured, altered, cleaned, repaired, finished, prepared for sale or demolished, or in which materials are transformed, including shipbuilding and the generation, transformation, transmission and distribution of electricity or motive power of any kind, mines, quarries, and other works for the extraction of minerals from the earth, and undertakings in the construction industry; (b) in the forest industry; (c) in the construction industry; (d) in a garage or automotive service station; (e) in a hotel or restaurant; (f) in a theatre, dance hall or shooting gallery; (g) as an elevator operator; or (h) in any location or occupation prescribed by regulation (ESA, Sec. 40)

Exceptions: Employment Standards Director may, on application, issue a permit allowing the employment of a young person under certain conditions (ESA, Sec. 41)

Under age 16: Illegal to employ a child, i.e., person under age 16: (a) to do work that is or is likely to be: (i) unwholesome or harmful to the child’s health or normal development, or (ii)  prejudicial to the child’s attendance at school or to the child’s capacity to benefit from instruction given at school; (b) employ a child to work (i) for more than 8 hours a day, (ii) for more than 3 hours on a school day unless a certificate covering that day has been issued under section 8 of the School Attendance Act, (iii) on a day for a period that, when added to the time required for attendance at school on that day, totals more than 8 hours, (iv)  between 10 p.m. of 1 day and 7 a.m. of the following day, (v) in circumstances that would prevent the child from obtaining a rest period of at least 12 consecutive hours a day, or (vi)  occupations that are prescribed as hazardous occupations or undertakings; or (b) while a strike by employees or a lockout of employees by the employer is in progress (LSA, Sec. 46)

Under age 14: Illegal to employ a child who under age 14 unless the work is prescribed work within prescribed undertakings (LSA, Sec. 46(c))

Must be at least age 18 to be employed in a silica process or cleaning or maintenance work likely to involve exposure to silica dust except work that’s a recognized part of apprenticeship or comparable course of training (OHS Regs., Sec. 46(11))

Parental consent: Before entering upon a contract of service with a child, person must obtain the written consent of the child’s parent or guardian of that child, which must be kept by the employer as part of the record of the employment of the child, and the age of the child must be specified in the written consent (LSA, Sec. 48)

Under age 14:

  1. Illegal to pay wages to a child under age 14 to do work that is or is likely to be: (a) unwholesome or harmful to his health or normal development; or (b) such as to prejudice his attendance at school or capacity to benefit from instruction there given; and
  2. Illegal to employ a child under age 14 to work: (a) for more than 8 hours in any day; (b) for more than 3 hours on any school day unless an employment certificate authorizing the employment of the child is issued under the Education Act; (c) on any day for a period that, when added to the time required for attendance at school on that day, totals more than 8 hours; (d) between 10 o’clock in the afternoon of any day and 6 o’clock in the forenoon of the following day; (e) in any work or class of work in which the employment of a child under 14 years of age is prohibited by regulation (LSC, Secs. 68(1) + (3))

Under age 16: Illegal to employ a child under age 16 for work of any kind in: (a) an industrial undertaking, defined as including mines, quarries and other works for the extraction of minerals from the earth, undertakings in which articles are manufactured, altered, cleaned, repaired, ornamented, finished, adapted for sale, broken up or demolished, or in which materials are transformed, including ship building and the generation, transformation, transmission and distribution of electricity or motive power of any kind, and undertakings in the construction industry; (b) the forest industry; (c) garages and automobile service stations; (d) hotels; (da) restaurants, except where an employee is not operating cooking equipment and where safety training on all equipment and adequate supervision is provided and the person is at least 14; (e) the operating of elevators; (f) theatres, dance halls, shooting galleries, bowling-alleys, billiard and pool rooms; (g) work or class of work in which the employment of a child under 16 years of age is prohibited by regulation (LSC, Sec. 68(2)); Exception: The above restrictions don’t apply to apply to an employer who employs members of his family (LSC, Sec. 68(4))

Illegal to employ a person under age 16 during school hours if the person is required to attend school under Section 21 of the Education Act, except as part of an apprenticeship program (Educ. Act, Sec. 30)

Must be at least age 14: To be allowed to be in or about a workplace other than a factory (OHS Ind. Est. Regs., Sec. 4);

Must be at least age 15: To be allowed to be in or about a factory other than a logging operation (OHS Ind. Est. Regs., Sec. 4);

Must be at least age 16:

  1. To be allowed in or about a logging operation (OHS Ind. Est. Regs., Sec. 4);
  2. At construction project sites, to be employed in or about the workplace or be permitted to be present in or about the workplace while work is performed (OHS Const. Projects Regs., Sec. 16); and
  3. To be allowed in or about a mining plant or a surface mine, excluding the working face (OHS Mines & Mining Plant Regs., Sec. 8(1)(c))

Must be at least age 18:

  1. To be allowed in or about a mining plant or a surface mine, excluding the working face (OHS Mines & Mining Plant Regs., Sec. 8(1)(d));
  2. To be a worker at an offshore oil and gas rig (OHS Oil and Gas – Offshore Regs., Sec. 4); and 3. To engage in window cleaning (OHS Window Cleaning Regs., Sec. 8)

