Child Labor Injuries and Deaths in the U.S. 2023–2024

The United States has extremely relaxed labor laws, which have contributed to the injury and death of countless children. Below is a list of documented cases of minors who were injured or killed due to inadequate labor protections and enforcement between 2023 and 2024.  

2023 

• At Florence Hardwoods, a Wisconsin lumber mill, a 16-year-old worker died in a tragic accident involving a wood-stacking machine. OSHA cited the company with 47 violations and proposed $1.4 million in fines, while the U.S. Department of Labor found multiple child labor violations, including minors operating hazardous equipment.
  https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2024/04/25/work-safety-advocates-list-wisconsin-lumber-mill-where-teen-died-among-unsafe-employers/ 

• In Mississippi’s Mar‑Jac Poultry plant, 16‑year‑old Duvan Thomas Pérez, an undocumented immigrant working under a false identity, died cleaning machinery. OSHA issued just $212,646 in fines and 17 citations; a penalty critics say is woefully insufficient against the company’s profits.
  https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/feb/12/immigrant-child-laborers-killed-factories-osha 

• A 16-year-old boy, Michael Schuls, was killed in June 2023 while working at Florence Hardwoods, a sawmill in northern Wisconsin. He became trapped in a wood-stacking machine while attempting to clear a jam and died two days later from traumatic asphyxiation. Despite his age, Schuls had been working late hours in violation of federal child labor laws.
  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/20/republican-child-labor-law-death 

• In February 2023, Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI), a Wisconsin-based company providing sanitation services to meatpacking plants, was found illegally employing over 100 minors, some as young as 13, in hazardous jobs. These minors were assigned to clean up dangerous equipment such as back saws and head splitters using caustic chemicals during overnight shifts at 13 meatpacking facilities across eight states, including Nebraska, Minnesota, and Kansas. Investigators found that at least 3 children were injured.
  https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/17/business/packers-sanitation-child-labor 

• “A 13-year-old who was burned with caustic chemicals while working for Packers Sanitation Services in Nebraska told investigators the accident occurred during a shift that lasted from 11 p.m. to 5 or 7 a.m., a direct violation of multiple federal laws.”
  https://pestakeholder.org/news/large-investors-challenge-blackstone-over-child-labor/  

• “After 14-year-old Marcos was hurt at Perdue, bosses reported a severe injury to OSHA. But officials let the company do a self-inspection and never visited. They closed the case before Marcos was even out of the hospital, with no fines and without realizing the worker was a child.”
  https://x.com/hannahdreier/status/1704238596310319369 

• “A 17-year-old working for a meat processor in western Michigan lost his hand in a grinder.”
  https://x.com/MorePerfectUS/status/1689282045686546432 

2024 

• On May 28, 2024, 16-year-old construction worker, John Aaron Garcia, died in Magnolia, Texas, after the timber frames of two houses under construction collapsed during a sudden storm.
  https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/local/2024/05/31/489309/u-s-department-of-labor-investigating-after-16-year-old-dies-in-magnolia-house-construction-collapse/ 

• A 15-year-old working a roofing job in Alabama died after falling 50 feet.
  https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article285204887.html 

• 16-year-old employee at a manufacturing facility in Meadville, Pennsylvania. The minor worker suffered a fingertip amputation while operating machinery.
  https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20250512 

Statement on the lack of reporting in today’s current political climate:  

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) under the current administration has failed to consistently report or highlight many causes of child place work injuries and deaths. With more than 4,000 minors found working illegally last year, many in hazardous conditions, advocates argue that silence from the DOL amounts to complicity. No child should be harmed while trying to support their family, and these injustices must be documented, reported, and addressed with transparency and urgency.