Must be at least age 19: To be a shaft attendant at a construction project site (OHS Const. Projects Regs., Sec. 295(2))

Illegal to employ a person under age 16:

  1. for employment that is or is likely to be harmful to the person’s health or safety, or moral or physical development
  2. In construction;
  3. between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.; (b) during normal school hours except under a recognized vocational training or apprenticeship program; or (c) for more than (i) 3 hours on any school day, (ii) 8 hours on any day other than a school day, (iii) 40 hours in any week—however, employer may apply to a government inspector for an exemption and get the consent of the parent or guardian (Youth Emp. Act, Secs. 4 to 6); and
  4. Worker must be over age 16 to serve as a traffic signaler (OHS Act Gen. Regs., Sec. 50.4(a))

Employer that hires a young person under age 16 must: (a) act reasonably in assigning duties taking into account the person’s age, knowledge, education and work experience; (b) identify any potential danger to health and safety known to it and give appropriate instruction to the young person; (c) personally supervise the work of the young person or ensure that at all times the work of the young person is supervised by an adult who has experience in the work; (d) provide adequate training and courses of instruction before authorizing the young person to perform unsupervised work (Youth Emp. Act, Sec. 8)

Labour Standards Limitations:

  1. Employer may not have work performed by a child that is disproportionate to the child’s capacity, or that is likely to be detrimental to the child’s education, health or physical or moral development;
  2. Employer may not have work performed by a child under age 14, except for the following employees listed in Section 35.0.3 of the Regs.: (a)  a child working as a creator or performer in a field of artistic endeavour referred to in the first paragraph of section 1 of the Act; (b)  a deliverer of newspapers or other publications; (c) a babysitter; (d) a child who provides homework assistance or tutoring; (e) a child working in a family enterprise with fewer than 10 employees if the child is a child of the employer or, where the latter is a legal person or partnership, a child of a director of that legal person or of a partner of that partnership, or if the child is a child of the spouse of one of those persons; (f) a child working in a non-profit organization having social or community purposes, such as a vacation camp or recreational organization; (g) a child working in a non-profit sports organization to assist another person or provide support, such as an assistant instructor, assistant coach or scorekeeper; and (h) a child working in an agricultural enterprise with fewer than 10 employees, where the child performs light manual labour to harvest fruits or vegetables, take care of animals or prepare or maintain soil—The employees referred to in subparagraphs (e) to (h) above must work under the supervision of a person 18 years of age or over at all times and the employees referred to in subparagraph (h) must be 12 years of age or over;
  3. Where employers are allowed to hire a child under age 14, the employer must obtain the written consent of the holder of parental authority over the child or of the child’s tutor using the CNESST form specifying the child’s principal tasks, maximum number of hours of work per week and periods of availability;
  4. New written consent is required to modify any of these elements;
  5. Illegal to have work performed during school hours by a child subject to compulsory school attendance or to have the child work for more than 17 hours per week or for more than 10 hours from Monday to Friday; However, these prohibitions don’t apply to any period of more than 7 consecutive days during which no educational service is offered to the child;
  6. Employer who has work performed by a child subject to compulsory school attendance must ensure that the child’s work is scheduled so that the child is able to attend school during school hours;
  7. Employer may not have work performed by a child between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. on the following day, except in the case of a child no longer subject to compulsory school attendance, in the case of newspaper deliveries, or where the work is creation or interpretation in the following fields of artistic endeavour: the performing arts including theatre, opera, music, dance and variety entertainment, the making of films and records and other sound recordings, dubbing and the recording of commercials;
  8. An employer who has work performed by a child must schedule the work so that, having regard to the location of the child’s family residence, the child may be at the family residence between 11 p.m. on any given day and 6 a.m. on the following day, except in the case of a child no longer subject to compulsory school attendance or in the cases, circumstances or periods or under the conditions determined by regulation or in the case of work that is: (a) creation or interpretation in the following fields of artistic endeavour: the performing arts including theatre, opera, music, dance and variety entertainment, the making of films and records and other sound recordings, dubbing and the recording of commercials; or (b) work for a social or community organization, such as a summer camp or a recreational organization, if the working conditions involve lodging at the employer’s establishment, provided the child isn’t required to attend school on the following day (Labour Standards Act, Secs. 84.1 to 84.7)

OHS Limitations

Must be at least age 16:

  1. To operate a forklift (OHS Regs., Sec. 256.2);
  2. To do mining work in an open-pit mine, concentrator or plant (OHS Mining Regs., Sec. 26)

Must be at least age 18:

  1. To perform blasting work or any work requiring the use of explosives (OHS Regs., Sec. 294);
  2. To be a dive team member (OHS Regs., Sec. 312.9);
  3. To: (a) perform work in an underground mine; (b) perform work on the working face in an open-pit mine; (c) to use equipment that hoists or moves objects in mining (OHS Mining Regs., Sec. 26);
  4. To perform work via use of a motorized hoisting apparatus at a construction site (Safety Code for Const. Ind., Sec. 2.15.10);
  5. To use a boatswain’s chair (Safety Code for Const. Ind., Sec. 3.9.17);
  6. To be allowed to work in excavations or trenches (Safety Code for Const. Ind., Sec. 3.15.10);
  7. To perform demolition work (Safety Code for Const. Ind., Sec. 2.7.2);
  8. To operate a low velocity explosive actuated tool (Safety Code for Const. Ind., Sec. 7.1.1.5); and
  9. To be employed underground, at the face of an open pit site or at the controls of hoisting or moving equipment (Safety Code for Const. Ind., Sec. 8.13.1)

Must be at least age 20: 1. To act as a blaster in mining work, unless acting as an assistant or to act as a hoistman at a mine (OHS Mining Regs., Sec. 26)

No person may employ a pupil under age 16 during the hours that school is in session, without the approval of the principal (Educ. Act, Sec. 149(1))

Must be at least age 16: Employer or contractor must ensure that no person under age 16 is employed or permitted to work: (a) on a construction site; (b) in a production process at a pulp mill, sawmill or woodworking establishment; (c) in a production process at a smelter, foundry, refinery or metal processing or fabricating operation; (d) in a confined space; (e) in a production process in a meat, fish or poultry processing plant; (f) in a forestry or logging operation; (g) on a drilling or servicing rig; (h) as an operator of powered mobile equipment, a crane or a hoist; (i) if exposure to a chemical or biological substance is likely to endanger the health or safety of the person; or (j) in power line construction or maintenance (OHS Regs., Sec. 3-3(1))

Must be at least age 18: Employer or contractor must ensure that no person under age 18 is employed: (a) underground or in an open pit at a mine; (b) as a radiation worker; (c) in an asbestos process; (d) in a silica process; or (e) in any activity for which the regulations require the use of an atmosphere supplying respirator (OHS Regs., Sec. 3-3(2))

Employment Standards Limits:

  1. Employer must ensure that a youth, i.e., person age 16 or under, is not employed: (a) on a construction site; (b) in a production process at a pulp mill, saw mill or woodworking establishment; (c) in a production process at a smelter, foundry, refinery or metal processing or fabricating operation; (d) in a confined space; (e) in a forestry or logging operation; (f) as an operator of powered mobile equipment, a crane or a hoist; (g) where exposure to a chemical or biological substance is likely to endanger the health or safety of the youth; (h) in power line construction or maintenance; or (i) as a domestic worker (defined as a means a worker employed in domestic work in a private residence in which the worker’s employer ordinarily resides, but does not include a sitter who provides care or supervision to children on an occasional or short-term basis);
  2. The Employment Standards Officer may request an employer to provide evidence that the employment of a youth is not likely to be detrimental to the health, education or moral character of the youth, and terminate the employment if it’s not satisfied with the evidence the employer provides;
  3. Employer may not, without the written approval of the Employment Standards Officer, permit or require a youth to work at any time: (a) between the hours of 11 p.m. on one day and 6 a.m. on the next day; or (b) when the youth is required to attend school, except when he or she is engaged in a work program that is part of his or her school curriculum (Employment Standards Act, Secs. 44 to 47)

OHS Limitations

Must be at least age 16: Employer must ensure that no person under age 16 is employed or permitted to work: (a) on a construction site; (b) in a production process at a pulp mill, sawmill or woodworking establishment; (c) in a production process at a smelter, foundry, refinery or metal processing or fabricating operation; (d) in a confined space; (e) in a forestry or logging operation; (f) as an operator of powered mobile equipment, a crane or a hoist; (g) if exposure to a chemical or biological substance is likely to endanger the health or safety of the person; or (j) in power line construction or maintenance (OHS Regs., Sec. 14(1))

Must be at least age 18: Employer must ensure that no person under age 18 is employed: (a) as an occupational worker (defined as a worker who (i) is exposed to radiation, and (ii) is likely to receive radiation exposure in excess of exposure levels or dose limits that are specified for members of the Public); (b) in an asbestos process; (c) in a silica process; or (d) in an activity requiring the use of an atmosphere supplying respirator (OHS Regs., Sec. 14(2))

General: Employer may not employ a person under age 17 in any occupations prescribed by the regulations (Employment Standards Act, Sec. 18(6)(a))

Must be at least age 16 to work at a surface mine or project excluding at the working face (WSC Regs., Sec. 15.10(1)(a))

Must be at least age 18 to:

  1. Be a candidate for a blaster’s permit or temporary blaster’s permit (WSC Regs., Sec. 14.05(a));
  2. Be in charge of or attend a conveyance carrying explosive material, whether parked or mobile (WSC Regs., Sec. 14.20(1)(a)); and
  3. Work at an underground mine or project or at the working face of a surface mine or project (WSC Regs., Sec. 15.10(1)(b))